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Commentary on XT v6.10 software

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 5:10 pm
by jfheath
So today, for the first time since the end of September, I got to ride my bike. No rules broken, but I took the time to make sure that my XT was set up:
* Bluetooth paired to smartphone, with Garmin Drive App loaded on the phone.
* Smartphone accessing Spotify.
* Zumo Bluetooth paired to a BT03 - a bluetooth device to pass all phone, music and satnav output through to my wired autocom headset.

All worked well - at least it did once I realised that the reason the voulme was so low as to be inaudible was because I had not plugged my helmet lead into the autocom lead !

Some positives

The BT music did not play slowly as it had done before.
The BT did not drop out once in over 3 hours of riding.
Navigation voice commands were loud and clear, whereas on a previous trip last June it had sounded like a very badly tuned radio.

Some of these issues I am pretty sure were fixed by me relocating the BT03 module under the front cowl, behind the dash, rather than in the rear cowl nearer to the autocom, but quite close to the bike's ECU.

Other improved behaviour

When ignoring the planned route to a couple of Via Points, the Zumo pops up a message asking if you want to skip the Via Point. If you ignore it, it goes away, but pops up after ignoring two more attempts to navigate you back. Nothing new there, but now the count of two instructions seems to be more reliable, and significantly the message stays on the screen for much longer - easily long enough to see what it says, decide what to do and wait until it is safe to press 'Yes'.

Traffic announcements are clear, and speak out the suggested deviation from the planned route, informing you which turning to take next to begin the deviation.

Skip forward, backward, play and pause now work well with music coming from spotify in the phone.

When a new music track begins, the details are scrolled up from the bottom of the map in a black popup rectangle. This might have happened before, but since music was so badly distorted, I didn't play it that much.

The mixer volume on the XT now controls the volume of music from the phone. Previously, around v2.30, it refused to do this stating that volume had to be adjusted on the paired device ie the phone. Or it may have been a setup error by me.

Outstanding niggles.
6.10 still relocates a Via Point to a point in a faster route if it is changed to a shaping point on the Zumo route.
6.10 still removes previously transferred routes from Basecamp if the USB cable is removed between transfers.

But I am starting to enjoy this unit, rather than thinking that I had wasted my money. The two niggles are serious issues in my opinion, but I know about them and can work round them.

At one point, I got a couple of text message alerts on the Zumo screen. There was a choice to be made from the two buttons available. One was an acknowledgement of some sort. Sorry, I cannot remember, and I was riding, so I just let the message disappear. The other said 'Pillion'. Now there is nothing in my setup that distinguishes between rider and pillion. So I am wondering if the Zumo is able to messages to a rider / pillion bluetooth setup ? I don't know, but I am interested in finding out.

Re: Commentary on XT v6.10 software

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 8:52 pm
by Hati
The message popup was for reading the text on the XT screen. If you are stationary, you can tap it and it will show you the entire message. If your speed is more than zero, you have to "confirm" that it is your pillion reading the message, not you. Same as the car GPS units, except these use "passenger".

I know, it doesn't make sense. Show me a pillion that can tap the XT screen from the back perch... I guess it is a direct "carry-over" from cars.

You can go to "notifications" in the menu (apps I think) and read and clear these texts.

Re: Commentary on XT v6.10 software

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:20 am
by jfheath
Ah - thankyou. And here was I thinking that Garmin had done something clever and sophisticated by making their Bluetooth only communication device able to communicate with two separate Bluetooth headsets individually. ***

I should have known better.

And that explains why I couldn't reproduce the message at my desk.

***Thinking out loud. No that wouldn't be a good thing. Message in the pillions ear from Zumo. "Hey, pillion, bash your rider hard in between the shoulder blades. He took that last bend way too fast."

Re: Commentary on XT v6.10 software

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 10:30 am
by Hati
LOL... I can see some funny stuff playing out now :D

I don't know if anyone ever tried to get two headsets connected to a Zumo. I suspect it would only have "room" for one.

You should be able to reproduce a text messages on the Zumo screen if you have someone text you while the Zumo is on and connected to your phone. My XT is locked onto the bike at the moment so cannot test it out. from here.

Re: Commentary on XT v6.10 software

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 10:50 am
by jfheath
Yes - text works really nicely. If the Zumo isn't navigating, it pops up full screen. If you are riding, it pops up in the area at the right hand side of the screen, keeping the map visible.
Same with traffic information, alerts and other stuff - if you allow it to. It is all controlled by the Drive App on the phone.

Re: Commentary on XT v6.10 software

Posted: Wed May 12, 2021 5:46 pm
by raza
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Re: Commentary on XT v6.10 software

Posted: Wed May 12, 2021 7:30 pm
by jfheath
Hati wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 10:30 am
You should be able to reproduce a text messages on the Zumo screen if you have someone text you while the Zumo is on and connected to your phone. My XT is locked onto the bike at the moment so cannot test it out. from here.
Yes that works really well. You have to load the Garmin Drive App onto your smartphone, and The Drive App handles all sorts of information that can be displayed on the screen - text messages, email message, indicating who is calling you, live weather radar, 'live' traffic photos at key locations, advance warning of hold ups on your route, colour coded sections of your route map to indicate traffic/blockages, weather radar and pictogram summary of weather on your route for the next couple of hours - based on where you will be in the next couple of hours.

It will also play music from your phone - but I have had mixed success with that. Something is making the BT play up. I went out today and tested everything without BT music, instead just playing MP3 files from the Zumo. the rest of the system didn't throw a wobbler once.

I have BT to the phone and I BT from the XT to a BT adapter which feeds my autocom wired intercom - which giver rider and pillion access to everything coming from the Zumo, and to share phone calls.