Hi All,
I recently purchased 2 Chatterbox XBi2 units from JC Motors for $195 a piece (MSRP @ $229) and wanted to share with you my initial comments.
First of all, I am not affiliated with any store or company, so this is my own opinion. Also, keep in mind that this is the one and only motorcycle intercom I have ever used, so I cannot compare to what else is on the market even though I did a fair amount of research before buying these units.
So, the XBi2 unit is a bluetooth communication system for syncing music/gps, rider-to-passenger and compared to the original XBi it allows for bike-to-bike communication up to 500 feet. As of now, I only tried the music/gps option and phone. I will be using the rider-to-passenger feature during an upcoming trip and will share my comments then. I currently have no biker friends (except you guys) in my area, so I mostly ride alone. I decided on the XBi2 to be a little more future proof (for when I stop being an a$$ and make friends
).
The installation process went well. I took me about 15 minutes to put the speakers and mic in my Scorpion EXO-1000 helmet and tuck all the wires. It is a fairly easy process.
I thought the setup was fairly easy too. If you have setup a bluetooth device before this will be a piece of cake. The nice thing is that Chatterbox now has youtube videos to show you how to do it all and are very well explained (I watched the vids after the install).
Once your device is paired, powering and connecting the devices is a breeze. I start the music on my blackberry storm, click the BB button and select "activate XBi2", then power the XBi2 and it's done.
The music volume can get loud (even too much for me) if you want to, so the unit has plenty of power. I was very suspicious of "little speakers" in an helmet, but the sound is great. Obviously you do not get the same bass response as with earbuds, but that is to be expected.
I received a few calls while riding and nobody could tell I was out on the bike (going around 60 mph). Even the girl thought I sounded clearer than when I use the bluetooth system from the car nav. And I could hear every call just fine.
So far, there are two things I do not like about the unit.
1) It seems the unit will only charge if the battery is below a certain level. I understand why this is done, but if I need to unit for three hours and there is only two hours left in it, but will only let me charge it when there is one hour left it is kind of annoying.
2) Sometimes you have to wiggle the connector to realign the connection. The cable moves, you get a bad connection and switch to mono.
All in all, I really like this unit and would recommend it. Obviously, I got a really good deal when I bought it. I know lots of you like to Scala Q2, but for me that unit seemed limited. So, that's my opinion so far. I hope that helped some make a decision of future purchase no matter what they choose.
Thanks.
I recently purchased 2 Chatterbox XBi2 units from JC Motors for $195 a piece (MSRP @ $229) and wanted to share with you my initial comments.
First of all, I am not affiliated with any store or company, so this is my own opinion. Also, keep in mind that this is the one and only motorcycle intercom I have ever used, so I cannot compare to what else is on the market even though I did a fair amount of research before buying these units.
So, the XBi2 unit is a bluetooth communication system for syncing music/gps, rider-to-passenger and compared to the original XBi it allows for bike-to-bike communication up to 500 feet. As of now, I only tried the music/gps option and phone. I will be using the rider-to-passenger feature during an upcoming trip and will share my comments then. I currently have no biker friends (except you guys) in my area, so I mostly ride alone. I decided on the XBi2 to be a little more future proof (for when I stop being an a$$ and make friends
).The installation process went well. I took me about 15 minutes to put the speakers and mic in my Scorpion EXO-1000 helmet and tuck all the wires. It is a fairly easy process.
I thought the setup was fairly easy too. If you have setup a bluetooth device before this will be a piece of cake. The nice thing is that Chatterbox now has youtube videos to show you how to do it all and are very well explained (I watched the vids after the install).
Once your device is paired, powering and connecting the devices is a breeze. I start the music on my blackberry storm, click the BB button and select "activate XBi2", then power the XBi2 and it's done.
The music volume can get loud (even too much for me) if you want to, so the unit has plenty of power. I was very suspicious of "little speakers" in an helmet, but the sound is great. Obviously you do not get the same bass response as with earbuds, but that is to be expected.
I received a few calls while riding and nobody could tell I was out on the bike (going around 60 mph). Even the girl thought I sounded clearer than when I use the bluetooth system from the car nav. And I could hear every call just fine.
So far, there are two things I do not like about the unit.
1) It seems the unit will only charge if the battery is below a certain level. I understand why this is done, but if I need to unit for three hours and there is only two hours left in it, but will only let me charge it when there is one hour left it is kind of annoying.
2) Sometimes you have to wiggle the connector to realign the connection. The cable moves, you get a bad connection and switch to mono.
All in all, I really like this unit and would recommend it. Obviously, I got a really good deal when I bought it. I know lots of you like to Scala Q2, but for me that unit seemed limited. So, that's my opinion so far. I hope that helped some make a decision of future purchase no matter what they choose.
Thanks.
