Starcom Audio

[Malcolm6112]

In this vast land of ours, does anyone have a Starcom Advance unit?
What do you think of it?
What do you hate about it?
Most importantly would you recommend one?
Bearing in mind that the guy in Sydney is good to talk to, but he sells the product.

Your thoughts?

 
P.S. Blue is a really cool colour!

[terrydj]

Mate no idea about the Advance but I've had a Starcom Digital fopr a few years now and???????? Well I have now done to digital remotes, guess their not waterproof. Had the microphone just come away, like break the wires, for no reason at all, like it was their and then in the bottom of the chin part of my helmet. And I think you also have to be a genious to program the thing or always have the instructions with you.
The bloke who sells em is a bloke called Dale Mclean  from Sydney and he is just the best, always their and always heaps of help.
http://www.starcom1.com.au/Contact.htm
Before the Starcom I had an Autocom and it was first rate, dam easy to adjust and to live with, just thought I would give the Starcom a go. But next time 

[rendog]

I had one on my Blackbird; a Starcom 1 Advance.
Fiddly things cause you have to set the volumes on the unit & that gets tucked away under all the tupperware.
No problems with install or operation really.
I wear ear plugs whilst riding so I always had it turned up full.
Could hear on the highway but round town - boom boom.
I pulled mine off in the end cause the wires broke in the cords to the helmets.
We only had mono and I'm pretty sure it gave us both headaches in the end.
I've actually got the unit off the bike at the moment cause I'm redecorating.
If you want a cheap second hand unit and wiring let me know.

[Tackleberry]

Currently using one my ST11 bloke and LOVING it.  I agree that the setting up part takes a little to get used to and I used to have dramas between volume settings until buying at external volume knob which gets rid of the issues between city and highway driving. 

I have a few things connected to mine: 

Zumo 660
UHF Radio 
Pillion Headset 
External Volume 
FM Radio/MP3 Set 
Bluetooth Phone Connector 

But hey the more you have to 'trial' it the more you have to ride it.  

The best part about it is Dale McLean Motorcycle Electronics - http://www.dmme.com.au/StarCom1.htm support you have here in Oz.  The man is an Electrical Engineer and will make any leads that you need if he doesn't have them.  Extremely nice bloke and he rides as well so he knows what he's talking about.

[Brian]

Hi, I've had my starcom adv. on the last two bikes and still find it meets all my needs. Coms to pillion....bike to bike via uhf radio....blue tooth for my phone.......plus mp3 player for my tunes. I hope this helps.

[Malcolm6112]

Thanks for the good reports.

Hope to get this sorted sooner than later.

 

[tj189]

I have recently purchased the digital unit, very happy with it.  Dale is great to work with

[Sicman]

The best part about it is Dale McLean Motorcycle Electronics - http://www.dmme.com.au/StarCom1.htm support you have here in Oz.  The man is an Electrical Engineer and will make any leads that you need if he doesn't have them.  Extremely nice bloke and he rides as well so he knows what he's talking about.

I had a nice 7 hr ride to get to Dale at Swansea, near Newcastle. He fitted my Mc Cruise control, 5 watt UHF, Starcom 1, lead for MP3 ( Must get one of them things one day), bluetooth interface. Highly reccomended for looking after the comms needs for your STeed

[Malcolm6112]

Next biggest question is....

Where did you guys pick up the 12v switchable feed from, to run the Starcom/uhf radio?

Was thinking of the quintet harness, then too hard waiting from America.

 

[Couch]

I had a quartet harness sent out from the states...........inexpensive & didn't take too long to arrive. Easy to fit, but..............a pain in the proverbial to take off all the left hand side plastics to fit it.................actually the taking off was easy, the putting back on was a pain!
I fitted mine to install my OEM heated grips.

Next biggest question is....

Where did you guys pick up the 12v switchable feed from, to run the Starcom/uhf radio?

Was thinking of the quintet harness, then too hard waiting from America.

 

[Malcolm6112]

Now that I have taken off the plastics a few times lately. It's not that hard any more.

If anyone would like to pay for the flight, I'll come over and do it for you.

I'll leave my Goldie at home though, he has a taste for plastic trim clips. Doh.

 

[walton]

Personally, I'd spend the extra few dollars and get the digital unit. It has auto volume so there's no need for a the boom boom that Rendog is talking about around town. If you don't wan't any music for a few seconds, just say something and the music mutes.
It's pretty much "set and forget" so you don't have to worry about being a genius to work it all out later.
I picked up my power straight from the battery as the unit will only "power up" if you have your helmet plugged in.

I'm running an iPhone from which i use it as a phone, (Duh!) A GPS, and an MP3 player, all in the one unit.
I have a seperate waterproof FM radio.
I also have a seperate GPS that I only use for FarRide and IBA rides for distance and average speeds.
I'm currently looking for a GME TX3100 UHF to slip into the fairing pocket to connect up to it as well.

And yes, I'm very very happy with my Starcom1 Digital!

You'll find Dale from DMME is very helpfull. He helped my rig mine up over the phone and I didn't even buy it from him!
If you need any more cables, headsets or even spares, he sends everything express post if you need it in a hurry or not.

[Shaun]

I have a starcom advance + bluetooth and if I have any sort of bitch about it, its the fact that the bluetooth doesn't allow the unit to act as a headphone for audio. I can answer calls ok from it, but it won't be recognised as a headset for music. When I drive the car, the bluetooth setup allows me to answer calls and play music all while the phone is still in my pocket. If I want to listen to music from it on the bike, I have to opt to plugging the phone up to the rca that has a physical connection to the starcom unit, ie I have to have the phone in the bike, not in my pocket.

Otherwise, so far so good.

Cheers, Shaun

[bluehonda]

 
I just changed the power supply to my Starcom and found a switchable fused supply behind the fuse block next to the battery.  Power and earth was from 2 bullet connectors so once I had the right size from Jaycar Elec I was set.  Seems a better idea to have the CB on a switched supply and the intercom powered direct as it switches on when the plugs connected.  That way the intercom works without the ignition on.

Brad

[Malcolm6112]

With the Starcom Digital, the UHF radio is powered from a plug on the unit. The Starcom is powered from the battery direct, via a fuse.
When the headset is plugged in, the unit and the UHF come alive. That way you don't have to remember to turn items on or off.
To shut it down, just unplug your headset.

 

[DaleMcLean]

Shaun, new BTM-02 does A2DP stream stereo or mono (your choice) ALSO auto answers iPhones  that cnt do it themselves  .
Malcolm that is just how mine is all set up, UHF (Uniden UH-015 remote head) , TT rider GPS amd Bluetooth module all powered form the switched outlet on the Digital 
Plug in headset, sit down , shut up and go. At the end of the day unplug headset and walk away