Zumo User Forums

Managed to get through to Garmin UK this morning. The guy tried his best to help but after a couple of 'off air' discussions with someone, I was sent an email with a set up routine (effectively the same as the manual) that I guess is intended to make sure no steps were missed.
I was also asked to 'forget' all devices on the XT, iPhone and BT headset, then given a routine to start a log file, pair them again and run through a scenario where the problem occurred, then stop the log file and attach it to a reply email.
That's done and sent for them to look at. I assume they'll respond by email.
I took the opportunity to tell them about the XT lifting, or applying, the Pause function on the music at random and about the vanishing 'Complete Setup' icon/option/button.

In all candour, I can't see that the headset can be blamed since it functions so well with everything else. If the XT is muting its internally produced music for a Nav command to be passed, then starting it again after the command - yet not transmitting the actual command over BT, it surely has to be the XT that isn't chanelling the Nav command out through the BT to the headset.
The XT is working OK as a pass-through in both directions for a phone call to the headset as well - it just doesn't seem capable of transferring its internally generated voice messages.

Fingers crossed. We'll see what happens.

Will

Good feedback. Thankyou.

That sounds like a pretty good response from the support desk. Serious attempts to eliminate the obvious causes and progress onto finding out what us actually going on.

Also - you were able to reproduce the issue under scrutiny !

Please keep us ip to date.

I guess it's the same with any tech/software(?) problem of this sort. If you can't replicate and document it fully, the poor soul who has to try and tackle it doesn't have much to go on, so the problem remains. Garmin have a good reputation in the aviation world for their Nav gear - no surprises that it needs to function correctly and reliably in that environment. Being led up a cul-de-sac with an aeroplane isn't the best idea.

I've got my fingers crossed. Thanks again for the help. I'll post the results.

Will

An update:
Earlier today I had an email from Garmin, asking for my iPhone and BT headset software versions.
iPhone easy, headset ???????? None quoted but it does state it is "Bluetooth 4.1 + EDR, CSR".
Having told them that, I got another email back which stated:

'We have added you into an open investigation which will be used to determine the cause of this issue which we are looking into currently. Using the information provided they will test and reach a suitable resolution which will then be supplied to you directly by email.

We cannot provide a time frame for this process as it depends on what is discovered during the investigation and what is required to resolve the issue.

Any updates will come to you directly via email as an affected user of this case.'

It's good that something is being looked at but the 'open investigation' and 'cannot provide a time frame' aspects of the response are not particularly comforting.
For now I've spent £300+ and got a shiny new Garmin XT that connects with my headset, plays and interrupts music for nav commands and phone calls - but doesn't actually want to pass the all important Nav command speech part of the deal so it's really of limited use.

Fingers crossed this doesn't take forever but if some of the other Bluetooth issues (many, from what I can see of other folk's experience) get resolved in the process, I'll at least feel something has been achieved.

Will

Hmmm. I had one if those emails over a year ago. A fault when changing a via point to a shaping point using the trip list on the Zumo. In certain circumstances, if there is a faster route available, it moves the point to the faster route and renames it.

They have acknowledged the fault, reproduced it at their end and added it as an open investigation, with no time frame. There have been two or three software updates since then. Still no fix.

I hope your problem gets resolved.

jfheath wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 2:24 pm Hmmm. I had one if those emails over a year ago. A fault when changing a via point to a shaping point using the trip list on the Zumo. In certain circumstances, if there is a faster route available, it moves the point to the faster route and renames it.

They have acknowledged the fault, reproduced it at their end and added it as an open investigation, with no time frame. There have been two or three software updates since then. Still no fix.

I hope your problem gets resolved.

Oh 'eck!

Not holding my breath any longer .................

Please don't tell me I've bought a lemon and Big Tech/Corporate lethargy and disinterest have struck again!

I'll look on the bright side and think positive. Garmin will come through . Believe it !!!

Will

Surprise, surprise, I got an email from Garmin as follows:

I am contacting you in regards to the issue you have reported to us.
Thank you for the information you have sent so far, I can confirm we have well received the Bluetooth logs.
I am looking into this for you and would require a few additional details. I was hoping you can clarify when you say the voices aren't coming through, do you means the caller on the other line during a call, or the navigation voice?
Have you been able to test this with a different headset?
I can recommend checking the information on the article below as well-
Troubleshooting a Bluetooth Issue Between an Automotive Device and a Mobile Device

I had already carefully described the fault and the circumstance and the Troubleshooting link is nothing new - but I did it all again, so here's hoping ..............

I haven't had an opportunity to try a different headset/SatNav but my brother has a slightly older Zumo with a Freecomm on his Beemer, so I'll drag it all across to see him one day soon.

A bit of an update:
No further forward, in truth.
I paired the XT with my brother's Cardo Freecom 4 and it worked correctly.

Garmin came back to me with an update - of nothing significant - and asked for some more information, which I duly passed on.
I then had an incident with Garmin Express going into a loop and effectively eating over 70Gb - Gb, not Mb - of my data allowance trying to update my Garmin Avtex Tourer-Two. I am on a limited data plan via a mobile phone network and that was well over a months allowance, so more had to be obtained. The excuse was that on slower networks, Garmin Express may malfunction ('has a fault' was not admitted). I got round it by linking the satnav directly to my router from its internal wifi and it all worked correctly.
If you have a slower, or metered, data connection (for the ridiculously large 12Gb map update) BEWARE. Garmin Express has some real problems and will quite happily download data and turn it into heat until you run out of your allowance and your provider shuts you down.

Cut to the (XT) chase: during my discussions regarding the above, I asked for an update on the XT problem, even offered to send them my headset to try to resolve the issue.

I am now in double figures with the number of agents I have spoken to/emailed at Garmin Support. I've had a lot of links to largely irrelevant FAQs and guides on how to pair a headset, or reset the XT, many of them duplicates, been asked the exact same questions several times and had every single question I have asked ignored, or given a 'political' answer. My computer, router and network have been blamed for Garmin Express problems, despite the fact that as soon as I take Garmin Express out of the equation, everything functions normally - and I have data left to use.

If my headset's claimed compliance with Bluetooth 4.1 is the problem (and a fib) I'd like to know. What I really want to know is WHY the XT can manage to correctly play and interrupt music and phone calls to the headset, yet manage to fail to pass the nav instruction.
Which part of the Bluetooth functionality is it using and therefore which part of the headset's claimed 4.1 software can't cope with that aspect? - although the headset manages to work perfectly well with other bits of tech, even an iPhone and the notoriously picky aspects of an iMac's Bluetooth software.

If the XT will only work with certain types of headset, then for crying out loud tell me at the outset. Put it in the guide, the sales blurb, writ large on the adverts and the box, something to warn me before we get to this state of affairs.

If Garmin Express can't cope with slow internet connections, warn me before I try to use it and waste time and money in a vain attempt (no, three attempts!) to update a satnav !!

I haven't given up and I'm not buying an expensive headset just to get around a problem that Garmin should flag up, or at the very least acknowledge. It's not a lot to ask of a multi-billion dollar tech company, is it? - or would that be an admission of fault, inviting the pounce of the hideous sector of the legal profession?

To be fair Garmin does warn you, this is what they say on the Garmin Express webpage on system requirements

Windows®
Windows 7 SP1 or newer, Microsoft .NET 4.5.2 (included)
1024 x 768 display, USB port and 1 GB RAM
High speed Internet access (Not for use with dial-up, mobile or satellite connections)
May require up to 20 GB free disk space

Mac®
OS X 10.11 or newer
1440 x 900 display, USB port and 1 GB RAM
High speed Internet access (Not for use with dial-up, mobile or satellite connections)
May require up to 20 GB free disk space

I too had an issue with my XT and Bluetooth. It would repeatedly connect and disconnect and I had the Garmin do this do that part. However I went back to the supplier who got in touch with Garmin UK and shortly after asked for my unit back. Shortly after I was supplied with a brand new one so clearly there is an issue with Bluetooth on the XT. It’s still not great as sat nab directions are flaky or crackly but I get them. On the other hand it wouldn’t talk at all yesterday halfway through a ride but that is probably an issue with my bike cutting power to all accessories when I hit the start button. Or a problem with the XT….