Customer Reviews

Blueant F4 Stereo Bluetooth Interphone Motorcycle Kit (Helmet not included)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have owned a pair of these since November (I bought them within a day of their availability in the US), and have lots of miles on them. Don's (Daugherty) review is excellent, and I won't repeat it. I have used these on both my custom Harley (loud) as well as a cruiser, and I can tell you that volume is fantastic, as is the fidelity. However, as Don notes, they are NOT iPhone friendly. The problem is not the A2dp compatiability (BlueAnt tech is using that excuse, but is using old iPhones), as only the first generation iPhones and iTouch's had that problem.
See this link for proof: [...]

The problem is that the BlueAnt F4 is NOT sending the "pause" code when it enters intercom mode. It does send the proper code when it enters telephone mode (the music stops playing and returns when stopped). You do get the music back when the phone call terminates. When an intercom "call" terminates, you can not get back to your music without taking out and fiddling with the iPhone.

Don noted that the external (redundant) Bluetooth adapter works (sort of true), in that the music returns. However, the music has continued playing while you were on intercom, proving that the F4 did not send the pause signal. If it HAD sent the pause signal to the iPhone (or iPod), you would not have to use the external Bluetooth device.

What is bad about the external Bluetooth device hanging on your iPhone? It costs extra, for one. More importantly, it absolutely drains your iPhone battery quickly (you are running 2 Bluetooths on the phone!), AND you can't have your phone plugged into the bike for power since the Bluetooth adapater is occupying the iPhone charging slot!

So, if you aren't using the iPhone as your music and phone device, I fully recommend the BlueAnt F4. However, if you are an iPhone user, you will be frustrated, as the 10h battery life of the BlueAnt means nothing when your iPhone craps out in less than 4 hours !!!

BlueAnt can fix this with a protocol change, and I surely expect them to. Until then, iPhone buyers beware.

Works well on my Harley (Loud). I have an Ultima Performance engine and I can hear music & phone calls fine over that.

Have it connected to my Zune with a Bluetooth adapter as well as my Blackberry . Sounds is a bit tinny and the right speaker seems to be quite a bit quieter then the left one. I will see how it works with an IPod soon.

Now for the not so great. Contacted support to find out about what "Motorcycle Friendly GPS's" means. Got back a "Have to contact the GPS vendors" response. Really? You claim suport but can't list any? Not very helpful there. Well I decided to picked one up anyways for the other features and hoping that my Bluetooth GPS would work. Nope the Garmin 1490T did not work. Contacted Garmin and they stated the F4 will not work with their GPS's not even the Zumo motorcycle specific ones. So what does that "Motorcycle Friendly GPS" mean if motorcycle centric (Zumo) ones don't work? Glad I waited to drop the $$$ on the Zumo GPS for a bit.

Would rate it higher if their support was better and they would actually list supported GPS's. I can't imagine shipping a product without saying what we support and what could possibly work.

Just received two of these and installed them on mine and my wife's helmets, easy install. This is the third set of headsets I have purchased for my Goldwing. First I tried the J&M corded model. Could hardly hear my wife even when the bike was not moving, plus the cords are a pain. Then I got the first version of the Interphone for Motorcycle (one speaker) much better product, no cords and worked well; however, I am hard of hearing so when riding I could never hear when a phone call came in, if I slowed to a stop I could then have a discussion; yes I know that is the safe way to use the phone but you can't pull off and stop if you never hear the call come in. Now I have the new version the Interphone F4. I have not used it on my bike yet because it is too cold to ride; however, when playing my Ipod around the house I have to turn down the volume because it is too loud. That never happened with either of the others. There is a problem with these headsets if you use IPHONE or ITOUCH, even though both of my apple devices are bluetooth stereo models they will not work properly. When you switch from intercom back to music they will not restart -- lots of fussing to make them come back on again. I contacted interphone and was told Apple does not support the "A2DP protocol" to make the Apple products work properly you need to add an adapter to them that does support the A2DP protocol. So... I happened to have such a device that I use in my shop to broadcast my XM radio to my bluetooth headset. I synced that adapter with my headset then plugged the adapter into the Iphone and "bang" it works perfectly with the interphone f4. Bottom line, I am very happy. Even though I have not tried these on the road yet, I am positive that I will be able to hear much much better than any other previous headset I tried. Also, note I am hard of hearing so I am not a great judge of sound quality but these speakers put out a lot of sound, both highs and lows.Blueant F4 Stereo Bluetooth Interphone Motorcycle Kit (Helmet not included)

Battery is still not removable. This was the major flaw in the last version for touring riders. Works great to answer your phone while riding, but you can't talk to your passenger throughout the day. 10 hrs is a joke, more like 4. All they would need to do is make the battery removable and sell us an extra one and a charger, then you could change it at lunch time and continue throughout the day. You would think they would want to do that because they would reach a wider range of riders and sell some extra equipment at the same time. I can't imagine what they are thinking. Oh well. Maybe next version. Check back in four years.

This blu tooth device works great! I am nearly deaf in one ear, and hard of hearing in the other, but I can still hear phone calls loud and clear going down the freeway at 75mph! I do have a windshield. People I have talked to did not even suspect I was on a motorcycle till I asked them if I sounded clear. worst I got was slight wind noise. Using a Droid 2. phone operation, and music operation work great.

I would not hesitate to recommend the Blueant Interphone F4 to my friends, or anyone else for that matter.

I purchased this product about 6 months ago to pair with my Zumo 665 and (eventually) Droid X. The unit installed into the helmet very easily (Shoei Hornet DS) but the curvature of the helmet causes the receiver to fall out of the retainer very easily. Volume is sufficient and better than most wireless units but could still be improved.

Pros; very easy to pair up to your devices, good battery life, volume, noise cancelling, sound quality and general design.

Cons; suffered the same fate as many others in that the boom mic portion failed early on and had to be replaced (twice) customer service was good but let's fix the problem folks. Battery, even though the life was good, the only way to charge it is to disconnect it and use a wall charger, I ride and camp a lot so this has come to be a deal killer for me, simple fix would be as simple as a replaceable battery.

I have had connectivity issues to the Zumo 665 but in all fairness this is probably an issue with the 665 (POS in my book) and not the F4, still, I will be replacing it with something else and until they fix some pretty basic shortcomings and quality issues I cannot recommend this unit.

The BlueAnt F4 is amazing! I use it primarily to listen to music while communting to and from campus. The sound quality is good and I swear it increases the volume on my iPhone to compensate for wind noise.

Making and receiving telephone calls is not so great. Even with a full helmet, the wind makes it difficult for the other person to hear what you say.

Overall, I would buy it again.

what's good about the f4 interfone;

Is feature rich, easy to install, and has very good sound quality.

what's bad about the f4 interfone;

the connector that connects the headset to the receiver is easily broken. interfone would have done better with a 2" wire leader or a standard phono plug.