Buying the J&M system only for, or even primarily for the intercom system is probably a waste. Even if you consider the ability to use an auxiliary input device for music or whatever too, there are other choices that are less expensive and probably work at least as well, but I can't imagine any better.
The obvious difference between the J&M and most other devices is the CB and NOAA radios, combined with the compact size, convenience of mounting and ease of use in a motorcycle application.
The usefulness of these features varies with the individual. As you can tell, Bryan and I as well as our regular passengers really enjoy these units and at this point would be lost with out them. But that's us.
Being an ex over the road trucker I enjoy and really use the CR radio feature. Besides being able to talk to other bikes that have CB's, I can think of several times that having the ability to talk with trucks on the road has not only be convenient, but helped keep us safe too. There have been issues with accidents on the road ahead that we knew about well before getting there and even a time during a rain storm that I was able to communicate with a wide load hauler and co-ordinated when I wanted him to come around us on a rain soaked heavily puddled road surface. Plus it's a hoot listening to the drivers tell each other to check out the babe on the back of the motorcycle coming around them.
The NOAA weather radio has been a real benefit to us too in that we have used it when the sky's ahead looked bad, listened for local updates and adjusted our routes to miss storms. Then there was the time this past March when we were coming through Athens, Georgia in a snow storm and used the NOAA weather radio to find that we were sacked in and instead of trying to ride through it we found a motel to wait it out.
The down side to the CB is that for an old clucker trucker whose used to BIG radios, the J&M leaves a little to be desired. You can only cram so much into it's small package and the lack of any real antenna hight means that they don't have a very long range. I'm used to being able to talk 'long distance' with my old Connex and Cobra, but the J&M is really only good for about a mile under ideal conditions. I've been trying to locate a CB shop that would be willing to go into the J&M unit to see if it could be 'peaked' or if the board would handle an auxiliary power source, but so far I haven't found any takers. I did speak with one guy that said he had tried to do same thing and was told it wasn't possible. Take it for what it's worth.
Shafe716 if you are seriously considering the unit PM me and I'll be glad to go over the differences in headsets, etc and see if I can save you some money.
Bruce
