Fergie said:
GMack, my problem is that I need to communicate with the wife on her bike and stay pretty much wireless. I know, pretty tall order. By the way do you have a audio wire that goes from a Zummo 550 to the Nolan you would sell. I need one because Zummo doesn't BT XM. Thanks for the info.
By your post it looked like you also bought the Basic kit II & the Com II. Would you be interested in selling them as I too only have the Com I. Thanks.
Not that tall of an order, but...
The Bluetooth of the Nolan is not intended for bike-to-bike. Range is quite limited and line of sight. Pairing back up can be an issue for you or her while riding since you cannot communicate with one another once the connection is lost. They claim 30 feet, but I get only 15 feet or so before it begins to break up or drop off. There may be a way to take the 4-pole jack off the Nolan that goes to the passenger's helmet (I'm guessing: left right speaker, common ground, and mike) and come up with a cable to plug into a FRS radio of some sort and do some sort of VOX between the bikes? I've operated like that in the past, but once one person got lost, the search began, and we all got lost on the channels and ended up in Oregon - still lost until the motel gathering.
I've used a plain generic Radio Shack mini-stereo cord from the Zumo's output audio jack to the Nolan when I was playing around with the n-Com. "Extreme Supply" in Signal Hill, CA has a full list of all the cables and descriptions that you may need for the Nolans. I've bought a lot of helmet stuff off them.
The n-Com I that I first had was mono only and sounded really bad off the Zumo, even though I had their correct Basic Kit II speakers via BT. The Radio Shack cord sounded wonderful and it was in full stereo even though the n-Com was older version I. I got my Zumo's XM radio through that cable as well. The Jabra A120s dongle will also do stereo to the n-Com II unit plugged into the Zumo's output jack (No bike-to-bike though). No luck with the WiRevo D1000 at all nor a Sony dongle either. I just Velcro'ed the Jabra to the back of the Zumo cradle and it ran a long time, much longer than the Nolan BT n-Com. Problem is you need to charge it through a mini-USB port for hours.
If you are looking to go bike-to-bike, I would run something like a Kenwood GMRS radio through an Autocom as first my choice. The normal FRS (?) radios work out to maybe a 1/3 mile and if cars move in and out between you, they get much worse and you get a lot of "Huh?" Been through that mess already. The GMRS radio
supposedly has a 5 mile range and doesn't need a squelch like CB which really gets staticy during daylight hours. However, a CB and a trucker can give you miles of leo patrol avoidance (unless the trucker is a lying leo and just baiting you! Watch out for CA CHP cars with 5 foot whip antennas!).
Autocom UK has recently updated their site and has a lot of cheaper units for bike-to-bike along with suggested radios that are known to work and cables to match. Prices have come down a lot since competition has set in. BT on the bike driver-to-pillion is fine, but if she is a car length behind you on a bike, then "Good luck." Sounds like you are approaching it (BT) for more than it will deliver. It can be an absolute pain at times dealing with it and the associated battery issues.
I've got both the Nolan n-Coms I (mono) and II (stereo). Don't know if I want to sell them just yet. It's a pretty cool lid with the internal tinted screen and easy strap latch, just noisy. Its heaviness doesn't seem to bother me, but the noise does over the Shoei Multi-tec. Heck, I still got GT body panels and mufflers off some of my knock-overs/wrecks/whatevers that I'm stashing for whatever reason. Okay, maybe "9" GPS units too along with a bunch of radar detectors my brother often steals (he's allowed to because he gets the all the speeding tickets since I'm fully covered at all times).
Okay. I got old riding clothing that's too small. Like I'll ever fit in that again either.
<packratitis>
Mack
