Dainese have just released a new helmet with built in Bluetooth, (this is for all those GPS Bikers).
Its a great looking helmet and like I said has built in Bluetooth. It has two speakers rather than the one earpiece you get with most GPS systems and you can talk to your mate, (if he has one as well), bike to bike, without using a phone or any other device, up to 400 meters away!
It also pairs with your phone, music player etc.
This leads to my question, if anybody has one of these helmets, will it work with the TomTom Rider 2nd edition?
I keep getting conflicting reports and wondered if anybody has actually got it working or has seen it working.
By the way if you want to look at the details of the helmet click on this link:
There’s no getting away from it, it is expensive. But, it is a stylish helmet and I have received confirmation from Dainese that the helmet is compatible with both the TomTom Rider and the Garmin GPS units.
If you have a TomTom you will know how crap the Bluetooth earpiece is, the Cardo thing, stuck on the outside of your lid! What’s that all about?
With this you get built in twin speakers, microphone built into the chin piece, talk to a fellow rider via Bluetooth up to 400 meters away.
No I don’t think I’ll use it for listening to music, but for the TomTom when touring, invaluable to me.
I appreciate some people are quite happy with a map, that’s great, me I can study a map all day, then a mile down the road and I’ve forgotten which road to take!
I’ll be buying a Dainese D-NECT Infinity this weekend.
Looks like a fantastic lid. Have you given it a good run yet? I have lots of questions about it!
Have you speed tested it at all? What’s it like at high cough speeds? Can you hear clearly?
Have you used it with a phone at all? At reasonable speeds (as you’d be mad to be in conversation at one hundred and plenty miles per hour) can you be heard clearly?
Do you know if it’s A2DP/AVRCP compatible?
What is the lid like as a “normal” lid? Is it noisy? (I currently have an Arai RX7-RR4, so I’m used to some noise!) Would you still need ear plugs (which I gather would ruin the point of the speakers?)
I couldn’t see if the visor was easily removable? Can you get pinlock ready visors for it?
Yes, I’ve tried it out, only the once, due to weather, having to go to work rather than play etc. etc. Findings so far are: 1) The speed test was successful, I can hear it pretty clearly at 70mph. Not having ever exceeded 70, cough, I would suppose that you could hear it, not always clearly above that speed but you would know it was telling you something. Hopefully if you were going faster than 70, you would have time to react to take a slip road etc. according to the display. (The faster your speed the earlier the turn warnings, at least that’s the case with the TomTom). One thing I’m not overjoyed about is that fact that the sound level is solely controlled by the helmet. This means its not speed sensitive. So at slow speeds it really loud and on the dual carriageway its about right. You can adjust the sound level on the move, using your left hand and pressing the upper button on the helmet. Each press takes it up or down one notch. But you obviously need to be careful when doing so.The other thing is the sound quality could be better. I don’t really know how to explain but its like “clipped”, like a computer generated voice over a radio link might sound. You know these American war movies where the soldiers are taking to each other with a “Comms Link”, its kind of like that. That’s the best explanation I can think of.2) Not had a chance to try it out with the phone yet! Just got a new phone also and its too much technology at the moment to get to grips with! Haven’t paired it with the helmet yet. 3) Sorry don’t even know what A2DP/AVRCP is? (if you or anybody is interested PM me with an email address and I’ll send a copy of the helmet manual, my edited version, which will fully explain the features, specification etc.). 4-5) The performance of the lid itself is very good. The fit is excellent, at least for my shape of head. It feels like a high quality lid, if you know what I mean. You get a Pin Lock type system in with it, which you fit yourself, (takes about 5 mins), to prevent misting. The visor fits snug, can be removed for cleaning etc, just like the Shoei fitting. It has a little lever on the left to crack it open at one side if you don’t use the Pin Lock type thingy. The opening seems a bit smaller than the Shoei? Because I had trouble at first putting on my sunglasses, sort of getting them under the fully opened visor and between my head and the padding. But one you done it a couple of times… It also seemed slightly noisier than my Shoei but, I tried to them think of the noise the Shoei makes to compare and couldn’t. This makes me think the noise I was hearing was because I was listening for it, if you see what I mean. I think it looks pretty cool too. My two piece suit is black/red/white so the lid goes well with that, not that I’m concerned at all about how it looks, Hmmmm that would be vanity that wouldn’t it… The advert does seem to show a grey version and the black one with Dainese in red. But the shop only had the black one and they said that’s the only colour as far as they know? Its certainly light enough, considering it has a battery, speakers and the Bluetooth/radio gubbins built in.
Oh, forgot to say. I got it from M&S Motorcycles in Newcastle Upon Tyne and I paid £325. Which I thought was ok, considering its a brand new lid with the technology built in. You pay around that for a new Shoei I would imagine?
Cool, thanks. Probably not quite there yet in what I’m looking for but sounds pretty good none the less.
A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) is the bluetooth profile for transmitting stereo music. AVRCP (Audio Video Remote Control Profile) is the bluetooth profile for controlling a compatible MP3 player.
Basically I wanted to know if I would also be able to pair it with my phone and use it as an MP3 player without having to get tangled up in wires, oh and also because I have a nightmare of a time getting headphones on under my lid.
Doesn’t sound like it is compatible though and also with the clipping you talked about, probably wouldn’t sound that great either.
What colour did you get?