I wanted to write and let you know how fantastic I thought your service is. I could hardly believe it when the items I ordered on Wednesday morning showed up at my home on Friday morning. That is unbelievably fast shipping.

As for the new Chatterbox xBi reviews, in general (at this early date) I am please with them. My primary reason for purchasing them was to use as a Rider to Passenger communication system on our Harley Heritage Classic with Screaming Eagle pipes (kind of “loud” bike). We had been using a Chatterbox HJC-50 (?) low-end wired system that was a few years old and thought the xBi would give similar results, without the wires with the added benefit of having Bluetooth for the cell phone. I have not had the pleasure of using any “high end” intercom systems, so my only basis of comparison is the HJC-50. Given those parameters, I think that the Chatterbox xBi performed very well as an intercom---ONCE we got the two units to pair up with one another. Paring the units to each other took us about 45 minutes! Now that they are paired to one another, they seem to stay connected pretty well and find one another automatically upon powering up. The sound quality is acceptable. Easily on par with the HJC-50. At speeds up to 50 mph, communication is pretty easy. We used them at speeds up to nearly 80 mph, and communication was still possible, although it took a bit more effort to hear one another. Volume could have been better, but again, the old HJC-50 that the xBi replaced wasn’t very good at higher speeds, either.

We paired the Passenger Chatterbox xBi with my wife’s Samsung phone. The pairing process was very easy for the phone (much easier than getting the units to recognize one another, as described above). My wife was able to carry on a conversation with my son while we were cruising along at 50 mph. She said she could hear him speaking fine, and he could also hear her….the only problem is this: We were using the unit as an intercom (not playing any music) when the call came in to the xBi unit. Well, when a call comes in, the unit alerts you with a “three-beep” chirping sound. I suspect that IF we were playing music when a call came in the music would drop out and the chirp would occur. The fact that the music volume dropped would also serve to notify you that a call was coming. However, when just using the system as an intercom, the three chirps that the unit makes are very low in volume, and it is virtually impossible to tell that a call is coming into the system. In fact, my wife was not sure she had heard the chirps, but she pushed the power button (that’s how you “answer” the phone) and when she did, the unit dialed my son back, because she had just missed his call. So, if I could improve the unit, I would make those three “chirps” LOUDER.

I haven’t tried to pair the unit with a Bluetooth music player (yet). I have a bluetooth dongle for my ipod, and I plan to try that out in the next couple of days (it was strong chance of storms today, so I didn’t ride to work). When I do, I will test the music / phone combination and see if it is easier to tell when a call is coming in when you are listening to a music source.

I tried to pair the unit with my Garmin Nuvi 360 (via Bluetooth), but that (not unexpectedly) failed. I’ll probably buy the Chatterbox Bluetooth analog dongle to use via the Aux audio output of the Garmin.

As for the claimed battery life, my wife and I did a charity ride on Saturday. We turned the units ON at 7:00 AM, they got heavy use until about 1:00 PM when we got back for lunch. We left them ON while we ate lunch and watched the afternoon’s events. At 3:30 PM we started the ride home. When we got home at 4:15 PM, they xBi’s were still transmitting our voices. So, they ran for over 9 hours and were still going! I’d say that the battery life is going to be VERY GOOD, at least when used solely as an intercom.

So, here is how I would rate them so far (scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being best):

Ease of installation on helmet: 9 (much better installation system than the HJC-50)

Ease of set up: 4 (Ironically, paring two CHATTERBOX was more difficult than pairing with different manufacturer! Many people would have given up trying to pair the devices….I’m somewhat familiar with Bluetooth and it was difficult for me).

Battery Life (intercom): 10

Appearance: 10 (I’ve already gotten several comments. The installation looks “tidy” and sleek).

Sound: 7 (I can only assume that something like an AutoCom would be much better)

Sound (as compared to HJC-50): 8.5 (This is a definite improvement over the HJC-50. The ambient noise that we used to hear from the HJC-50 is GONE. The mics do a decent job of filtering out wind noise. We could carry on conversations with face shields down OR up and hear one another very well up to 55 MPH. At speeds over that, you can still converse, you have to “work” at it. There is some of the “Bluetooth” noise that is not uncommon with a lot of Bluetooth devices, however, we did not find it objectionable. Overall, this headset is quieter to use than the HJC-50.)

Accessories: 10 (The included battery charger is not too large. It has an LED that glows red when charging and green when charging is complete. Charging took about an hour the first time and about and hour and a half after the full day use.)

Usage: 7 (The “buttons” are all pretty sleek. While this helps make the unit attractive, it also makes it difficult to tell which button you are touching. I accidentally pushed the “mode” button when trying to adjust volume level and ended up having to have my wife fiddle with the unit (since my helmet was on). To receive a call, you have to be able to find and press the “power” button. This will take some practice and will still be pretty much impossible with gloves.)

If I could change anything:

-more “defined” buttons that could be used while wearing gloves.

-a LOUDER beeping tone that lets you know when a call is being received.

-easier paring of two xBi units to one another.

- an input in the microphone assembly that would allow you to use earbuds instead of the “speakers” supplied with the xBi.

-the ability to update the Bluetooth firmware and also change the pairing “code” so that more devices could be used.

In summary of my Chatterbox xbi review, the unit pretty much does everything I hoped it would do. I wanted a wireless intercom system, and in that respect is does a decent job. With a few minor improvements, this looks like it could be a great product. I’m looking forward to trying out the music via Bluetooth aspects. Chatterbox seems to have delivered (assuming good durability).

As for JC Motors, well, you guys get ELEVEN out of TEN. Everything you have done thus far has been exemplary. I could not have asked for better service and will definitely keep you in mind for future purchases.

Feel free to use my comments in your advertising if you should so desire.

Sincerely,

Steve Amos
Olathe, Kansas

Wednesday July 16th, 2008 - ChatterBox XBi Bluetooth Review

Recently purchased two Chatterbox XBis from JCMotors. Was impressed with how fast I received them (2 days). Pairing with cell phone and stereo audio was easy following the directions. Pairing rider with satellite receiver follows a different procedure than described in the User Manual, a call to Chatterbox provided the correct procedure. With that, pairing the rider to satellite receiver was very quick. Once everything was paired, everything connected very quickly and a little experimentation perfected how the buttons worked. Rider to passenger intercom was very clear (Shoei full face helmets, open face Chatterbox kits, HD Streetglide), even at 80 mph. I received a call while riding (at 60mph) and the caller was very surprised to learn I was talking while riding on a motorcycle. Said everything was clear with no wind noise. Battery life was very good (more than 5 hours) even though we were talking and listening to stereo audio the whole time. Helmet installation was easy. Only con is speaker size. Have to wear a doo rag when putting helmet on to keep our ears from folding over on the speakers. All in all this is a winner. Please feel free to post this review.

Robert Deadrick