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Chatterbox FRS X2 vs. Collet Platinum 900

Joined
Jan 24, 2005
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Location
Azle, TX
First Name
John
Last Name
Collins
Kim and I are looking into getting some communication headsets for road trips. The two models we are looking at are the ChatterBox FRS X2 and the Collet Communications Platinum 900. Does anyone have any experience with either of these products? Any input is greatly appreciated.
 
The wife and I have been using X2FRS units. One seems to work well while the other one seems a bit flakey. We keep tinkering with them to figure out what may be needed to make them work better.

Talking with Tony at Ft. Worth EuroSportCycle on Saturday, they had tried the Chatterbox but had trouble and switched to the Autocomm unit. That one is much better but much more expensive - basic unit (from them) is $450 without the radio.

We spent $205 each on the basic X2 plus some more $$$ on cables and extra headsets (My wife switched helmets twice).

We will try them again this Saturday on the Pie Run. Will let you know if we have better luck...
 
:tab I have some of the Colletts, not the Platinum, but still the 900Mhz. The Platinums are the same thing in a new case and with a few more aux inputs. They work very well once you get used to them. They have a small learning curve like anything. The voice activation works well up to go to jail speeds. I wear earplugs and have the speakers mounted in the helmet and can hear them fine. They are quite weather proof. The max range we get is about 1-1/2 miles line of sight. The battery pack lasts a long day of riding and recharges easily overnight.

:tab We have two versions. One is the regular bike-to-bike set. We have four of these and they have both a public channel and a private club channel that no other units share. We also have two units that have the public channel and a private driver to passenger channel. The cool thing is that the passenger can speak with the other bikes as well when on the public channel.

:tab We had one unit of the six that had a problem with the mic and sent it back. They fixed it quickly and returned it at no cost to us and no questions asked.

:tab The big drawback to the Colletts is that few people here are aware of them as they are predominantly geared towards snowmobilers. This means that the likelihood of having anyone else on a group ride that has them is slim. They don't use open channels like the FRS radios so you can only communicate with other Collett units. I am not sure if the Chatterboxes are the same way or not.
 
We have been using the StarCom1 system for rider /passenger communication, but it has this capability. I have really enjoyed it and the price was pretty reasonable. You might check them out.

http://www.starcom1.com/
 
TexasTri,

Glad you posted about the StarCom1. Did a fair amount of research a while back and concluded that the StarCom1 was the best deal for intercom and managing various audio input/output.

For bike-to-bike, you still have to buy a transceiver, but you can get anything you want (GMRS, FRS, CB, etc) so are not stuck with a proprietary setup.

I decided to defer the purchase because I don't have a need for an intercom and very few fellow riders seem to have much interest in a bike-to-bike setup as the quality units are not inexpensive.

My experience is with aviation. You really do not want to know the price tag on those units. :shock:
 
Cindy and I have the Chatterboxes. Worked great at first, but after about a year they started having problems. I eventually got tired of messing with them. Now they sit in the top of a closet. $600 I could have spent on something better. :angryfir:
 
My Colletts are six years old and work fine. Squeaky and I used them last fall on the Arkansas trip. Of course I had to turn mine down so I could not hear the singing :roll:
 
Tourmeister said:
Of course I had to turn mine down so I could not hear the singing :roll:

I sang ONE song, and it was YOUR FAULT - I had been deprived of nourishment for so long that I was delirious. I sang the "I'm starving" song that I made up on the spot ;-)

But yes, they worked great and I wish I could keep using them all the time (and had someone to use them with since Scott has no desire to listen to me). You riding couples have it good! 8-)
 
They don't use open channels like the FRS radios so you can only communicate with other Collett units. I am not sure if the Chatterboxes are the same way or not.

The Chatterboxes (was using CBs put that might be confusing) use the standard FRS (X2) or GMRS (X1) radio frequencies. I did some testing with my son's GMRS handheld unit & it worked fine.

BTW, FRS and GMRS have some common channels (first half of the GMRS range) where either type set can communicate with each other.

We have our Chatterboxes set on Ch7/sub7 if anyone wants to try to contact us...
 
Squidward said:
Kim and I are looking into getting some communication headsets for road trips.

Funny, I'm trying to talk my girlfriend OUT of them. If you talk the whole ride, what are you going to talk abut when you get there?
 
I have the Star Com1 and like it. In addition to giving you Rider Passenger Communications, it gives you bike to bike communications with an FRS, GMRS or CB radio, it has music input so I can play my MP3 or CD thru the head set, it has cell phone input and you can run your talking GPS thru it.

The cheapest price I found was thru California Sport Touring.

Long Link


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I have a chatterbox headset (Voyagers come with the radio/intercomm) the speakers are not stereo quality, you have to get some good headset speakers and replace them (soldering required) On the first trip my mic mount untaped( 2x tape) had to electric tape it in place. My wifes set had a short and killed one speaker, took it apart and put fingernail polish on the bare wire. I could have taken them back to Cycle Gear and replaced them, they are good about that but had they handle no other brand. I don't care for the low quality of Chatterbox, my friend uses J&M head sets , they don't have a great speaker either. The running speaker theme is thin to fit most helmets. I have a Nolan and cut out the space to mount the new speaker enclosure in the styrofoam. Here is a company that handles a bunch of differant systems http://www.airrider.com/store/category.php?cookiecheck=true&cat=31[/code]
The stereo headset speakers need to have a sensitivity rating of +98 for them to be heard and sound good. I incorporated the enclosure to aid in sound quality. Your helmet may not have the room and well require modification if you use the enclosure (read cut holes in the foam liner under the fabric liner) Look for a head set with a thinner enclosure to ease installation. The foam on the mic can be changed to reduce wind noise.
 
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