Navrider Bluetooth Bike-to-Bike Comms

[bear]

A mate and I are touring Scotland in the Spring and we're looking for a comms system. We were looking at the Scala Rider Q2, but £200+ for a pair is a little rich for my blood.

Coming in at half that (£100 including VAT and delivery for a pair of units), the Navrider looks to be a serious contender. Online reviews are generally very positive.

Claimed 500m range in plain sight, and about 300m in built up areas, which would suit us down to the ground - 7 hour active use, claimed 90mph rating, and it ticks all the boxes we want it to. Connectivity to my satnav and phone (which is also my mp3) is a bonus, as well as offering proper two-way simultaneous chatting.

Anyone have any experience or knowledge of this unit?

[DahDit]

I take it you've seen this?

Visordown Navrider review

[bear]

That was the first review I came across.

Another friend of mine got a £200+ set of PMR radios so he and his son could talk during a tour. They gave second-rate performance, to say the least. VOX was unreliable above 30mph and PTT was a PITA.

Hence my interest in bluetooth units.

£50 each seems very reasonable, so I might well bag a pair and post a review when we get them set up.

[teejayexc]

Jan 24, 2010 21:06:59 GMT bear said:

That was the first review I came across.

Another friend of mine got a £200+ set of PMR radios so he and his son could talk during a tour. They gave second-rate performance, to say the least. VOX was unreliable above 30mph and PTT was a PITA.

Hence my interest in bluetooth units.

£50 each seems very reasonable, so I might well bag a pair and post a review when we get them set up.

Hmm, reviews seem good. Was wondering about charging them, see they have an AC charger and a usb, so could be rigged to charge from the bike?


www.ultimate-travelgear.co.uk/motorcycle-accessories/navrider___130.htm

Must admit, I've never got on with the Autocom unit I have for bike to bike, but that may be to do with aerial placement on my bike .



PMR's are better suited, (if set up right), for more riders to have interaction I guess, but that also leaves them open to one bad set up , or open PTT/Vox and the whole experience is spoilt imho.

These look ok for what you require, just so the two of you can converse. Still refuse to have anything connected to my phone though, it can wait 'till I stop, time and a place and all that.

Trev

[bear]

They were delivered next day to my mate (free P&P too, yay).

I got a phone call from him earlier. "Guess what I'm doing?". The answer was riding along at 50mph. It's a windy night.

I didn't believe him. I really didn't. Far, FAR less noise than talking to a passenger in a car doing 50mph. It took him to get to 70 before I could hear background noise to any great extent, and his voice was still coming through as clear as a bell. Even at 40mph with the visor UP we cold both hear each other perfectly.

We're testing it bike-to-bike on Friday, will keep you posted.