From: parker@mprgate.mpr.ca (Ross Parker)
Subject: Re: The Communicator (Quick review)
Organization: MPR Teltech Ltd., Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 20:30:45 GMT

In article <67001@cup.portal.com>, Sam_-_Malone@cup.portal.com writes:
|> My friend is an avid snowmobiler and was just asking me about a 
|> product called "The Communicator".................................

Background - I purchased two Communicators from Collett about a month ago,
and recently returned from a 2 week trip using them.

The unit has some pros and cons. Basically, they work, and they work *well* if
you use them in their intended way, and are aware of a couple of limitations.

We were quite pleased with the clarity of speech and the operation of the VOX
on the Communicator. You do have to make a point of speaking firmly - 'normal'
speech was occasionally prone to being cut off by the VOX on my wife's unit...
she normally is very soft spoken though, so I can understand that.

The Communicator mounts directly onto your helmet using a clip that's basically
one of those big wide paper clips things (sorry, I don't know the proper
stationarial term :-), and velcro as well if you so desire. This seems a little
hokey at first, but the units were easy to clip on and take off, and stayed
secure during our trip. There is a separate battery pack (for 6 aa cells) with a
2 or 3 foot coiled cord that gets stashed in a pocket. The unit that mounts
to the helmet holds the antenna, and has connections for the battery pack, the
speakers, and an input jack for a radio/walkman/whatever. It's not very heavy,
and wasn't really noticeable during our trip.

The unit comes with in-the-ear speakers - but the dealer I bought from was
selling them with the in-helmet speakers that Collett also makes. After seeing
(and trying) the in-the-ear things compared to the in-helmet speakers, I'd say
anyone would be crazy to not spend the extra few bucks to get the speakers. The
earphones (seems to me) would give you a pretty good pain in the ear after a
while, and didn't contribute much to sound quality. The speakers, on the other
hand, were relatively easy to install invisibly (well, dead easy on my Bell M2,
and 'interesting' on my wife's Arai Signet), with only the 1/8th inch stereo
phono plug left hanging out (easily tucked into the helmet comfort liner when
the unit isn't in use).

The Communicator is different in operation from probably any other helmet
radio. The microphone itself is actually inside the main unit attached to
the helmet, and a flexible 'speaking tube' is used to carry the rider's voice
into the unit. The speaking tube is bent (by the rider) to the right shape for
your helmet and face, and has a small hole at it's end. To use the unit, you
MUST touch your lips to either side of the hole. This sounds really strange,
and we were a bit leery about it at first, but it turned out to be not as
unnatural as it sounds. I got used to speaking into the tube after a half
hour or so, my wife took a bit longer. I suspect that the 'lips to the
tube' bit is what makes the VOX work so well - road noise is *not* picked up
at all, and the VOX doesn't switch on at the wrong times.

Controls on the unit are obvious - a volume and a VOX sensitivity control. We
were able to leave the VOX sensitivity turned all the way up (as sensitive as
it would go) everywhere but in a couple of the towns we went through. Volume
is adjustable from really quiet to blast your head off.

We did experience some problems in one particular town, where the units went
a bit bananas... the VOX was cutting in and out in a quite irritating way.
Later experimentation convinced us that at least half of the problem was weak
batteries, though I suspect electrical interference in town was contributing
as well. The other nit I have to pick is that when the VOX cuts out, it's
occasionally accompanied by a brief (but reasonably 'sharp') static burst.
I've never used other VOX units, so I don't know if this is a general
characteristic of VOX or not.

Batteries seemed to last for about 5 or 6 days of 5 hour/day riding (regular
alkaline batteries). I haven't used them enough to know if this is normal or
not (we're still on the second set of batteries).

Just as an aside, I spent a lot of time trying to decide whether to spend the
money to buy these things or not. They are *not* cheap, but in the end, I'm
glad I did. YMMV, of course.

The two bike shops in Vancouver that carry these things swear by them. They both
carry Nady and Maxon as well, and one of the shops reports a 60% return rate on
the Nady units due to unsatisfied customers.

Oh yeah... My wife and I were on the same bike, so I can't comment on the
range, other than that they work well at a 2 foot range ;-). I don't recall
the intended maximum range...

-- 
Ross Parker           |                            | DoD# 1188   KotHFJ
MPR Teltech Ltd.      | You can't erase the dream, | '88 FJ1200
Burnaby, B.C., Canada | You can only wake me up... | parker@mprgate.mpr.ca