2 way headphones

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Iggy

Guru
Joined
Mar 1, 2020
Messages
1,009
Location
United States
Vessel Make
Pacific Trawler 40
Looking for a set of 2-way radio headphones. I am at the helm and the Admiral on the bow picking up a mooring. Well, its hard to her!

The only thing I can find is Bluetooth for phones or very expansive 2-way units in the $800 per pair units.

any suggestions??
 
READY said:
I think Eartech "Marriage Savers" are the default standard. Here is a link I copied from Amazon. $385 for the pair. This is not a sponsored link and I have no vested interest:
https://www.amazon.com/Eartec-UL2S-...ocphy=1014218&hvtargid=pla-567985932896&psc=1
Click to expand...




This is the way. We tried Sena and sent them back, too difficult for us to pair reliably. Eartech just works.


Two tips, remove the batteries when not in use to assure they don't get left on, and rig a lanyard so you don't lose one overboard.
 
Doug_Snider said:
We’ve been vert happy with these Sena headsets. They’re very light weight and water resistant.

https://www.sena.com/product/expand-boom
Click to expand...

:thumb:
Bought primarily for the Motorhome, but now used exclusively on the boat. helm to bow is way below their capability. I am itching to try them from helm to the tree on shore that I am tying to. I think that will still be well below their range.
 
I use Eartech muffs for a team competition that requires utmost reliability and simplicity in operation as well as battery life. I have a 5 headset system and it works perfectly. Buy once, cry once ;)
 
Iggy,
From my experiences the 2 main options are the Sena units or the Eartec. Personally we chose the Eartec single ear unit. As another poster stated, I did not trust relying on a "Bluetooth" connection. I have experienced problems with device pairing with other devices and did not want to chance it with boat coms.
Our Eartec units worked flawlessly and the sound quality was very good. With the single ear, you can hear other things like marina staff on the dock, or the VHF radio if you are the pilot. If the microphone arm is lifted up, it turns the mic off so you can talk to "others" without speaking loudly in your partner's ear. The only issue, is the "slave" unit is not easy to turn off (at least know for sure it is off), so removing the batteries as a matter of use is a good idea as is the lanyard idea!!
However, they are not inexpensive, but they do work great, reducing stress, ensuring better communication between crew members, and I feel there is value in that.

We are not associated in any way with this company, only a customer.
 
Eartech all the way!!! We went with 3 sets. Great for going through the locks and if we have other "helpers". Flybridge, bow 7 stern, everyone can talk without screaming or screaming AT each other... ;)

100000% Marriage/relationship savers, lol, mine were a Valentines gift from my fiancé! ;)
 
Thank you all!

I get the part about the Bluetooth connection. At times it can drive you crazy.

Headphone vs dinner on valentine's day. I will never be that lucky!
 
Air Controls - Headphone problem

On a large vessel, I found that the air-controlled throttles keyed the headset microphone each time I put the clutch into or out of gear.

The "Pssshhh" sound was very loud, enough to take engage the headset sending unit so that I couldn't hear the mate or the bosun when they spoke. This was a big problem if we were med mooring, since the mate was on the stern and completely out of sight.

I went back to a handheld vhf unit, so I could control the Push To Talk button.
 
Iggy said:
Looking for a set of 2-way radio headphones. I am at the helm and the Admiral on the bow picking up a mooring. Well, its hard to her!

The only thing I can find is Bluetooth for phones or very expansive 2-way units in the $800 per pair units.

any suggestions??
Click to expand...


We use SENA SPH-10 headsets, easy pairing, no issues with Bluetooth... and some may find it useful to pair the headsets with other stuff (phones, music, whatever) although we don't do that.

An issue I've read about is that the batteries are not user replaceable. We've not yet had t think about battery replacement.

Can't compare to Eartec; no experience with those.

-Chris
 
I've got the Eartech's and love them, the single ear lets me hear what is going on around me. I am a fan.
 
Sena’s are a little cheaper than Eartech’s. Most people are happy with either. A few people have had issues with both. More people have gone from Sena to Eartec than from Eartec to Sena. With this info it’s now up to personal choice.
 
Eartech. Flawless. I got 4 so passengers can listen and to expand crew when appropriate. Less than 1 boat buck...
 
Another vote for the single ear Eartechs. Problem free after 3 seasons and the Mrs. and I can speak our obscenities at each other with an inside voice avoiding attention in marinas.

As mentioned above, remove the batteries and they will remain charged and ready to go for the next round
 
Eartech. We mostly use them to pick up mooring balls, but also docking in strange marinas is also helpful to have them on. Being able to communicate directly with my wife, in a calm voice is a good thing. We had a situation this past Summer that got a bit dicey, and those things paid for themselves on that day alone.
 
I have the Eartechs too, just a pair. For those that say they have 4 plus, does buying another pair allow them to just synch with each other?
 
bowball said:
I have the Eartechs too, just a pair. For those that say they have 4 plus, does buying another pair allow them to just synch with each other?
Click to expand...

We have 4 of them and they all sync up with no fuss. There is a number above which you need an additional base unit to use them all at once. I think it may be more than 4 or 5. A sportfisher friend of mine runs 7 or 8 at a time and it works.
 
We used to have Sena. Yes, pairing was a hassle but the crunch came when battery life began to degrade and we found replacing batteries was not possible. I was told I'd have to buy complete new sets of Senas. Really?

Moved to Eartec and have never looked back. Magnificent. Easy to pair and battery life is considerable. And batteries can be replaced so easily.

Win, win.
 
Another Sena "never again".
I have the SPH10s - which worked great for several years. The intercom pairing is really not that bad once you get used to it, the battery life out-of-the-box lasted around 10 hours. The noise cancelling microphones also work fairly well, you rarely hear background noise, only voice.

The problems (for me):
The are somewhat prone to interference, especially in marinas. This is likely due to WiFi and radar
.
About 4 years later - you cannot easily replace the batteries, they use tamper resistant screws.

Batteries is the biggie - if you cant replace them then the annual cost is about $50/year, never again.
 
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Eartech appears to have three models. The UltraLite that has no base station, the HUB that uses a central base station, and ComStar that seems to be a higher-end version of the HUB.


Which are people using?
 
twistedtree said:
Eartech appears to have three models. The UltraLite that has no base station, the HUB that uses a central base station, and ComStar that seems to be a higher-end version of the HUB.


Which are people using?
Click to expand...

Their systems are quite scalable. I would suggest the 'Lite' series as they are self contained and do not require a belt worn transmitter/receiver. The Lite is quite powerful; I have maintained communications with team members over 150yds away. The Lite system will allow 4 slave headsets to one master for a total of 5 in a group. If more are needed in a group the 'Hub' system would be the next step but I could not imagine needing more than 5 on a non-professionally crewed boat. I get about 6hrs minimum of use out of a battery during our team competitions (long range target rifle competition) but have redundant batteries charged just in case of a failure. The swap-out is less than 15 seconds and requires no tools. My system has been totally reliable, never had a slave drop out from the connection, and is comfortable to wear. I have used them in heavy blowing dust/sand in desert environments and in a couple of heavy rains and no issues resulted. No salt water environment use though but when I get the larger boat, in the hopefully not so distant future, I will keep a set on board.
 
In what I think was an earlier generation of the lites, my wife and I were traumatized by the master slave interaction that seemed to regularly leave us out of communications, unaware of it, and unable to recover without being next to each other. It was a real shirt show and I sent them back.

So I am inherently skeptical of the lites where there is a master and a bunch of slaves. Now if you add the hub, it seems that it’s the master and all the headsets are slaves. That seems much cleaner because everyone can just grab a headset and turn it on without any startup sequence.

Then the higher end set seem to work the same way with a hub and slave headsets. I know a few people with these and they speak very highly of them, but they are 2x the cost of the hub + lites.
 
Just purchased the Eartech headsets. Audio quality is great. However, they can fall of my wife's head quite easily. I'm wondering what kind of lanyard solution you folks have come up with.
 
$1032 Aud at Amazon here. We just might continue yelling at each other:). Actually, it`s not hard to create a signal system for mooring pickups, the direction of the boathook handle and its unfortunate wielder is a guide.
 
hmason said:
Just purchased the Eartech headsets. Audio quality is great. However, they can fall of my wife's head quite easily. I'm wondering what kind of lanyard solution you folks have come up with.
Click to expand...

Agree, its best to have them secured. I ordered ours a couple years ago. I told them they were for a boat, and to include the lanyard, which they did. Not sure if they still do that.
 
RedRascal said:
Not sure if this could be step one towards battery replacement. https://www.harborfreight.com/security-bit-set-33-pc-68459.html
Click to expand...

Really?
I have a pair of Senas. If (when) the batteries go and I need to replace them, why would I complain that the Senas are no good and go buy a pair of Eartech, when all I need to do is use the latest torx to get them out and put in some new batteries.
How many of us are that useless at DIY that we cant cope with a simple battery replacement?
I already have those torx. Required for a fix I had to do on my 2004 car.
 
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