2-Pin Ear-Clip Earpiece Headset for Kenwood Two Way Radio TK3170 TK3173 TK3200 TK3201 etc by Xunbin

Bought two for use with 2-way radios for bike to bike comms and tested on 900 mile trip.First impression was good, everything is well packaged and easy to connect the various leads for an at home test to check radios etc. I had to use a penknife to pare down a little plastic off the 2-pin plug that goes into the radio but that was a 1 minute job and may have just been my radios. Anyway, they fitted and worked just fine in the house for initial testing.Fitting -I found fitting the headset to my helmet was very easy. All helmets are slightly different but just sit down before your trip and explore the inside of your lid. You'll find plenty of places to run the wires and mount the earpads behind the helmet padding. My brother and I both have flip front helmets and there was plenty of wire on the mic to mount the mic inside the chin guard and still allow the helmet to open fully.Earpads -I found the earpads are very thin which is great. They fit well into a recess already in my helmet around the ear area and so they caused no uncomfortable pressure on my skull even on a long ride. My brother also found the same although one of his did shift position but since we just slid the earpads into place allowing the helmet padding to hold them without using the included sticky mounting we were impressed how well they stayed in place overall. Sound is very clear and certainly loud enough (depending on radio volume setting) to hear at speed, in wind with flip front helmet.Microphone -At first the mic seemed great with the first road test around town with very clear voice comms but same as other reviewers of this and other types of headset we found the faster you go the worse it gets. Anything over 50 mph and the wind noise just makes the whole thing pointless to use which was a great disappointment. We wanted to use the radios not only for discussing directions and keeping together in city traffic but also for occasional banter on the long motorway stretches between the fun roads.Thankfully a bit of a search and a couple of youtube videos provided a very simple and effective solution! All you need is a kitchen sponge and a latex type glove. The mic already has a little foam cover but it's no good against road and wind noise so following online suggestions I cut slice off the top of a kitchen sponge (the type that's yellow with the green scrubbing layer on the bottom). About a 5mm thick slice of yellow foam folded over the mic and then trimmed around to remove the excess. Now just hold the foam in place as best you can and shove the mic and foam into the thumb of your latex glove. Cut away the rest of the glove leaving the sponge wrapped mic in a little bag. I just used a wire twist tie to secure the whole thing around the mic wire and then attached it back inside my helmet chin guard area but off to one side.The difference this makes is unbelievable! At motorway speeds it is still a bit difficult to make out every word but we found it good enough to make the radios still usable and at any legal speed on any non-motorway road we had clear comms for the whole trip. Well worth a few minutes work and has the added benefit of waterproofing your mic.Push-To-Talk (PTT) button -This just works very simply and we had no problems. The button has a rubber cover and is mounted to your left handgrip or bar with velcro straps. We both ride cruisers and there was plenty of velcro to wrap around chunky grips. Mounting did use up a little hand space as I have very large hands and it was a little awkward at first trying to reach over the button to get at the indicator switch but after a little adjustment and practice we had no trouble at all. Our trip was mostly dry with a few heavy showers but if we were on a long wet ride i would think about using another piece of latex glove wrapped over the switch as with the mic just to make it that bit more waterproof.In use -It takes a bit of getting used to being wired onto the bike. We rode with the radio in a left hand jacket pocket. There is a wire running up from the radio plug to your helmet joined by a push-in and screw-tight multi-pin connector. There is another wire running from the radio to the PTT button on the handlebar which is also joined by the same multi-pin connector. We found that while riding the wires were not in any way intrusive and the slack can easily be wound up on the bars etc. as required.You do have to remember to disconnect from the PTT button first when dismounting your bike, Very simple to just unscrew then pull apart the connector in a few seconds, Same goes if you're taking off your lid, undo the connector first. When riding off, first just get helmet on, connect the mic and PTT leads then gloves on and go. You get used to it and any hassle is well worth it for decent comms on the ride.A word of warning though.... On first test I bent the pins in the PTT connector lead by twisting the male and female parts while attempting to line the pins up. After alot of fiddling about with a penknife the pins were straightened and all worked ok. Just be sure to visually line the pins up correctly first then gently press the connector closed, don't twist with the pins in contact as they are small and easily bent. This happened only the first time and once aware of the risk it never happened again.One other thing was my brother accidentally pulled a wire from the mic in his helmet by removing his lid before disconnecting the lead. We repaired the headset while hungover in a field with nothing but a swiss army knife and a bit of insulating tape but it is a very delicate operation since you need to pare down the wires which inside are hair thin and insulated with a fine film coating which needs to be scraped of the wire very gently before twisting together and taping over the exposed section. Anyway, it's entirely possible to repair on the road but best to be careful all the same.Summary -A very good headet compatible with most 2-pin type walkie talkies or 2-way radios. With some modification to improve the mic's performance in wind or high speed the comms are clear. We really enjoyed the radio setup and will be using this rig for all our longer rides now. A cheaper alternative to the bluetooth type comms which by many accounts are a pain to pair between brands and have limited bike to bike range. I would buy this again and at the cheap price I will buy another of the same to have as a spare out on the road so any repairs can be made at home.I would recommend this headset to others, noting the points made in this review.

The button didn't come with the velcro strap as pictured. Its very easy to lose hold off, and it quickly vanishes up your sleeve which is a huge pain to pull down. The ear piece isn't overly comfortable and doesn't stay in very well, plus the tubing came off the throat piece.I bought the Z-Tac throat mic instead, which is vastly superior and well worth the additional expense.

Robust, mic and ear are separated all the way to the pins rather than the ear branching off at the mic like ‘normal’ ones. Means 2 wires running to the radio which can get annoying but good quality and microphone for the price.

Nice piece of kit, works well

I am very happy with these items have made life easier at work being able to interact with the guests whilst being spoken to from others members of management. If I need more I will be using this seller again.

Not too bad this earpiece works just fine cheap but i like the design, and fits to the ear quite well and stays there had it a few months now and still good

Good quality n price.if recommend them.fast delivery too.Thanx

Bought as a spare, exactly as expected