Stebel Nautilus - webBikeWorld

Summary: Seemed very loud while it lasted, all 3 seconds of it. The horn failed after about 4 beeps.

Our Stebel Nautilus Compact was inoperative right out of the box, so Stebel has some work to do on the quality of these horns. Not recommended.

I'm not sure if we've ever given a product a "Not Recommended" rating, but what else can we do? The Stebel Nautilus "Max" shown here, which is supposedly rated at 139 dB, failed after only a few seconds of use, four beeps to be exact.

And the Stebel Nautilus Compact, also covered in this comparison, was dead on arrival -- it did not work even for an instant, and it was brand new, right out of the box.

We didn't even get a chance to run the big, red Stebel Nautilus Max through the sound level meter, so it's uncertain how it would score against the other horns in this comparison article. It did seem loud while it lasted though, but it has an "air horn" quality that not everyone likes.

The Stebel Nautilus horns of either variety are very large and have a very irregular shape. This and the very poor mounting bracket (the half-moon shaped cutout in the top of the cylinder in the photo above) makes it very difficult to fit on a motorcycle. Owners would probably have to fashion a custom-made bracket of some sort.

But it would be nearly impossible to mount anyway on the slim GT1000 and who knows how it would sound when the horn was pointed downwards, to keep out water, as the instructions indicate.

But the loudest motorcycle horn in the world is useless if it can't be trusted, and based on our experience with the Stebel Nautilus horns, we'd rather take a few less dB but have something that's going to work when needed.

A horn that looks similar to this one is listed on the Stebel website, but not this exact model, so we're not sure if this one has been discontinued or if it simply isn't listed as a North American model.

This Nautilus is an impressive-looking beast, with a big curved horn body. We also recorded the sound made by a Nautilus when it isn't working; see the sound file table in the horn comparison home page.

Stebel Nautilus and Stebel Nautilus Compact
Stebel Nautilus "Max" (left); Stebel Nautilus Compact (right).

Conclusion
We can't recommend a horn that didn't work. We've read many reports from owners on problems with the Stebel Nautilus, so until someone can convince us that the issues have been resolved, these get a "Not Recommended" rating.

Stebel Nautilus .MP3 Sound File: Stebel Nautilus Max (0:0:10) | More...

Product Review: Stebel Nautilus Horn
Available From: Stebel S.p.a	Suggested Retail Price: $39.99
Colors: Red	Made in: Italy
Review Date: August 2008

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