UClear AMP Pro Helmet Audio System - Dual

TL:DNR: A major pain to install, even harder to set-up, but once properly operating probably the best way to listen to music and provide intercom between riders and passengers.Getting a decent motorcycle intercom solution shouldn't be this difficult in this day and age, where are the big hitters like Bose, Sennheiser, and Sony? Why are we stuck with half baked products from no-name brands Uclear and Sena? I'm glad these companies have stepped to the plate but their offerings can only be considered good when compared to other intercoms, in the grand scheme of things I can only call this system good enough.First lets talkunboxing. In the 2nd picture shown in the item description there are 12 round mounting pieces and 8 ovals for tacking down the wiring. In the package you receive there are 4 and 2 respectively, it's not enough to get the job done. I ordered this product twice and sent the 1st one back thinking I had received an open box return but when I got the 2nd package from a different vendor with the identical items I realized that the picture was wrong, not the package contents.Second, installation. Although there aren't enough velcro mounts to get the job done this isn't necessarily a show stopper. Depending on how your helmet is set up, you need some way to secure the ear pieces inside the helmet shell. For me this meant a single sided sticky mount with the opposite side velcro to attack the speaker covering, for others it might mean a double sided velcro attachment point. To secure the microphone wires they only included 2 oval velcro mounting attachments. Considering this is a dual pack with 4 microphone wires between 2 helmets I'm not sure how they expect me to use these, I opted for blue painters tape which seems to work fine. They only include 2 mounting brackets so if you plan to use this on multiple helmets be ready to pay $13 for a 2-pack directly from the manufacturer. Also bring your patience, the backing on the sticky tape of the mounting bracket must've been scientifically engineered to be EXACTLY the same size as the sticky backing, and it sticks like nobody's business. I was ready to kill something trying to get the red protective coating off the sticky mounting bracket, how about a pull tab or some overhang so I can get some tweezers on the backing guys?Third, intercom and music sharing setup. The included directions card says nothing about the physical installation and only a little more about getting the unit to work -- basically worthless. You need to go to YouTube and look at the manufacturer's videos to get the install accomplished. The videos are a mixed bag, some are useful and some aren't. I found them pretty confusing and had to call their customer support number about 5 or 6 times over the course of 3 days to get mine properly set-up. I believe CJ is the only employee of the company as he is the person who answered the phone every time. He was extremely helpful and responsive which is fortunate, if it wasn't for him I'd have thrown my hands up and sent it all back a 2nd time. I have a degree in electrical engineering and have built over a dozen computers but navigating the specific button pushes using the included instructions and online videos just didn't cut it for me, kudos to those of you who figure this out on your own. Finally, I always store my helmet in the helmet back when I'm not wearing it and twice I've found my AMP Pro dangling by it's wire after mysteriously disconnecting itself from the supplied mounting bracket. I seriously don't understand how this is happening as I've tried to intentionally remove it twice and it takes a unanimous act of congress to get a tiny screwdriver perfectly aligned to remove this thing from the mounting bracket. I don't get it but there it is.Last, functionality once properly installed and set-up. It's pretty doggone good. I ride an unfaired no-windscreen HD Fatboy and want to be able to listen to music at a reasonable level and/or talk with my passenger and this product succeeds on both counts. The vibration microphone makes me look way cooler than the Goldwing guys and their boom mics plus there's very little wind noise since the microphone is protected from the wind by the helmet shell and liner. The buttons on the unit are large and can be operated while wearing gloves which is a real plus. I opted for the top of the line Pro model hoping for high end sound, to me the speakers don't sound any better than a standard $20 pair of gym headphones. There is an app for your phone where you can enable a deeper bass but I found that setting just makes it sound like there's a pillow between the speaker and my ear -- completely muddied the sound and I immediately disabled it.

The good news is that when it works, it works well at least on one of my helmets. The second unit starting having problems almost immediately: short battery life, beeping for no reason, and eventually one of the audio channels stopped working. I contacted the company via their web site and opened a trouble ticket. So far, no response.As an added bonus, when I tried to update the firmware, my PC warned me that I was downloading a virus and blocked the download. I'm in the software business and it is easy to correct this type of an issue (false positive), but the company has not bothered to resolve it.There is great potential in this product, but its execution is a failure. I had no problems paying a premium price, but please provide the support that needs to happen with a product.I don't recommend the purchase of this product until their deal with their support and product quality.

Easy install. I like this over the sena because of the lack of a separate battery pack. I don't know how long they last but we have not ran one completely out yet. 300 miles and it took all day to do it. We stopped and ate, saw some things etc. Never turned them off. We talked alot during the riding also. Very impressed with the battery life. We had the uclear hbc 100,(good) then 200,(pretty good) and now amp pro (dang good). Continuous improvement. They sound great and call get really loud. 80 mph and we could still talk. linking was easy and e have only had to do it once. They now link with each other automatically. Easy stuff.i had read that when playing music thru a Bluetooth device, it was difficult to link and didn't sound very good. I had no problems linking and I thought they sounded fantastic. No complaints I would buy them again

Ordered 2 of the Dual Amp Pro packages (4 UClear devices) for a snowmobile trip with my family. I already owned 2 of the UClear HBC220 snow units from three year ago. I was able to update the firmware on all 6 units to connect them together as one large party line intercom. Yes! So that works as advertised. That's the good news. Now the bad news:The two older HBC220 Snow units would not reconnect with the other four Amp Pro units (and vise versa) when the Bluetooth became unconnected during on-the-trail use. This happened often when two riders were more than 300 or 400 yards apart or when line of sight between units was broken around a trail turn. The newer Amp Pro units would all reconnect automatically when the distance was closed. In order to reconnect the UClear HBC 220 units we had to turn the intercom off and then back on. So I have to deduct one star since the newer Amp Pro units couldn't reconnect automatically with the HBC220 Units and vice versa....despite the UClear folks saying they would (I emailed them to check before ordering). So when everyone was back together in a group, after the Amp Pro Units disconnected from the HBC 220 units, the two HBC 220 units would reconnect to each other and thus have had their own 2 person intercom and the AMP Pro units had their own 4 person one. We would all be looking at each other saying, "Do you hear me, I hear you, but I don't hear her or him". Super irritating. So I thought I would reinstall the latest firmware again. The next day, they still had the same issue. This is because All HBC systems use Bluetooth version 3.0 and all AMP systems use Bluetooth version 4.2. The different Bluetooth technology between the HBC and AMP is a huge issue if you have both and while they do connect when you manually do it, they will not reconnect automatically in use out on the road/trail.... Despite what UClear tells you.I also had two of the newer Amp Pro units intermittently become unrecognizable voice wise. It did it one or twice a day. It sounded as though the user was speaking with a super high pitched whine that was inaudible for the others on the intercom. Once again, if we powered the unit off and then back on it fixed the issue. Frustrating. I even reinstalled the latest firmware, again, on those units and they still did it. One more star gone.I did not update the firmware for the Amp Pro units to deal with the constant brrrap, brrrap, braap, engine noise from our sleds. The mics mistake that braap, braap, acceleration for speaking and transmit it. Why? Who knows? But it is there and its irritating to hear that all time from other riders. Braaap, brapp braap in the ear from six sleds gets old. To be fair, UClear knows this is a problem on snowmobiles and motocross bikes. They have a AMP Pro firmware update for snowmobiles and motocross bikes to help deal with engine noise being transmitted thru the mics, but that update does limit some of the streaming of music features. So you have to be willing to live with that tradeoff. There is no similar firmware update for HBC 220 units and I was afraid to try it for fear all 6 units would not connect intercom wise. I ride again in two week and will be updating the firmware on the APR Pro units to deal with the engine noise. I will post an update. Its super irritating. Still, one more star deducted.The sound on the Amp Pro units was much better than the older UClear HBC 220 units due to their upgraded ear speakers. I streamed music to one unit for one night ride and it was great. No issues at all. Better bass. It worked flawlessly. Its not Bose level, but for what it is, it was fine.When the intercom worked, the system was awesome, but it was painfully time consuming to keep reconnecting the devices. The battery life was excellent on the Amp Pro units. It lasted at least 8 hours plus. We never ran out all day. The older UClear 220 Snow units made it about 5 to 6 hours before they started to beep telling us to charge them. .Recommendation: These Amp Pro units are expensive. Very. I would not buy the AMP Pro units if you are tryin to connect them to any other non-Amp UClear units. And even if you aren't, I would think hard about buying them, due to the price. The ROI just isn't there. Each unit is around $100 too expensive IMO for the level of sound, frustration and distance they cover. If you want to just use one unit and stream music or take phone calls, they are great., But for intercom use, think hard about it.