Here's some feedback from one of the early adopters, Michael Valdes (quoted with his permission).
Hi Mark,
I've lived with the SmartenU8 for a while now. I'm pleasantly surprised to report that it's more effective than I expected it to be. At first, I was skeptical and assumed it was just the placebo effect particularly since I could still appreciate the throaty roar of the DTH exhaust. Then, I realized that I've been playing the stereo at a much lower volume setting. The music hasn't changed, I can just hear it much better. It's unusual these days to have a product exceed your expectations!
Thank you,
Michael
Anybody suffering from the placebo effect of spending $300.00 bucks and feeling like a dope?
It costs $106.58 + $25.33 shipping for enough VB-4 material to make one SmarTenU8.
The upholstery shop charges $95 - $125 (depending upon the materials and the size of the order) for putting one together.
Shipping to Smart Madness is around $20 each.
What would you charge for them?
P.S. - I have researched getting them manufactured overseas, but the Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) for stuff like this from manufacturers in China and India is one container load. I don't have anywhere to put 4,000 SmarTenU8s (53,000 pounds worth). Plus... the smart car will become an antique curiosity before I could get rid of all of them.
The bottom line: It is what it is. If the noise your car makes is not an issue, then you don't need one. If it is an issue, this is the best way to take care of it. Best from three perspectives 1) Sound Pressure Level reduction, 2) Ease of installation (and removal for you racers), and yes: 3) Cost.
It costs $106.58 + $25.33 shipping for enough VB-4 material to make one SmarTenU8.
The upholstery shop charges $95 - $125 (depending upon the materials and the size of the order) for putting one together.
Shipping to Smart Madness is around $20 each.
What would you charge for them?
P.S. - I have researched getting them manufactured overseas, but the Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) for stuff like this from manufacturers in China and India is one container load. I don't have anywhere to put 4,000 SmarTenU8s (53,000 pounds worth). Plus... the smart car will become an antique curiosity before I could get rid of all of them.
The bottom line: It is what it is. If the noise your car makes is not an issue, then you don't need one. If it is an issue, this is the best way to take care of it. Best from three perspectives 1) Sound Pressure Level reduction, 2) Ease of installation (and removal for you racers), and yes: 3) Cost.
Look, no need to defend the price. I'm simply looking for input from users of th product. Many other products have pages of threads citing the pros and cons. This one seems strangely dead. So far I've only seen Michael's endorsement here and on Smart Madness. According to Boris the barrier has been selling well. I want to see input from other folks who have bought or are using the product. No criticism or disrespect intended, simply a desire for more information so that I may make an informed decision. Even though I could probably return the barrier if it didn't meet my expectations I'd still be out the shipping charges both ways and tied up $300 bucks.
Look, no need to defend the price. I'm simply looking for input from users of th product. Many other products have pages of threads citing the pros and cons. This one seems strangely dead. So far I've only seen Michael's endorsement here and on Smart Madness. According to Boris the barrier has been selling well. I want to see input from other folks who have bought or are using the product. No criticism or disrespect intended, simply a desire for more information so that I may make an informed decision. Even though I could probably return the barrier if it didn't meet my expectations I'd still be out the shipping charges both ways and tied up $300 bucks.
Just a little FYI on feedback.
About 10-15% of the items we sell are sold to folks that are on this board. The majority of our sales come from local customers that walk in to our shop and those that find us through other means than this board. This may explain why the feedback has been limited on this board in regards to this item.
I have installed and used one of these smart car Sound Attenuation Barriers, and I feel that the noise level has gone down considerably in our Passion coupé with stock engine and exhaust system.
I have only done one drive with the barrier installed, and this with the passenger seat folded down and a very large hockey bag filling the void on that side of the car. With that understood, the noise levels in the car were lower, lower to the extent that wind noise has now moved up in the noise irritant queue to the number one spot.
The installation was easy enough, although as irritating as can be for a heavy, floppy item with Velcro® brand hook and loop fastener all over the mating surface. As I was putting it in by myself, it took some time to ensure that everything was properly aligned before the hooks "grabbed" the car's carpeting.
Fit and finish are acceptable, with the only fit issues being the inability of the mat to fit 100% flush to the car's carpeting at the corners behind the seats. A bit more of the hook fastener might be in order there. But, everywhere else (rear edge, sides, across the rear behind the seats) lays down and plays nice. The carpeting used as the upper surface is an excellent match, and allows for the same "grab" for Velcro items as the stock carpeting.
Unlike most folks, I have both the sound level meter (an old one from work) plus the background to know how to use it. But, that will have to wait on stuff like my taxes (the deadline approacheth), caring for my aged mother, a hockey tournament this weekend, and other stuff. I'll pull the mat out, run some readings at low and high speeds, then install the mat and run the figures over the same roads and under the same weather conditions.
Regardless, bear in mind that the scale used for measuring sound (decibels) is logarithmic, not linear. So, seemingly small reductions on the scale used (we always used the A scale at slow response, being the most related to "normal" human hearing) are actually huge reductions in actual sound levels.
85 dBA (80 decibels on the A scale) is the level in the workplace where hearing conservation measures have to start being applied. A reading of 80 is a significant (as in "most industrial users would kill to be able to obtain that sort of reduction", particularly for such a limited cost approach as this blanket represents) accomplishment.
In any event, we'll see. I do know that I don't want to have to remove and install this product until our temperatures and humidity levels drop to human levels again. By the time I was done yesterday afternoon, I was (literally, not figuratively) soaked with sweat to the extent that it was rolling off of me like rain.
Last edited by Terry Stibal; 10-09-2009 at 01:53 PM.
Sound and Heat Barrier.
I installed mine a couple of days ago, at the same time I installed the large cargo organizer from Uhaul. I handn't driven this car for 3 months, so its hard to compare. The noise reduction is not as great as going from a loaner cabro that I had, to my coupe, which I felt was substantial. I bought it mainly for cabin heat reduction, and to reduce the heating of foods on the way home from the market. Between the barrier and the organizer I feel no heat coming up, and its cooking right now in Florida, 95 degrees today and the humidity feels about the same.
The barrier is a little on the expensive side, but what isn't for these little buggers.
The install for both was less than a total of five minutes, and at 6' 3" I had not trouble reaching and fitting.
Rich
We are down to our last two mats and have another order coming in next week. So, we should not run out for a little while. So, far everyone that has purchased one has been satisfied with the results.
Well I've lived with the sound barrier for a while now and wanted to give my opinion on it, like was asked for. I first want to say it is a well made product and looks great. It also does a great job keeping the cargo area much much cooler then without it. As for helping to quiet down the Borla exhaust I can't say I notice a difference to my ear. I have had the mat in and out of the car quite a few times and it is still ungodly loud. I even have 2 layers of fatmat under it. I have not used a sound level meter to see if its actually reads lower with the mat. To me it only matters what I actually hear not what a meter tells me. The heat factor probably makes it worth while for me because of getting home from the grocery store with melted frozen stuff so many times. That doesn't happen anymore. The thing I regret spending money on is the Borla Exhaust. I will sometime in the future replace it with a quieter exhaust. For now I guess another layer of fatmat so hopefully I can hear myself think while I'm driving. I never thought I'd see the day when I would complain about a loud exhaust. My wife complained from day 1 about the loudness but it took me a while to start to get annoyed by it. It does sound good from the outside though.
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