Headset connection lost

[Gilbert]

I have my Zumo XT now for a little longer than 1 year. Compared to the 660 this was a real upgrade. Gradually I discovered some of the XT's dark sides. Notably that the routing algorithm on The XT is not identical to the one used in BaseCamp. Most of the time the deviations are minor, but still...
Receently I did a trip from Belgium to Portugal. The route was split up in daytrips. At one occasion Zumo made such a mess of the route that I had to use Google maps to get back on track. Unbelievable! The reason: in BC I have highways turned off for the route calculation. Occasionally I force BC to take a bit of highway to stay away from busy city centers or to gain time. In BC I put via points on ajacent sections of the highway between the entries /exits and that does the job. Not so for Zumo. Zumo will get you on the highway and then direct you to the next exit and immediately guide you to the entry ramp for the next segment of that highway. It keeps doing that over and over again. When I plan a route using Garmin software I expect my nav device to execute that plan as shown on the computer. Nothing more, nothing less. Period.
But that's not why I'm here (I just had to get this off my chest).

Until recently Zumo has been nicely playing along with my phone (Xiaomi MI-8 Lite) and my headset (Sena SMH5). The trouble started about a week ago when I suddenly noticed that I had left my route. The reason was that Zumo was disconnected from my headset and consequently I didn't get spoken instructions to take the next turn or exit. So I disconnected the BT connection on the Sena and reconnected again. I get the usual "hello", "phone connected" end the beeps. But still no nav instructions from Zumo.
I contacted the helpdesk and they pointed me to a FAQ page (what else...) about how to reset the BT pairing between Zumo and other devices. Done that and nope, that didn't help. Eventually I turned the Zumo off and on again and that did the job. The only way to get the BT connection back is to turn Zumo off and on again.
Since then Zumo is constantly loosing the connection with the headset. Sometimes after announcing that the connection has been lost, most often the connection is lost silently. The latter is most annoying as it may cause you to leave the route without noticing it. Also when you get into a busy city center you really need the spoken instructions to get into the correct lane in time.
Does anyone have the same exerience? I suspect this misbehaviour sneaked in with a recent software update as I have never had this problem before. Not with the Sena headset and not with my previous headset (different brand).

[Peobody]

My only experience with a dropped headset connection has been when three devices were connected (iPhone & two Cardo headsets). The second headset connected when we first started out but dropped without notice at some point during the ride. I assumed that the XT struggled to maintain three connections. I never looked into it because the second headset was my wife on pillion who decided that she didn't like hearing the voice navigation. Since then she has not complained about not knowing when we are going to turn.

@Gilbert, is your phone also connected to your headset? I recall problems with having my phone connected to both the XT and my Cardo. I don't remember the details but one of my pre-flight checks now is to insure that connection does not exist.

[Gilbert]

@Peabody: my phone uses Zumo as a bridge to the headset. It's not directly paired with the headset. So, when I use Google Maps to guide my to a place (with voice instructions), I need to turn the Zumo on. Receiving or initiating phone calls via the Zumo works like a charm - although I do not recommend using the phone while driving the bike.

[Peobody]

Feeding Google Maps navigation instructions through the XT... interesting.
Not having a phone conversation while riding...wise. I don't do it either.

Unfortunately, you have ruled out my only thought about why the connection is dropping.

[Gilbert]

For completeness' sake: I don't use Google maps for long trips (yet). Just to get to a nearby restaurant or petrol stations. Point-and-shoot on Google Maps is so much more convenient than typing an address on the Zumo (or any other device).

[Peobody]

For completeness' sake: I don't use Google maps for long trips (yet). Just to get to a nearby restaurant or petrol stations. Point-and-shoot on Google Maps is so much more convenient than typing an address on the Zumo (or any other device).

That makes sense. My first attempt at satnav instead of paper maps was with Google Maps on my iPhone. That brought a realization of the lack of cellular service in a lot of rural USA (Verizon was my provider).

[jfheath]

Using the XT as a 'bridge' between phone and headset is correct.

Incidentally, you can't expect a notifcation in your ear that your BT has disconnected

Some questions.

Where do you keep your phone when riding ?
What type of phone (ios, Android)
What sort of headset is it ?
Which gets dropped from the XT - is it your phone, or is it your headset ?
Are any of these things powered from the bike ? If so which ?

Is your phone also connecting to your headset ? It shouldn't be - but it may be finding a second channel.

Usually, BT problems are caused by devices finding the wrong things that they have been paired with previously. I occasionaly have had issues, and the first thing I do is delete all of the pairing to the phone, all of the ones to the XT and (if I can), all pairings to the headset. Then I turn all other BT devices nearby off. and pair everything again. Earphones to XT first - and make sure I can hear instructions and music / keybaord clicks. Shut the XT down and turn it on again, see if the pairing is re-established.
Then I pair the phone to the XT.

I have a Cardo Edge Duo with rider and pillion. Rider to Pillion pairs perfectly every time (but it isn't BT), and phone, XT and my Cardo pair perfectly first time every time.

But I have had issues with some other kit, which may help. Answer the questions, and I'll get back to you.

[danham]

Usually, BT problems are caused by devices finding the wrong things that they have been paired with previously. I occasionally have had issues, and the first thing I do is delete all of the pairing to the phone, all of the ones to the XT and (if I can), all pairings to the headset. Then I turn all other BT devices nearby off. and pair everything again. Earphones to XT first - and make sure I can hear instructions and music / keyboard clicks. Shut the XT down and turn it on again, see if the pairing is re-established.
Then I pair the phone to the XT.

This ^^. Garmin's implementation of BT has long been known for being fussy about what order you use during initial pairing and every time you power up. Unfortunately, when you combine this "quirk" with other devices' issues -- my Sena is also picky about order of powering up -- you can get painted into a corner. The only way out is to experiment.

-dan

[Gilbert]

@ jfheath

Where do you keep your phone when riding ?
Usually in my pocket, turned off (not powered off, so I can receive phone calls). This time I had it mounted on my Phone Mount to control my GoPro camera. That app uses BT for controlling the GoPro functions and WiFi to display what the GoPro is recording.

What type of phone (ios, Android)
Android, Xiaomi running Android 190910

What sort of headset is it ?
Sena SMH 5

Which gets dropped from the XT - is it your phone, or is it your headset ?
Headset. Occasionally I can restore the connection by turning the headset off and on again, but most of the time I have to power cycle the XT. IN some cases the XT warns me that the connection has been lost. Sometimes (but rarely) the connection is restored without my intervention. Most of the time the connection is lost silently.

Are any of these things powered from the bike ? If so which ?
The XT is powered from the bike through the adapter which comes with the XT. The GoPro is powered from the bike through a USB adapter and the phone runs on it's own battery or on a power bank if the phone's battery goes low.
When I turn the bike on, the XT comes up automatically. I need to accept the legal yadayada by pushing a button on the XT and then we're i n business. at that point the BT connection between the XT and the headset is established automatically (if the headset is already powered on).

Is your phone also connecting to your headset ? It shouldn't be - but it may be finding a second channel.
It is not - at least not intentionally. The Sena is not shown in the list of paired devices on my phone

I plan to reset the XT to factory defaults and start from scratch again. See what happens. From your response and the ones from others I take it that my issue is not a common problem to many other users, although I read between the lines that the XT has "a mind of its own" to put it mildly. I'll try this first without involving the phone. If that goes well I'll see if adding the phone makes a difference. The Gopro shouldn't make a difference, but hey, you never know.

[jfheath]

Thanks for your responses - very thorough.
Apologies - I used my admin privileges and edited your post to separate each pair of questions and your response - just to make it easier to read.

Ok - all of the reasons that I was asking those questions were to do with the possible source of an issue. I can't see any issues !
There doesn't seem to be any reason for the XT / phone disconnecting from each other. Except possibly one - which I have experienced.

I had a BT module which relays BT speech and sound through my wired autocom headset. It was powered by the bike's battery and was turned on when the bikes ignition was turned on.
After setting off, the XT would announce that BTM03 (Bluetooth module) had disconnected. It took me ages to track it down. There were two reasons
1. The BTM03 unit was in the rear cowl of my bike, as I intended it to talk to my phone which was in the top box.
2. (Which I couldn't solve until after I had solved 1) - Something that I did at the start was breaking the BT connection.

1. Was solved by shifting the BT module to under the front dash - away from the bike's electronic engine managament control unit.

2. Turned out to be the sequence of starting the bike. I thought it was pressing the starter button which temporarily broke the connection and rebooted the BTM03. After spending a little while looking for its paired device, the XT, it couldn't find it and gave up. That may well be the case, but it turned out to be (also), that sometimes, I would turn on the ignition without starting the bike. The remove the keys to put something I had forgotten into the top box. The XT never went off, but the BTM did. When the BTM03 restarted, it tried looking for the XT, but the XT hadn't lost its power and so had not restarted. Therefore it wasn't listening.

The time delay was longer than I would have expected. Maybe 5 minutes into a ride, but always after I had stopped and restarted.

I found that if I didn't remove the keys, and turned on the ignition and started the bike immediately, or even waited for the connection and then started the bike - all we be OK - providing I didn't remove the keys again. It was breaking this chain that caused me the problems.

I have a cheap wireless headset for testing on the desk. That has a finite period of time after turning it on when it will look for a device to pair with. If there is anything else on in the house, that it has previously paired with, it will latch onto that. If the XT isn't ready, the headset will pair with something else. Once it has paired with something else, it will have to be turned off and on again to start hunting for the XT - and hope that it finds that first. The only way you cna be certain of this is to find out what other device it is pairing with, and stop it pairing.

I have a cardo edge duo. To configure certain settings, I have to pair it with my phone. Once I have done that, I tell the phone to forget the Cardo - otherwise the Cardo will always find the phone first.

I don't know if that info will help. I hope something sounds familiar.