What have you found or used as far as a commnicator headset to talk directly to your instructor or student? What are the best products out there? I've only used the NADY system and found that the earpiece/microphone cord lenght to be rather short which required the unit to be placed on the drivers right ear and passengers left ear with the controller unit placed between us.

Any others with better set-ups?

 

Chatter Box

 

There are two common units on the market, Nady (the blue box) and Chatter Box.

I've used both, and advise you to avoid the Nady like the plague: it's a worthless POS (yeah, I know I shouldn't hold back...). The problem with the Nady is reliability, as in there is none. The headset wires are very thin and have no mechanical strength, so after students pull them out of their helmets by the wire a few times they go open circuit. I've rewired them with heavier cables, but ti's really not worth the efforty.

The Chatter Box is a little more expensive, but much better quality both in construction and audio. It's still not perfect though: the DIN connectors at the box are finicky and don't always make good contact, a problem that I've had with two different units. Still, it's much better than the Nady. Here's one good source: <http://www.hmsmotorsport.com/store/trackside-tools/comfort-tools/chatterbox/#1923>

Neil
05 MCS
96 M3

 

That's the feedback I was looking for. If anybody else has any input I'd appreciate it.

 

Just make sure the cord is long enough to get to the drivers left ear as he may be hard of hearing in his right. (speaking from experience )

 

Same with me.....I also suffer from selective hearing loss (just ask the wife)

 

I have also used both to instruct on track and the Chatterbox is by FAR the winner. Not only has mine lasted 2 years which beats the Nady by 2x but I have only had a student kill one headset so far when pulling it out of a helmet and that beats the Nady by 4x.

Mine is the HJC-50 Tandem Pro which I purchased from Joe Marco at HMS Motorsports (great folks who give huge time to the local Boston BMW CCA Chapter as well as other Northeast clubs). Grab it from them:

http://www.hmsmotorsport.com

Dave

 

Ooops, I intended to mention that I bought an extension cord and the Full Face Mic & Headset which I installed 2 years ago and it is still running perfectly. I mounted the unit itself on my helmet so the only thing "hanging loose" is the extension cord and student headset. I broke that bracket last fall through my own carelessness hoping into a Ferrari too quickly (no harm to the Italian hardware) and need to replace it. I wouldn't fault the bracket...

Dave

 

chatter box... both my instructors used them both. I REALLY liked it. And would highly recommend it.

 

I bought the ChatterBox Tandem Pro 50 and used it this past weekend at Infineon Raceway. Had a great weekend except for the serious rainfall on Sunday which shut the school down. The entire Somona Valley is flooding as a result of the down pour. With the exception of the on/off switch being a bear to locate on the top quickly, the students could hear instructions fine and clear.