Batwing Marine Radio Suggestions

[Bob E.]

I have a HD Batwing on my Valk and installed a Sony DSX-MS60 Marine Radio.  As it turns out, the term "Marine" doesn't mean much because after getting it a little wet (not soaked), it has quit on me.  Actually, a few months ago after getting wet, the volume control quit working, but all of the buttons still worked.  I used the remote control which was ok, but not ideal.  Just recently, the volume control knob started working again, but not reliably.  Well, this weekend, I washed the bike and the radio was fine yesterday.  But I went to get on it this morning and now it won't work at all.  When I hit the power button, it lights up for a couple seconds but then it just keeps turning itself off.  The radio is only about 2 years old and after reading many reviews, it appears that this is pretty typical of "marine" labelled radios.

Anyways, I need to get a new radio and, before I go and spend the $$, I figured I'd ask here what most people are using.  I'm tempted to just get the same radio and try to be more careful about getting it wet when I wash the bike...that way it will plug right in to the wiring I already have installed.  I'm thinking I'll buy it at BestBuy and get the extended warranty and just let them replace it over and over if need be.  The other idea was to just go buy the cheapest $30-$40 car radio I can find and replace it as needed.

What radios are you guys using?

[Bighead]

Why not go with the one Harley uses? We know those are waterproof. I have a woodies fairing so my radio has a cover no need for a marine/waterproof one.

[Bob E.]

Why not go with the one Harley uses? We know those are waterproof. I have a woodies fairing so my radio has a cover no need for a marine/waterproof one.

Back when I installed the fairing, I considered looking for one on ebay but was worried about not having the correct wiring harness/plugs/diagrams necessary to hook it up since they are Harman-Kardan units built specifically for HD.  But maybe it is worth checking out again.

[BF]

I have a Woodys also and siliconed the provided cover over the radio. 

I'd suggest you contact Glenn at Woodys and see if he''ll sell you one of those covers.

[Jess Tolbirt]

Why not go with the one Harley uses? We know those are waterproof. I have a woodies fairing so my radio has a cover no need for a marine/waterproof one.

harley radios have to be programmed by a harley dealer,,

[Jess Tolbirt]

I have a HD Batwing on my Valk and installed a Sony DSX-MS60 Marine Radio.  As it turns out, the term "Marine" doesn't mean much because after getting it a little wet (not soaked), it has quit on me.  Actually, a few months ago after getting wet, the volume control quit working, but all of the buttons still worked.  I used the remote control which was ok, but not ideal.  Just recently, the volume control knob started working again, but not reliably.  Well, this weekend, I washed the bike and the radio was fine yesterday.  But I went to get on it this morning and now it won't work at all.  When I hit the power button, it lights up for a couple seconds but then it just keeps turning itself off.  The radio is only about 2 years old and after reading many reviews, it appears that this is pretty typical of "marine" labelled radios.

Anyways, I need to get a new radio and, before I go and spend the $$, I figured I'd ask here what most people are using.  I'm tempted to just get the same radio and try to be more careful about getting it wet when I wash the bike...that way it will plug right in to the wiring I already have installed.  I'm thinking I'll buy it at BestBuy and get the extended warranty and just let them replace it over and over if need be.  The other idea was to just go buy the cheapest $30-$40 car radio I can find and replace it as needed.

What radios are you guys using?

harley radios have to be programmed by a harley dealer,, i have one for sale if you want to try and make it work,,it has all the stuff for communications and is programmed to work,,all you have to do is figure out how to wire it up,, will sell it for $800

[Bob E.]

Why not go with the one Harley uses? We know those are waterproof. I have a woodies fairing so my radio has a cover no need for a marine/waterproof one.

harley radios have to be programmed by a harley dealer,,

Well...that's probably not gonna work then.  What would need programmed?

[BF]

Why not go with the one Harley uses? We know those are waterproof. I have a woodies fairing so my radio has a cover no need for a marine/waterproof one.

harley radios have to be programmed by a harley dealer,,

Well...that's probably not gonna work then.  What would need programmed?

Probably be easier to get a Harley motorcycle to go with the Harley stereo.   

btw....I have a Sony DSX-S100 stereo in my fairing.  It's not marine grade or water proof/resistant at all.  It's the kind that you can put your mp3 player inside the stereo. 

I try to NOT ride in the rain if I can help it, but the bike has gotten wet before....I've never had a problem with it with that rain shield that Glenn provided. 

This my set-up with my Rockford Fosgate amp installed....and without the rain shield. 



This is before I installed my amp....with the rain shield installed.  It's held in place with silicone. 

[Jess Tolbirt]

Why not go with the one Harley uses? We know those are waterproof. I have a woodies fairing so my radio has a cover no need for a marine/waterproof one.

harley radios have to be programmed by a harley dealer,,

Well...that's probably not gonna work then.  What would need programmed?

the radios come with thee radio part working, if you want to add a cb you have to have harley dealer program the radio to activate that part, same with the intercom, it has to be activated,,,when i crashed last year they gave me the old radio,, its a pretty nice radio and has weather channel and such but the price is like over a grand,,, but realistically i would sell mine for 200..

o yea, you would have to buy a harness for it too..

[Bob E.]

Why not go with the one Harley uses? We know those are waterproof. I have a woodies fairing so my radio has a cover no need for a marine/waterproof one.

harley radios have to be programmed by a harley dealer,,

Well...that's probably not gonna work then.  What would need programmed?

the radios come with thee radio part working, if you want to add a cb you have to have harley dealer program the radio to activate that part, same with the intercom, it has to be activated,,,when i crashed last year they gave me the old radio,, its a pretty nice radio and has weather channel and such but the price is like over a grand,,, but realistically i would sell mine for 200..

o yea, you would have to buy a harness for it too..

Thanks Jess.  $200 is tempting, but a quick look at ebay doesn't show any of the wiring harnesses for the radio.  It seems they all come without the plugs...and even if it did, it looks like there must be a ton of wires to figure out.  But I guess if I could come up with a wiring diagram, anything would be possible.  I'll let you know if I decide to go in that direction.  Thanks Again!!

[jimmytee]

There are lot's of Marine radio options. I use a non marine Kenwood in my Woody's. The Woody's came with the flip down cover that BF mentions, but those can be bought off the internet. I've been in pouring down rain. No issues. I did mount a Marine remote control on the left side handle bar that is wired and lights up.

[Bob E.]

I ended up going with a Kenwood KMR-M308BT marine radio for $110 from bestbuy. It is iPod and satellite ready and has Bluetooth, but no CD player which allows for a much shallower mounting depth. Hopefully this will help my speedo cable interference problem under the fairing. It is relatively cheap but had great reviews on bestbuy, amazon, and crutchfield. I did spring for the 4 yr geek squad warranty so hopefully I'll be covered if this unit dies a premature death like the Sony I have now. Fingers are crossed  it should be here Thursday so I hope to be able to swap them out this weekend.

[Jess Tolbirt]

thats a good one, lots of harley guys putting that one in their bikes to replace this harmon cardon one..