Installation of the AutoCom "EasiCom" Intercom System
For the open road races that we participate, driver to navigator
communications is vital to our success. For the first few races, we shouted at each other, yelling through the
helmet and the road/vehicle noise. For the '99 racing season, we opted to get a little more advanced, and purchased
an AutoCom "EasiCom" Motorcycle-type driver to navigator intercom system. This system is designed to
use a boom microphone and two ear pieces inside the helmet for communications. It was purchased directly from the
US distributor, Top Gear Accessories at 888-851-GEAR (Ask for Jason) and ran $425 for everything we wanted. Standard
pricing would have only been $300 had we not wanted a few extra items. Here's the system as it was received.
Here is the AutoCom "EasiCom" system with all the options we wanted. Not normally included is the 2'
long straight extension cables, and the flush mount connectors. I decided to make this a permanent fit in the car,
yet wanted it out of sight for normal, day to day operations. The flush mounts were mounted on the inside of the
center console, so they are hidden from the outside, yet easy to get to.
The brain of the AutoCom "EasiCom" system is quite small and lightweight. I decided to wire everything
up and secure the brain to the inside of the center console with adhesive backed velcro. Works great, and it's
out of the way.
The installation into the helmets of the mic/headsets was pretty straightforward. It took a little time to get
them right where I wanted them, but once in they stayed in place. Here you can see the right ear speaker (black
oval just to the right of the chin strap), and the DIN style connector where it is tucked down below the cheek
pads for normal use.
Installation did make the helmet a little tighter on my face, but that was fine...it was getting loose anyway.
Conclusions:
The system itself worked excellent, however we did want it to be louder. We felt
that for $425, it should have had some sort of gain adjustment. This is a motorcycle type system, and is supposed
to be guaranteed to 125mph in a motorcycle application (wind-in-your-face). In the car, we don't have that and
it was still a little work to talk over the internal noise of the car. I have been in contact with Top Gear, and
they are trying to come up with a solution. Other than that, the system was well worth the money and effort to
install.
