Scott SCBA communication devices.

[Joker]

Does anyone have any practical "real world" experience with any of the new electronic
communication systems offered by Scott for their AirPaks. There are really three that I'd like to find out about. The "Wireless/Talkaround" system, the "E-Z Radiocom" and the "Envoy Radiocom". All
of these are available options on the new Scott Fifty SCBA. My department is currently specing the Fifties and we would like to add one of the communication systems. I'd like some input as to which one is the best.
Thanks.

*note*
All I care about are the Scott Fifties. So please, if you have a burr under your saddle about MSA, SurpriseAir or any other brands, just hold that thought.
Thanks again.

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A friend once told me to shoot first and ask questions later, I was going to ask him why....but I had to shoot him first.

[Joker]

Ok, so does this mean that no one is using any of these devices? I've posted in a ng as well and got no responses there either. What gives? The only people willing to tell me how great these things are are the ones that sell them. I want to hear from people that USE them.
*testing* *testing* *1 2 3*
*is this thing on?*

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A friend once told me to shoot first and ask questions later, I was going to ask him why....but I had to shoot him first.

[DFD420]

I have used all of them exept the talk around, and the talk around is supposed to be the best. I know I wouldn't know what to do without my amplifier on my personal mask. it helps a lot. They all work great. I really like the one that plugs into your portable and has a microphone and speaker on the side of the mask

[Richardl]

Hi,
I just had opportunity to play with the Envoy Radiocom. I don't know about "real world", it was just around the hall, but I liked it. I see the following advantages:
- It can be attached to any mask that's been fitted with an adapter.
- The various PTT switches are a plus. The systems we're currently using have one PTT switch, and it's nigh impossible to reach in our Level A suits.
- The speaker can be placed at your ear.
- It be connected to a radio.

There's a few more wires than the talk-around system (I think), but overall I think it's a nice system.

Our neighbours have been using the wireless talk-around system for a while. There were some teething troubles with them, but Scott seems to have straightened things out. As far as I know, the problems were those that seem to arise with many new products hitting the field. I'll see if I can get you a more info.

Do you have a vendor nearby who might bring you one to play with..er.. evaluate?

Bye,
Richard L.

[Looper]

The Scott rep for Southeast Texas happens to be a member of our department and we get to see all of the new stuff. I like the talk around and radio set-ups, although we decided to stay with just the voice amps for now, due to cost -- we would need about 50 sets for the whole dept. The nice thing about these communication devices is that they can be added to existing AV200 masks.

[CousinVinny354]

In my department we used the voice amplifier on the face piece.

every one of the devices was taken back. No one liked it. It was bulky and not durable.

The extra 400 a pop could have been better spent on just about anything else.

[bobsnyder]

Looking into these...

I want to revive this discussion, as we're looking into the Scott Radiocom devices and would like some feedback from people who've used them in the field. Any info on how you like them, how they perform, pros/cons, etc. would be appreciated. Note that we're locked into Scott, so other brands are of no interest to me.

Thanks in advance for any help...

[nmfire]

We used to have the Envoy Radiocom devices. But when we changed radios, Scott wanted to charge us $400 each to change the connector on the end of the cord for the radio. Me thinks not. We can live with the way we've been doing it for years for the one time per year it would come in handy.

[Lewiston2FF]

We have the Envoy Radiocom system on our Scott 50s. I personally like the system, unfortunately scott stopped making them. I dont care as much for the EZ Radiocom II due to the large amplifier on the mask and the bright green light to indicate the system is on. That coupled with the heads up display makes your entire face get bathed in a green glow. Additionally the amplifier being mounted on the mask is quite loud and at times all I could hear was my own breathing. If you are looking into a radio system take a look at the Haz Mat Radiocom system, it is closest to what the Envoy was it just doesnt have a amplifier for the voicemitter.

With our grant we were going to purchase some more of these units, but with a new radio system in the works for the county and the added changes Scott made we have decided to go with a lapel mic for all radios and retractors for the coats.

[neiowa]

In my department we used the voice amplifier on the face piece.

every one of the devices was taken back. No one liked it. It was bulky and not durable.

The extra 400 a pop could have been better spent on just about anything else.

??? ANYTHING?

We have Scott voice amp on all of our NxG2 AV3000face. Great advance in commo, no problems noted. No didn't have them in the "good old days"/progress marches on. We also have 4x radio interface (w/Vertex VX900), don't remember what model but no problems noted.

[truckmonkey42]

NGX2's

We HAD the envoys for our NXG2's, but have taken them all out of service for right now. During initial testing and at certain pilot stations they worked great. They were used by all officers for one month, maybe longer, but some ended up getting water on them at the radio interface and a few other small problems so they took them off the units for further testing and evaluation. In my experience they worked great at a few fires we went on.
Now we have went back to collar mikes with retractors and that works pretty well also.

[Lewiston2FF]

??? ANYTHING?

We have Scott voice amp on all of our NxG2 AV3000face. Great advance in commo, no problems noted. No didn't have them in the "good old days"/progress marches on. We also have 4x radio interface (w/Vertex VX900), don't remember what model but no problems noted.

We have about the same setup as you, with the Vertex radios, easy to plug the radiocom system into the radio on the fly so the radios are always on charge. The new radios we are switching to are not so easy and would require screwing the connector into the radio, this defeats the purpose, and I am having enough trouble getting people to remember to plug into the radio now. Maybe they will be more receptive to the retractors on the coats.

[Acklan]

Scott Talk-Around™ Mask Radio

We started using these radios a couple of months ago. So far so good, but I would like to hear from others that have the same radios. We have two models. One that attaches to our portable radios, and one that can only communicate with another Scott Talk-Around radio. We cary two of each on all trucks.
Both models have a company channel, that only can be use by that crew, and a general use channel that all crews have.
I have used them with great effect in over a dozen fires, but obviously have not used them is all situation.
The question is, " Has anyone found serious problems with this radio that we should know about".