Zumo User Forums

This is a sad story that I know many of you have experienced.

A bit of background
I got a new Goldwing in January this year. Couldn't get the Andriod Auto working and after a couple if weeks spending most of the night in the garage and buying 9 different cables and a new phone, I gave up.
The Sat Nav onboard the Goldwing is generally crap for any planning so I decided to get a Garmin (as ive had Garmin before) and the XT2 was the weapon of choice.

Now for the next instalment of the sad story
I received the XT2 decided the instructions were rubbish and so just paired the phone the XT2, paired my Cardo to the XT2 and all was great. I was one happy bloke because i had music, phone and nav instructions..... THEN I went out with my Financial and life Controller on the back. We started the comms and my sense of humour failed instantly - the music was 'choppy' and buffered badly all the time. Turning the comms off and the music was great. Little did I know that this would lead to a week of nights in the garage swearing and kicking things.

I lost count of the amount of times i read the manual, reset back to factory, forgot bluetooth connections, wiped history tried another way. I finally found a way Phone to XT2 - XT2 to Bike - Bike to Cardo. Music, comms and phone all working.

Got on the bike to come to work this morning and my music kept cutting out for a short period of time. I then realised that i was not getting nav instructions and that this was the pause as the XT2 was saying something but it was not reaching my ears. AAARRRRGGGGGHHH

I have no doubt that this will happen with the comms as I have read on this forum.

Any help would be appreciated especially if you have a similar setup

I think Im going to give up and get a paper road map and plug in headphones to my phone.

FWIW, I have gone down a similar road without the bike involved and have settled on comms, no music for my pillion and very rarely for me, and not voice navigation. Music is on my XT. It works fine for me but I never could get the sharing of it with my pillion to work at an acceptable volume. Voice navigation was so disruptive to comm conversations that I now ride with it off whenever the comm is connected to pillion or another rider. The manuals make you think that this should all work seamlessly but that is far from the truth. Obviously I settled for what I could live with. Fortunately I don't need music and am fine without voice navigation, and the occasional missed turn as result.

Hello and Welcome to the forums.

A couple of questions:

Where is your music coming from - the phone or from the XT2 inbuilt MP3 player ?

Does your Cardo have the DMC Mesh system (eg on the Cardo Packtalk Edge / Cardo Bold and some others)

Same question for the pillion.

I have XT2, Cardo Packtalk Edge, Android phone.

Pairing Cardo to XT2 (Bluetooth - XT2 paired as a second phone)
XT2 to Phone.

My Cardo is NOT paired to the phone by BT. It has to be paired in order to set it up, but that connection is destroyed when I have finished. (Hence the XT2 is paired as a second phone - which leaves the first pphone available should I need to use BT with the Cardo for updates etc).
I also have a pillion Cardo Packtalk Edge. These are paired using the DMC Mesh system.
Everything pairs first time every time and has been 100% trouble free.

Music from the XT2 on board MP3 player is perfect - and once playing can be controlled by Hey Cardo commands from the headset. (next, previous, start, stop).

What has been much less successful is trying to get music from the phone. It works after a fashion, but then after a while the signal is broken or it disconnects all together. Changing focus from riding safely to trying to get the music I want is never a good idea. I often turn the music off. Far too distracting for my level of concentration.

jfheath wrote: ↑Wed Apr 09, 2025 1:19 pm Hello and Welcome to the forums.

A couple of questions:

Where is your music coming from - the phone or from the XT2 inbuilt MP3 player ?

Does your Cardo have the DMC Mesh system (eg on the Cardo Packtalk Edge / Cardo Bold and some others)

Same question for the pillion.

I have XT2, Cardo Packtalk Edge, Android phone.

Pairing Cardo to XT2 (Bluetooth - XT2 paired as a second phone)
XT2 to Phone.

My Cardo is NOT paired to the phone by BT. It has to be paired in order to set it up, but that connection is destroyed when I have finished. (Hence the XT2 is paired as a second phone - which leaves the first pphone available should I need to use BT with the Cardo for updates etc).
I also have a pillion Cardo Packtalk Edge. These are paired using the DMC Mesh system.
Everything pairs first time every time and has been 100% trouble free.

Music from the XT2 on board MP3 player is perfect - and once playing can be controlled by Hey Cardo commands from the headset. (next, previous, start, stop).

What has been much less successful is trying to get music from the phone. It works after a fashion, but then after a while the signal is broken or it disconnects all together. Changing focus from riding safely to trying to get the music I want is never a good idea. I often turn the music off. Far too distracting for my level of concentration.

JFHeath thanks for your time
to answer your questions the
Freecom 4X is not mesh but has a dedicated comms connection with up to 4 headsets. The unit has 2 other BT connectons
I use spotify and never have any issues in the car or using directly from Phone (via BT)

The advantage I have is that because I have set the final link from Zumo to bike I have the control of the music and phone from either the Zumo or my controls on the bars.

Ive set up the XT2 on the bike as a mobile phone.

Odd that isn't it. I don't have problems in the car with the mobile phone connection.

I wonder if it is to do with the fact that the Zumo is using BT to communicate with the headset (which the car doesn't) as well as with the phone.

And if you have any of Tread features enabled - The XT2 AND the phone are both communicating with each other and the phone is communicating via data to the Explore data management system at Garmin. I'm not convinced by my own suggestion.

Does anyone on the forum NOT have issues with BT music from phone to XT2 to headset ? (That's not a questuon - it is a call for help from other members).

I know some people put the hedaset at the centre of things - but I then the headset accepts, terminates the phone calls and the XT2 is not bale to pass on any sounds to the headset. Some people say that they use the other channel from the headset to the phone. I have tried that but couldn't get a result that I was happy with.

@jfheath to answer your question about music, I’m paired in the recommended way Phone - XT2(hub) - Cardo Edge. The XT2 is connected to my Edge as a GPS (second press of the button when pairing). All works fine, crystal clear. I have swapped from Spotify to Apple Music as the XT2 syncs with the library better so that you can select anything that you like.

@Warrington White maybe being paired to the bike is messing with the setup just as it does if you also pair Cardo to phone. In that setup I had instances of two lots of music playing and being unable to stop them. Also phone calls were a disaster due to conflicting signals.

Tech hey?

Thanks for that @Regain .

Do you use apple Music with an iPhone or with an Android (if that is possible).

@jfheath it’s an iPhone. I did have an Android phone before this and seem to remember having to always start the music playing on the phone before setting off. Not so anymore. Also, iPhones seem to remember your volume settings whereas I had to use a Bluetooth volume app to maintain them with my Zumo on the Android.

Thanks folks.
I tried again last night with other configurations - its becoming an obsession.
Paring as a GPS to Cardo works OK but no phone..... but its given me an idea

Ill try this when I get home tonight and really screw everything up
Phone to Zumo
Zumo to Cardo as GPS
Phone to bike for music and phone
Cardo to Bike
Helmet to Helmet comms
This will mean that the Nav will come through on the Cardo channel 2 with the bike (phone and music) using channel 1

Ive not tried that one yet but I dont hold out much hope

The one that annoyed me the most was having the Zumo as the hub and the music being choppy when using intercom.
The advantage of having the bike in the equation is that I can use my handlebar controls AND the zumo for the controls. Very useful for volume controlled by the bike and also when you get a shit tune and want a quick next.

@Warrington White good luck but I fear the bike connection may be an issue. Keep trying, I’m sure you’ll work it out.