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I tried that exact unit, it's worse than the chatterbox in terms of durability of the connections and getting it going. If we were a big enough market, I'd hope for something with the durability of motorsports equipment and bluetooth based.
The good motorcycle stuff is about $400-500 for two users.
Last edited by ShakeNBake; 02-28-2017 at 01:54 AM.
Exactly, I can't imagine why it's so hard for a decent bluetooth-based setup for duplex communication.
Was the connection spotty and unreliable? Or the sound quality crap for some other reason?
It dropped the connection a few times spanning the distance from one side of the car to the other, and you can't reconnect easily while driving with a student. The other thing was the quality of the connectors between the headset and the bluetooth base. It was a bit loose. Sound quality was reasonable, about the same as chatterbox. Headset build quality was worse than chatterbox, the boom look like it would eventually pull out of the headphone.
It's not rocket science to build a nice unit...I think the issue is that we're not a big enough market for someone to bother building a high quality medium-low margin device. Rosso has some nice intercoms, but they are not sold in the US yet. Still expensive when you factor in your fancy helmet electronics and a good student headset from Andrew, but it's a setup that will be pretty robust. I'm pretty sold on using a DSP to manage noise reduction and eq'ing. The lower cost intercoms available in the US are analog only (Peltor and the portable Rugged Radio).
Finally got a couple Rosso ic200 intercoms with Stilo plugs. 145GBP. It has separate volume controls for passenger and driver, digital processing for noise reduction, camera audio output, 9v battery powered (12v also). It's about the size of two iphone 6 stacked. Very well constructed, you could drop this many times on the ground without any trouble. Theoretically you can interface with their windows software to upgrade the firmware and mess with the digital filters. I'm not sure the software exists yet, made in italy like AIM - so software is not their forte.
Student Headset - this one has a stilo plug. I got it from Andrew at Tacterion and appears to be the same unit HMS now sells with their intercom kit. Noise canceling mic is a different design than the prior units I got. The quality of these units is very good, not really comparable to a chatterbox headset. (I've been inside a chatterbox headset and I now know why they fail quickly, it's absolute junk and the manufacturing quality is surprisingly poor.)
I've been making my own cables. I got a lot of Amphenol Nexus male/female connectors and some good shielded mic cable. I made several IMSA to Stilo converters. It costs about 15 dollars in parts at hobbyist scale, and takes about 30min to make. The Amphenol nexus connectors are aviation quality, canare shielded 4 conductor wiring does not get much better unless you are an audiophile that pays for blessed lamp cord.
I tried this Stilo setup last weekend at Cresson with a student. It worked really well. The Stilo DG10 is about the size of two Iphone 4 stacked. Smaller than the ic200, but you need to plug it in, or carry a 12v lithium battery around with you (like what I have in the pics). The smallest 12v battery I could find was 6000mAh, which is serious overkill. Bluetooth was a bit annoying. It kept picking up calls, etc. I can see a good use case for car to car comms via cell phones. The price is a bit off putting in the US, so I don't consider it to be a real option. It's very solidly built, but at 600 bucks, it better be.
If anyone is interested in a Stilo DG10 or a Rosso ic200 and wants to take advantage of brexit pricing disparities, please let me know right away. I need to order some more stuff and we can save on shipping from the UK.
You pick a standard for the interface, which dictates the male/female and the pinout. There are literally 6 different standards for a 4 conductor system (Mic +/- and speaker +/-). Most are based on a Nexus type plug. I don't understand why it came to be that there are so many wiring standards for the same connector type (based on military/aviation plug designs), connecting the exact same internals (dynamic mic and speaker).... but it is what it is. In Europe, Stilo and Peltor/OMP are the more common wiring standards you tend to see on equipment we can buy. In the US it's NASA and IMSA. Why I say all this is in response to your question. The ROSSO unit is Italian and comes with two wiring options - Peltor/OMP or Stilo. I got the stilo option, which has Stilo wired nexus male connectors. PLugs directly into my helmet. You can get a Student headset from Tacterion or HMS with a Stilo Nexus female plug on it, which would plug right into the Rosso intercom (it's the exact student headset unit in the pic in my previous post).
If anyone is interested in a Stilo DG10 or a Rosso ic200 and wants to take advantage of brexit pricing disparities, please let me know right away. I need to order some more stuff and we can save on shipping from the UK.
Hi Jacy
If it's not too late to join the group buy, I'd like to be added.
I am an instructor with a Stilo helmet with integrated electronics.
In my car I sometimes use the I/O-Port interface to feed chatter to my SmartyCam Hd rev 2 (external mic).
In the student's car the Student uses Chatterbox headset that I supply.
Can you guide me as to the best way to connect Stilo helmet electronics, student headset (Chatterbox?) and preserve or replace the SmartyCam capability?
Hope this makes sense. Let me know if I need to articulate better.
Thanks for taking the lead to n this.
Hi Jacy
If it's not too late to join the group buy, I'd like to be added.
I am an instructor with a Stilo helmet with integrated electronics.
In my car I sometimes use the I/O-Port interface to feed chatter to my SmartyCam Hd rev 2 (external mic).
In the student's car the Student uses Chatterbox headset that I supply.
Can you guide me as to the best way to connect Stilo helmet electronics, student headset (Chatterbox?) and preserve or replace the SmartyCam capability?
Hope this makes sense. Let me know if I need to articulate better.
Thanks for taking the lead to n this.
Can you send me pics of exactly what you are using to connect to the smarty cam? Is this the I/O port unit? If so, I don't think you need it anymore. It's only useful option is a level control, and I'd guess (someone can confirm) that you can set the mic level on the smartcam.
Can you send me pics of exactly what you are using to connect to the smarty cam? Is this the I/O port unit? If so, I don't think you need it anymore. It's only useful option is a level control, and I'd guess (someone can confirm) that you can set the mic level on the smartcam. Attachment 1143643
Are you using a splitter on the smartycam, kinda like this one? Attachment 1143645
If so, you can directly plug the Rosso intercom into that cable with something like this:
Yes, this is the current I/O-Port interface that I use. I like it a lot but always nice to eliminate another box. I suspect I can sell it pretty easily.
Yes, the external mic cable (splitter) is as you reference.
Nice work, sir. My students and I owe you one.
I am not sure about setting the mic level on the SmartyCam HD but will check.
I have had an AVCOMM AC2XR for years. Tons of functionality. I especially like having a squelch. Two 9 slot batteries seem to last forever.
They are now much less expensive than when I bought mine 7 years ago. Now only $199. http://www.avcomm.com/product-p/ac2xr.htm
Cables to IMSA jack are part number IO490 from AVCOMM.
The hassle was using with regular IMSA mic's and ear buds. But the Lollipop IMSA Mic-headset from www.Tachterion.us fit the bill perfectly. Bought two of them.
Someone said that the Peltor FMT-120 may be discontinued and sales from available stock. Dunno about that.
The RuggedRadios RRP242 is about the same size as my AVCOMM and has two volume controls (no squelch)
I have zero experience with this unit, but the AVCOMM is metal and bullet proof.
If anyone is interested in a Stilo DG10 or a Rosso ic200 and wants to take advantage of brexit pricing disparities, please let me know right away. I need to order some more stuff and we can save on shipping from the UK.
Let me know how you like these. My chatterbox is good most of the time but sometimes has loud screeching interference when the plugs move a bit.
Which do you like better between the Stilo and Rosso for instructing in car?
What are the wires sticking out of the Rosso for? Is that if you want to hardwire in car instead of using a 9V?
ShakeNBake are you able to post links to where you bought the connectors? Ideally I'd like to try to make a cable to my Roux (looks to be female IMSA) to a 4-pole 3.5mm. They make a chatterbox version that I have, but would like to use it on a different intercom that uses a different 3.5mm wiring/pole configuration.
02-28-2017, 01:34 AM
