Helmet mounted Bluetooth headset - DIY install of Samsung HS3000

Hello everyone. I put together a Bluetooth helmet mounted setup to work with for my Atrix phone and I just HAVE to share!

This all started with me mounting up my phone on my yellow 2000, so I could use the navigation. That led to wanting a Bluetooth headset in my helmet so I could hear my navigation app. on my phone and do voice reply to text messages without taking off my gloves and helmet. I don't believe you should answer the phone when on your motorcycle, but that would be very possible as well.

When I looked for products, they were basically in two categories. Over $100 with DSP (digital signal processing), or under $100 without DSP. DSP and it's noise cancellation abilities are critical for our type of use, so I have been looking in the $100+ range. I was a little annoyed though, because I don't want a bike-bike communicator. I just want the Bluetooth and A2DP (so I can hear the voice command from the navigation app.) and felt I was getting shafted having to pay the extra for communicator features I won't use. That is when I came across the Samsung HS3000 headset. The VERY cool thing about it is that you can plug regular headphones into it and use it as an A2DP device to listen to your music wirelessly.

I ended up buying an HS3000 from Amazon for $35 (including shipping).



Next, I grabbed a pair of Phillips over the ear headphones I already had and removed the ear clips. I had previously shortened the audio cable to use with a different phone/MP3 player, so they were the PERFECT choice.




My helmet has removable earpads that let you fit helmet speakers inside, but I didn't want the speakers to flop loose or catch as I remove the helmet. I looked at things and realized I could just open up one end of the pads and stuff in the speaker. When I tried it on, the fit was perfect. There is a difference in feel inside the helmet, but you don't notice the tiny bit of extra contact on your ears after a few minutes.




The last step was to simply attach the headset to the inside of the chin bar with some double sticky Velcro. Now I can remove the headset if I need to. The very cool thing is that the way I mounted it, you cannot tell there are speaker inside the helmet, my ears won't ever snag on speakers or loose wires and I can charge the headset while it is in the helmet by opening the visor. The charging port is facing up, while the mic. and headphone plug face down.




Here is a good final look at the inside. The area inside the red box is the ear pad. You can't even tell I stuffed anything in there.




I tested the DSP of the headset by talking to my wife on the phone, while I had a hair dryer blowing on the chin bar. There was NO wind noise present. I will have to see how it does when I am actually riding, but during the test there was absolutely ZERO noise bleed through. My wife said all she could hear was my voice. Even when I held the blow dryer against the helmet (creating a nasty buzz inside) my wife said she just barely hear some kind of background noise. I will report back after I use it on the road, but right now it looks like some of the best $35 I ever spent.

Jose

 

Hose - great find. I did a wired headset for nav, music and phone with my android phone a couple of years ago, and have been eyeing the many new bluetooth units on the market, but this looks like a great solution for wire-free connections

 

I just bought this unit today. Can't wait to test it out. I have a nolan helmet, hopefully I can fit the headphones nicely. I'm going to shop around to see what's going to be a perfect fit.

 

odd question if you are riding and you get a call how would you answer it?

 

Touch the button to answer or use voice commands. Wind noise is bad over 35 for speaking but you can hear perfectly music nav etc. I have this exact unit and it's perfect. Couldn't be happier.

 

coolio thank, guess i'll be doing this for nav lots of mileage for work to stores i've never been too.

 

I decided to cut my right side cheek pad open and stuff it in there. Now it looks like I have nothing in the helmet, but it works AWESOME!!!! I can even push the answer/end button with a gloved hand now. You can see the light through the fabric to verify its on too. This is a GREAT addition to my riding gear.

Talk to text doesn't work very well, though. I will keep experimenting. Maybe it would help if I tape a foam pad onto the mic. opening to reduce noise.

Jose

 

great idea. Been thinking about buying something like this, but was hesitant to spend the money

 

I have a Garmin Zumo GPS that has the capabilities to sync all your devises through blue tooth including cell phones and the Chatterbox system i have for my helmet. I am sure the technology has improved over the last couple years, but I am not impressed with the quality of phone or music I get through the blue tooth into my headset.

Like what was mentioned, going any faster than 35 MPH or so and there is too much wind noise for the voice activated mic to be clear for the person at the other end. Strange enough though, the bike - bike coms between two chatterboxes was really good when I got it working proper. But the phone issue sucked. Operations of the phone could be done through the touch pad on the GPS so that was quite simple, even wearing gloves.

The music was OK so long as you were at lower speeds. Even with the MP3 cranked full power, at freeway speeds, there was too much wind noise to hear the music to the degree that it was enjoyable.

So what I do now is the phone is synced but I won't answer it on the move. If I can get pulled over quick enough I will answer or call back. I don't use the Chatterbox at all. I have replaced that with Panasonic "in the ear" buds with an attached boom mic. The jack fits the GPS perfectly. You need to deal with the flapping loose wire some how but that is doable. This not only delivers better sound even at highway speeds, but the silicon ear buds do offer some protection from the wind noise which is damaging to your hearing. I have found that the Panasonic has the smallest ear bud so I have worn it in my helmet up to 19 hours straight and don't recall irritation. Yup, that was 19 hours from Aldergrove BC straight through to Sacramento, Ca.

Naturally a lot is dependent on the helmet you wear. Mine is the Shoei X12. It is lighter than most and has a lot of air circulation which is of higher priority to me than the noise. Well it was as I used to ride most the time in the rain and air circulation = less fogging of the shield. There are alternatives to the noise that I can use. And I have degenerated disc in my neck so small reductions in weight has big pay offs.

 

BTW. To do it over again, I do't know that I would have spent the kind of money I did on the Garmin and Chatterbox. Hugely expensive for what it is, especially the GPS.