Issues getting the remote to work more than ~2.5 feet away...

Am I the only one having issues with the remote not working well a few feet away? It seems variable, but some times I can not get it to do anything reliably without leaning toward it to bring my helmet within 2 feet of the remote. It seems certain functions are more range-sensitive than others. For example, volume up/down often requires me to lean in while cancel/end/previous and OK/discrete/next seems to work more often.

I drive a 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250 (EX250J) and my head is not excessively far away from my handlebars. It's unbelievably annoying that I have to get so close that my head is facing down and I can't see the road. That completely defeats the purpose of having a handlebar remote! Why? Because my helmet must be only inches away, thus, having the remote built onto my helmet would be just the same only I would NOT have to take my eyes off the road. It's even more annoying when you are cycling through stations and it stops on one blasting static in your ears and then STOPS responding until you lean toward it because often you can't lean and you are forced to endure ear-piercing static until you get to a stop.

What's more is that I have gone through two different units and they both do this, so I doubt it's a defect. One was a launch unit and the other was a new warranty exchange unit. The source button wore out on the original and went nuts (randomly switching source rapid-fire); no doubt, due to it not responding and needing 10x more presses than it ever should have had. Both shipped with 1.12 FW if I recall correctly, so I wonder if the ones I see in stores with 1.4 have a new hardware revision. I'm not sure if the antenna is in the flexible mic boom, control "puck," or the speaker wires, but I have been super-careful with all three so I know it's not a short.

If it can be improved for the current revision or intercom version, please let me know!

If it really is just be and I've had bad luck with two units, I need to claim warranty again ASAP (bought it at-launch this month last year), so please respond with your experiences ASAP as well.