headphones question

[beechfront]

i'm planning a long trip soon, and was considering getting a minidisc player. i found one that has am/fm/weather. i was thinking the weather part might be useful.

my question - does anyone use those ear-bud headphones inside their helmet? are they comfortable?

[Madness]

I just started using my MP3 player this month. I am using earbuds right now. I have a problem with the earbuds falling out of one or both ears when I put my helmet on. To help with this I took the little foam cover off and I had some Jabra molded ear pieces that came with my cell phone ear piece. The earbuds fit into a hole in the molded ear piece and they come in different sizes and shapes to fit different ears. I can still knock them out when I'm putting on my helmet if I'm not careful, but much better than sound than without them. You might try your local cell phone dealer if your interested in trying them.

[Ken Talbot]

See if you can find something like the speakers that come with Chatterbox Multisport communicators:


They're about an inch in diameter and maybe a quarter of an inch thick. With a spot of velcro on the back (the hook part) they stick nicely to the inside of a helmet right next to your ears.

[sixtysix]

I used ear buds on the trip to the XS camp in Arkansas in 2000. I really don't remember having a bunch of problems. Then the next year, I tried the same set up for Colorado and found that after a couple thousand miles my ears got sore, now I really can't even use those things without my ears getting sore within a couple hundred miles. I do have a hemet that has the communicator and speakers installed in it, but if you want to play music you need to have, 1 cord for power, then a cord going to your player, sometimes one for PTT, so the cord situation got out of hand. I need to have some of the custom made foam ones they make at the bike shows, they are coustom fit and do not stick out of your ears at all. BTW all the bikers in the know are going with the new XM satillite radio, always on, perfect sound, no discs to change.

[beechfront]

off the subject - XM radio

I had XM in my car and was not impressed. The programming was pretty good, but the thing I did not like was driving in town, signal would cut out ALL the time. if you get behind a tall building or some thick trees. Even on the interstate if you get beside a semi the signal would cut out. and by cut out I mean it's GONE. Also, I was not impressed with the sound quality. Very tinny sounding. I don't have the best ear - I usually can't tell the difference between a CD and a 128 kbps mp3. but XM is definitely not as good as either of those.

If I drove truck or was on the road all the time I would have kept it. The programming IS pretty good. the comedy channel is great. but when 90% of my driving was in town and It was constantly cutting out - no thanks. I also had some issues with their customer service. 1 hour on hold (no kidding) is enough to make me not want to do business with anybody. and that happened more than once.


I think I may go ahead with the minidisc purchase. I'll just have to experiment until I find something that is comfortable. I can't imagine driving for days without music.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Beechfront,

I have an MP3/cd player that I used for my XSEast trips. I made a 3 "D" cell power pack that clips onto my belt so that I wouldn't have to worry about my double AA's running down. I found a set of ear buds at Radio shack that were quite small, and had some nice foam wraps that allowed them to fit snugly into my ear. I draped the cord over my ear before I put my helmet on. Occasionally they would get knocked partially out while donning the helmet, then I just stuck my finger in under the edge of the helmet and spun/pushed them back into place!! They also came with a push button cutout switch so you could turn the sound off if you wanted to really hear something, but I found the switch kept getting pushed accidentally inside my coat/jacket, so I took it apart and soldered it thru so it wouldn't cut out!!!

But like Gary said, after several hours, the ear canal can get a bit sore depending on how big your canal is, and the fit of the buds. The foam provided a better bass, but still allowed you to hear external sounds like horns and such!! Several other brands of buds I found were still either too big, didn't have enough foam, or relied more on those fancy earclips to keep them in position, and those earclips hurt worse with the pressure of the helmet against your ears than the buds did!!! Good luck!

T.C.