Scala Bluetooth headset

[Windmill John]

Hi Guys,
Anyone tried one of these?
I've got an autocom I've had for years, I'd like something where we're not connected.
Cheers

[StumpyFingers]

A couple of riders on TLD had them so when they get home they may be kind enough to reply letting you know haw they faired.

[Windmill John]

Thanks for that stumpyfingers

[hotbulb]

My mate has a set, which we used when i collected my bike last year. Not sure which model, but it was fine for rider-pillion communication, making/receiving phone calls (and he assures me it's good with an MP3 player)...... and bike-to-bike it was as clear as a bell at several hundred yards range.
If I had the need, and if I had the money, I'd get a set!

[cbrpaddy]

I've had one the past year and it works great with my Nokia for phone calls and gps.

Bluetooth music quality isn't great as it isn't a2dp or whatever it's called - I believe the new model does this but is a lot more expensive.

I tried bike to bike for the first time this weekend with a mate who's gotten one and it worked great, too good in fact what with his incessant nattering, but I felt better when he could hear me laughing my head off when he fell over and couldn't lift his bike when trying a big hill climb

[Windmill John]

That'll do for me
Thanks guys.

John

[largewayround]

What about interphone .. they have a good write up ..

any one here got one ..

[Dee Duble Yuh]

I have a Scala Rider "Q2". It's rather better than my previous old "Solo" because
- it has two headphones so I can hear more clearly even when wearing ear-plugs;
- the uni-directional mike picks up my voice but not (much) wind noise;
- I can converse bike-to-bike up to 250 metres - 500 metres in good conditions - though I've not tested more than a couple of dozen yards to date (apparently the "G4" has an even greater range);
- AND converse with pillion rider;
- AND it can be paired with sat-nav or mobile phone (that's three Bluetooth connections simultaneously);
- it has in-built FM radio - not great capabilities and finds only strong signals but useful to while away time in traffic jams!
- I can plug in an mp3 player if I want higher quality music.

So you can listen to mp3 or radio, your pillion and a nearby biker can interrupt for a chat, and if your sat nav speaks or phone rings it will over-ride them all.

Problems and difficulties:
1. It doesn't always reconnect to phone or sat-nav automatically; sometimes I have to tell the sat-nav to establish the link and I've had to re-pair them a few times too. Mostly they reconnect fine. I suspect it's a problem with my particular device rather than a general problem. The old "Solo" usually reconnected without problems.
[edit]
2. When I'm conversing with a pillion and the sat-nav interrupts, it doesn't re-establish comms with the pillion after the sat-nav finishes. So the pillion's talking to me, the sat-nav says something and I loose the rest of our conversation. (Really annoying when the sat-nav gives four instructions per junction.) This is more a "feature" than a problem.
3. There are only a few buttons to operate all the functions (on/off/pair, volume up/down, dial/hang up, communicate with other rider, communicate with pillion, radio on/seek/store/change station/off etc.) so obviously each button does different things in different contexts. Remembering them all is tricky. Also you can't do some things simultaneously. For example, if you're listening to a radio you can respond to a conversation from pillion/other rider but can't initiate a conversation; you have to turn the radio off. Again, more a "feature" than a problem.

Although the comms range isn't great, unlike PMR (walkie talkie) you have "full duplex" two-way conversations. If the other rider goes out of range you can always ring his/her cell phone!
[/edit]

[hotbulb]

Quote" 2. When I'm conversing with a pillion and the sat-nav interrupts, it doesn't re-establish comms with the pillion after the sat-nav finishes. So she's talking to me, the sat-nav says something and I loose the rest of the conversation."
Is this why it's also known as Sat-Nag ??

[Axe]

I've got the interphone setup.

Used it properly this weekend on TLD.

I used it for music and sat nav on friday when I was solo, but the MP3 sound was rubbish so I switched that off (don't know if that was because of the MP3's I downloaded but I suspect it's due to the speakers not being up to the job)
the satnav sounded great, but I quickly got fed up with Mrs Garmin telling me to turn left etc etc and all the bonging noises whenever I got near a speed camera annoyed me as well.

It really came into it's own when I picked up the Mrs though, Audio wise the sound through the speakers was good (not great) so we could have a conversation up to about 65-70mph (anything over that forget it the wind noise is too lound, fortunatly it's drowned out by the real wind noise so it isn't annoying, you just can't hear the speakers anymore)
It was great to be able to have her tell me which way to go rather than prod/punch directions into me!

For less than £100 on ebay I would definatly buy one (if I hadnt already)
the ones I got have 2 units with helmet mounting gear and chargers, they will connect to each other and a satnav/phone (I had mine paired to each other and to my Garmin 550, I could have paired my phone to the garmin as well to have music/satnav/phone/pillion at the same time)

I charged them both before I went on friday morning and havent charged them since, but they are still working fine even though I left them switched on every night. That's 4 days and 1250 miles!)

I havent tried bike to bike so can't comment (but the instructions say they are good for 500m)

In summary, great for rider pillion,amazing battery life, good for satnav, good for phone, not so good for MP3.
(the units do seem to be sensitive to fitting as well, better reception if you mount them upside down (aerial to the back) and fiddle with the jack plug to get the best sound)

Cheap and very cheerful..

Axe.