Phone sound muted while navigating instractions?

[Fxwheels]

If I'm listening to music or youtube on the phone and Garmin starts talking directions, the phone gets completely muted. It comes back on in few seconds after the instructions stops and it's pretty annoying. Especially if the turns are close to each other. I'd prefer if the sound was just lowered instead.
Is your headset muting the sound or just lowering it?

[Peobody]

Is your headset muting the sound or just lowering it?

Muting! Headset to headset communication gets muted too. I have spent a lot of time trying to find a solution to no avail. I now ride with voice navigation turned off on my XT except when I am in a very urban area. In those cases my attention is 100% on the riding; no music, no phone calls, no commentary from the pillion (with warning to her first).

I make more u-turns and around-the-blocks with voice navigation turned off but those inconveniences outweigh the aggravation of the muting for me.

[Fxwheels]

I see. I haven't try to mute the nav but rather was cancelling the navigation route and just following just the track. But it's easy to be distracted once in a while and miss a turn. Same with the muted route, but a little advantage is that you get the distance before the turn. Will try it next time.

That said, my friend who's using his phone for navigation (Kurviger or Waze if A to B) says that his phone is just lowering the sound in the background, but if the XT starts talking, the sound is completely muted. I use Cardo and he use Sena, but his XT does the same with his Sena too.
That makes me to believe that Garmin takes complete preference over the other connections when its sound is activated. Is that because the headset takes only one channel at a time? I don't know. Looks like another inconstancy (or a bug) on the headset's (or Garmin?) part.

[Peobody]

But it's easy to be distracted once in a while and miss a turn. Same with the muted route, but a little advantage is that you get the distance before the turn. Will try it next time

I am sure that you will prefer it to following a track but to be clear, I'm not talking about muting the volume on the XT. This does not work. You must turn off spoken navigation. There is also on option to turn off spoken traffic alerts. I leave this on.

Looks like another inconstancy (or a bug) on the headset's (or Garmin?) part.

I wonder who should control this. I use a Cardo Packtalk which has an audio priority setting but the XT interrupts regardless of that setting. Is that the XT overriding the Cardo setting or is the Cardo not working as it should?

A recent Cardo firmware update introduced Parallel audio streaming which looked promising but no joy. Here is an excerpt from the Packtalk manual:

You can hear two audio sources simultaneously. For example, hear GPS while listening to music.
Note: Parallel audio streaming may not work properly with some iOS devices (i.e., music player or GPS navigator) due to connected device limitations.

Further in the manual is a chart that shows mobile phone, intercom, and GPS as foreground only. Music and FM radio are listed as background. Based on that, parallel audio streaming controls might work for muting music but that seems to be all it is good for. Oddly, there isn't any reference to the source of the music so it is unknown whether this will work if the source is a mobile phone.

[jfheath]

Mine puts the phone as priority, but now I think about this - I always thought (I was pretty sure) that it was the Zumo that was muting the other sounds. In the case of phone calls, it has to be the XT that recognises the call coming in as my headphones know nothing about the phone.

But you could find out.

Set up a set of BT earphones or headset. Link them to the XT. Get the XT to play music from the MP3 folder. Get it to simulate a route.
Make sure that you can hear the XT through your headset. Then link your XT to the smartphone phone so that it recognises the phone and the phonebook etc.

Then dial your smartphone from another phone. See what happens to the music and the instructions. You can force it to give instructions when simulating by tapping on the instruction arrow/mileage in the top left corner.

Whatever it does, that is your answer. If the Cardo doesn't do the same then it is either the way that it is set up, or it is a Cardo issue.

I've just tried this on my 595 and as soon as the phone rings, the XT cuts off all sound from the XT apart from the phone call. If the phone is conencted to the XT, then I'm sure that it will do the same. If you have your phone paired to the Cardo, then I suspect that is your problem - how can the XT cut off other sounds if it doesn't know that there is a call coming in ?

I've read people using the Cardo two channel devices, which interest me. But they all seem to want to pair the phone to the cardo. I don't understand the logic, although I'm sure that they have a reason. I'm hoping that if I get one of these - which I will eventually, I will be able to pair everything to my Zumo - ie phone and headset, then use the 2nd channel to pair that to my pillion. And I'm hoping that I can use both at the same time or at least switch easily without fumbling around for a button with a thick gloved hand. If not, I'll find something else. In the late 70s, they used to make intercoms with flexible tubes - like tubes. I'll go back to using one of those.

[Peobody]

My Cardo Packtalk pairs to the pillion and other riders via DMC mode. It pairs to the XT via bluetooth (phone is paired to the XT). The XT still overrides intercom. I don't phone conversate and ride so I don't know about phone call interruption.

The Packtalk has a specific option to attach a bluetooth device as a GPS but com interruptions occur regardless whether it is attached as a GPS or not. It has two bluetooth channels but have not tried pairing the XT on one bluetooth channel and pillion on the other. I bought the Cardo Packtalk Bold which is a DMC mode pre-paired two-pack and I don't want to mess with that pre-pairing. Also, DMC mode is definitely superior to bluetooth for group rides so I haven't messed with the two channels of bluetooth.

[Fxwheels]

If you have your phone paired to the Cardo, then I suspect that is your problem - how can the XT cut off other sounds if it doesn't know that there is a call coming in ?

No, on a contrary, we're trying to understand why the phone music or the intercom conversion with a passenger, is being muted (cut off), when Garmin starts talking directions instead of just being lowered in volume Instead.

If Garmin doesn't know about the phone than how would it shut phone down?
Or, maybe it is Cardo who's is doing this and also shuts the intercom during the conversation?

[Peobody]

If Garmin doesn't know about the phone than how would it shut phone down?
Or, maybe it is Cardo who's is doing this and also shuts the intercom during the conversation

When the XT speaks, all other headset sounds are shut down. Someone figuring out whether that is on Garmin or on Cardo might move the needle a touch towards resolution. It seems to be on Cardo because the XT is not aware of intercom activity nor phone activity if the phone is paired to the headset but I don't know how bluetooth works so I don't know if there is a way for the XT to silence all other sounds until it releases control.

[red.grey]

You have to connect the GPS to the lower priority channel off the bluetooth intercom.

Other problem is the fact Garmin uses 2 channels, music in stereo channel and gps directions in mono channel. This is a problem to all brands of intercoms.