It speaks volumes about their overall quality when identically named and packaged units are that different.
I didn't expect much at all, but this is beating even my lowest standards.
Caveat emptor!
Cheapo ($50) Stereo bluetooh headset and intercom review (deal extreme)
- Thread starter fyrebug
- Start date
It speaks volumes about their overall quality when identically named and packaged units are that different.
I didn't expect much at all, but this is beating even my lowest standards.
Caveat emptor!
Vlad I tried yesterday and turned off the base on my blackberry and it really increased the quality of the sound. Try that and hopefully it will make it better.
I tried that a while ago and it did make a difference, thank you for the suggestion. Better it is, but still not good enough. I can't see using it with earplugs in any scenario and wind noise in my helmet without earplugs is too much to bear on long rides. I wrote to the seller yesterday, we'll see if they live up to their promise to keep customers happy.
Splash
Well-known member
are you saying you didn't try them with earplugs yet? I tried riding without ear plugs and it sounded like crap. With the earplugs it sounds fine.
I did try with earplugs. The sound goes between not loud enough and too distorted. No sweet spot in between, except when there is no background noise at all. Without earplugs it's acceptable only for phone or voice and only under about 100Km/h. To summarize my experience so far:
- Good for rider-passenger and phone communications, but only for low speeds and short distances.
- Bad for listening to music at any speed and any distance.
- Battery life only good enough for half a day of riding when listening to music. It may be better if used for phone/voice only.
In real life, good for those that need to answer their phone while commuting or on short rides. Acceptable for rider-passenger on relatively short and slow rides.
I received a response from the seller and they are offering a partial refund if I decide to keep them or a full refund if I send them back. I'm weighing the options.
I received a 50% refund with no grief from the seller. I can live with that. Again, here is what I bought:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001SUZNGW
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001SUZNGW
Did you actually pay that price? :$132.88
No wonder you are ****** off. I paid $60 plus tax and delivery and came up to $89 bucks I think.
The same product
No I didn't. It was $90 including shipping when I bought it. I got exactly half of it back - $45.
There must be something wrong with the link because I purchased mine from the seller "Gooddeals18", not the one the page now points to.
Splash
Well-known member
You must have a defective product because I'm not having the same problems.
Sounds perfect (except there's no bass) with the ear plugs in.
Music sounds great at any speed
Battery life? I just did a 10 hour ride... Music on 100% of the time and it never died. My ipod died though but "Walky talky" function still worked.
The only problem I noticed was that at higher speed (100km+) the other unit has to be pretty close to work. ALSO, going from listing to music to "Walky Talky" the Bluetooth looses connection and it doesn't seem to reconnect.
I wouldn't say defective because all the functions actually work, but definitely sub-par. I'm glad you are not having the same problem and it appears most other people are quite satisfied too. I'm also quite sure mine are not the only ones that are bad. The difference in quality between seemingly identical units appears to be quite evident. To bad they are sealed so we can't open them up to compare without damaging them...
Not exactly the same, but pairing and connectivity is about the only thing I have no problems with. I even turn them off by pressing the reset button and they still connect (and stay connected) every time. I haven't tried rider-to-rider yet, but I'm not expecting any issues in that mode either.
Gryph
Well-known member
An update on mine. So far I'm impressed for the money.
Music sounds fine with earplugs in, my right speaker distorts at top volume (needs to be this high with plugs in) and sounds like its blown - has been like this since the start, odd cuz the left is fine. I turned on the EQ and set it to low bass and it helped a bit.
Pairs every time, calls are pretty good but hard to hear at 130km/h with wind, I sound great according to those I'm talking to. The main issue I have had so far is that I rode in light rain once, and since the light is messed. It turned purple for a while, and it stays red even when the unit is off (slowly drains the battery). Even with this the battery is still good and I can commute multiple days without charging, not sure I've ran it dead yet listening to tunes ~2hrs a day. Haven't tried the intercom yet.
Would buy again for sure.
Music sounds fine with earplugs in, my right speaker distorts at top volume (needs to be this high with plugs in) and sounds like its blown - has been like this since the start, odd cuz the left is fine. I turned on the EQ and set it to low bass and it helped a bit.
Pairs every time, calls are pretty good but hard to hear at 130km/h with wind, I sound great according to those I'm talking to. The main issue I have had so far is that I rode in light rain once, and since the light is messed. It turned purple for a while, and it stays red even when the unit is off (slowly drains the battery). Even with this the battery is still good and I can commute multiple days without charging, not sure I've ran it dead yet listening to tunes ~2hrs a day. Haven't tried the intercom yet.
Would buy again for sure.
fyrebug
Well-known member
I need to subscribe.
Vlad, while music isn't perfect on mine, it's far from sub par, and I use it to listen to trance, vocal trance, etc. I think at the end of the day the issue comes down to the fact you didn't buy the same set as I recommended. maybe the same box, or the same rubber shell, but these are things sent from china, you have to be careful. how many ipod rip offs are there out there? there could easily be a company supplying the rubber shell to 5 different small outfits.
because you didn't buy from DX, I would be very willing to bet you either got something made by someone else alltogether, or more likely one made by the same company but a much earlier version that's been sitting on a shelf.
the fact your battery only lasts 5 hours is a dead give away this is an old unit. lithium batteries lose charge life regardless do whether you are using them or not starting from the day they are manufactured. I think in your rush to get the unit early you may have lost out. that sucks, and I'm sorry, you should consider sending the unit back for a full refund and grabbing the unit from DX.
Vlad, while music isn't perfect on mine, it's far from sub par, and I use it to listen to trance, vocal trance, etc. I think at the end of the day the issue comes down to the fact you didn't buy the same set as I recommended. maybe the same box, or the same rubber shell, but these are things sent from china, you have to be careful. how many ipod rip offs are there out there? there could easily be a company supplying the rubber shell to 5 different small outfits.
because you didn't buy from DX, I would be very willing to bet you either got something made by someone else alltogether, or more likely one made by the same company but a much earlier version that's been sitting on a shelf.
the fact your battery only lasts 5 hours is a dead give away this is an old unit. lithium batteries lose charge life regardless do whether you are using them or not starting from the day they are manufactured. I think in your rush to get the unit early you may have lost out. that sucks, and I'm sorry, you should consider sending the unit back for a full refund and grabbing the unit from DX.
That's most likely the reason, although I wouldn't say it can't happen with DX too. I ordered from Amazon because I couldn't risk the units arriving too late for a very long trip. Anyway, mine are pretty good for some usage scenarios and I got a decent refund, so it's all well. I would like to try a good unit just to compare though. In any case there is no reason for you or anyone else to be sorry. It's just a lemon I got and it's no one's fault. More of a cautionary tale so hopefully others will continue to fair better.
Question
How do I voice dialing on my iPhone4?
I've used it on 3 one-two hour rides on a single charge, and so far no problems. I hit light rain tonight, and still seems to work fine. I might tape the edges anyway, just to be sure.
Anyway, I hit some random button while riding (was trying to reduce the volume on my music), and it activated the voice dial. I can't replicate it. i would love to be able to use voice dial.
The sound is also quite loud. at 100km/hr I didn't have to increase the volume by much. It was able to go up 2 more levels (two more button clicks), but that would have been too loud. I also tried hooking up my iphone earphone, and the sound is even better and mic works fine too.
Just want to know how to enable voice dialing.
How do I voice dialing on my iPhone4?
I've used it on 3 one-two hour rides on a single charge, and so far no problems. I hit light rain tonight, and still seems to work fine. I might tape the edges anyway, just to be sure.
Anyway, I hit some random button while riding (was trying to reduce the volume on my music), and it activated the voice dial. I can't replicate it. i would love to be able to use voice dial.
The sound is also quite loud. at 100km/hr I didn't have to increase the volume by much. It was able to go up 2 more levels (two more button clicks), but that would have been too loud. I also tried hooking up my iphone earphone, and the sound is even better and mic works fine too.
Just want to know how to enable voice dialing.
fyrebug
Well-known member
no clue, but when you find out, please share.
I'm curious to find some good speakers/mic for helmet use that could be used instead to upgrade the quality. I could easily resolder something, but as many have it, it would be nicer to find a direct replace option.
a note on water:
I ride in A LOT of rain
the seams will be fine, but it seems to get water in the headphone jack. not sure what the solution to that is, but I might make a small silicon rubber guard (I can mold and cast). when this happens the music fizzles out and gets all wonky as the left/right/mic get all crossed.
doesn't happen in light rain, usually heavy rain on the highway
I'm curious to find some good speakers/mic for helmet use that could be used instead to upgrade the quality. I could easily resolder something, but as many have it, it would be nicer to find a direct replace option.
a note on water:
I ride in A LOT of rain
the seams will be fine, but it seems to get water in the headphone jack. not sure what the solution to that is, but I might make a small silicon rubber guard (I can mold and cast). when this happens the music fizzles out and gets all wonky as the left/right/mic get all crossed.doesn't happen in light rain, usually heavy rain on the highway
no clue, but when you find out, please share.
I'm curious to find some good speakers/mic for helmet use that could be used instead to upgrade the quality. I could easily resolder something, but as many have it, it would be nicer to find a direct replace option.
a note on water:
I ride in A LOT of rain
doesn't happen in light rain, usually heavy rain on the highway
This is killing me. I can't figure out how I did it. I spend 30 minutes trying different things last night...nothing worked.
As for the speakers..I don't think replacement speakers will help much. I think the UNIT itself outputs low quality sound. I have a feeling replacement speakers won't make the sound quality any better
Splash
Well-known member
a note on water:
I ride in A LOT of rain
doesn't happen in light rain, usually heavy rain on the highway
Well both of mine are screwed. I'll let them sit for a few more days and if it doesn't get better I'm opening this thing up. After riding in the rain the music just cut out and the LED turned RED. Now one of the unit has the red LED permanently on and the other unit doesn't have any LED on even after pressing the power button for 20 min. I tried the Reset button and nothing.
Hey i actually noticed this happening in light rain last night. I didn't think anything of it. My music would cut out every 5-10 minutes or so. I figured it was just a bluetooth thing.
now I know.
I agree. It seems like the only place water can get in is from the headphone or usb plug input. If this area can be waterproofed, then I think it should be fine under rain.
*edit* I guess you should hot glus the headphone jack to the actual unit or something, since you don't need to remove it to charge it...right? I intend to charge it off my 12v from my bike anyway. I don't want to have to remove it every time it rains (it's pretty hard to remove).
Last edited:
SO,
After 2 weeks of use, one my units is partially dead. Not sure what happened.
2 days ago I was riding to the gym, and I got a call which was automatically answered by the intercom. It worked just fine.
Rode back home and jamming to some tunes - no issues.
Yesterday, I was riding to the gym again and received a call. The device automatically answered the call again (like normal), but the person on the other end could not hear my voice at all - not even static.
Anyway. Got home and tried everything, including different headsets with MICs...still nothing.
I figured it wasn't worth shipping it back to get it replaced (GoodDeals88 offers 2 years warranty on these), so I decided to tear the sucker open and see if it's something obvious.
After opening the case, the headphone jack just fell out. It was very, very poorly soldered on.
IT's hard to make out in the pics, but the soldering job around the little chips is quite bad. It's almost like no solder was used, so a minor flick of the finger may break the solder loose.
I ended up soldering the headphone back onto the board thinking that will solve the mic issue.
Back to square one. Everything works great, except the intercom (only reason I bought the unit).
While the soldering job and overall layout of the board looks pretty crappy, I was impressed with the rubber housing/case. It took quite a bit of effort to rip it open. Again, it's hard to make out in the pic, but the rubber is actually quite thick and completely sealed. The only place I can think of that water would get in is the headphone jack/USB port area.
The only thing I haven't tried is pairing it with another phone to test the mic. It was working fine with my iPhone, so I suspect it's a hardware issue.
After 2 weeks of use, one my units is partially dead. Not sure what happened.
2 days ago I was riding to the gym, and I got a call which was automatically answered by the intercom. It worked just fine.
Rode back home and jamming to some tunes - no issues.
Yesterday, I was riding to the gym again and received a call. The device automatically answered the call again (like normal), but the person on the other end could not hear my voice at all - not even static.
Anyway. Got home and tried everything, including different headsets with MICs...still nothing.
I figured it wasn't worth shipping it back to get it replaced (GoodDeals88 offers 2 years warranty on these), so I decided to tear the sucker open and see if it's something obvious.
After opening the case, the headphone jack just fell out. It was very, very poorly soldered on.
IT's hard to make out in the pics, but the soldering job around the little chips is quite bad. It's almost like no solder was used, so a minor flick of the finger may break the solder loose.
I ended up soldering the headphone back onto the board thinking that will solve the mic issue.
Back to square one. Everything works great, except the intercom (only reason I bought the unit).
While the soldering job and overall layout of the board looks pretty crappy, I was impressed with the rubber housing/case. It took quite a bit of effort to rip it open. Again, it's hard to make out in the pic, but the rubber is actually quite thick and completely sealed. The only place I can think of that water would get in is the headphone jack/USB port area.
The only thing I haven't tried is pairing it with another phone to test the mic. It was working fine with my iPhone, so I suspect it's a hardware issue.
