Re: New Thread? Bike/Bike Comm's

[Eric Sheley <eric@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 10:42 PM 09/29/1999 -0500, Richard & Lisa White wrote:

 >I am a little familiar with the Autocomm, J&M, and Collet systems, but

Well, I have the Collet http://www.collett.mb.ca/ 900 MHz communicators and 
I have been very happy with them. My first recommendation for you, is that 
if you want better range and clearer sound, stay away from 49MHz models. 
They really are low end communications (I know - I used to sell them) as 
far as quality and distance, but for many years that is all that was 
available to the unlicensed communications consumer in the US (some other 
countries are less restrictive - while others are more)

But here in the US, once 900 Mhz started getting a lot of use for high end, 
long distance cordless phones, the technology was carried over into other 
categories of communications. The current variety of available personal 
communications is really incredible, even when just compared with what was 
on the market in 1995. But enough of the history class.

The Collet unit works well, and they offer two models - a bike to bike unit 
and a bike to passenger unit. Because of the strength of the transmitter, 
you cannot use two bike units for a rider and passenger. If you ride both 
ways (1 up and 2 up), I would recommend one of each model. The 1 bike unit 
comes with a master transmitter and a slave for the passenger in one box. 
Then add a second stand alone unit and you would be good to go whichever 
way you wanted to ride.

I had only one problem with mine and that was cellular towers setting off a 
warning circuit in the headset. I sent them back to collet and this problem 
has been rectified (just tried them out on the trip to Key West). The unit 
has adjustable VOX operation so that when you are operating at speed, the 
mic is not activated by wind noise. We consistently run at speeds of 80-90 
mph without problems and they are still audible all the way up to max 
speeds that I have run with Kim (over 120 actual) as evident by her screams 
into the mic as we approach oncoming traffic ;-) When we decrease the 
sensitivity at speeds I find it best to blow sharply in the mic to activate 
the circuit and then speak normally, otherwise you loose part of the first 
word getting the VOX to activate.

The units also have an audio input for radio/cd/radar or whatever else you 
might have - it has voice talk over, so that when you talk the music cuts 
off. My units came with 6 AA high cap rechargeables and charger and on our 
trip last week we ran off the batteries for 8 hours and they were still 
going strong. Normally I carry 6 regular AA as backup.

Also has dual channels, volume control, and hwy / cty sensitivity. It comes 
with ear phones to mount in the helmet, but I did not care for them as I 
got too much helmet noise. I ended up getting the custom formed inserts and 
after this last trip, Kim will probably get them as well.

Unit seems very well built and has taken several bangs and a lot of water 
without problem.

If you have any specific questions, let me know.

- - Eric


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