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Garmin and Sena problem

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4.1K views 19 replies 6 participants last post by  ssncob  
#1 ·
I have a 2018 Goldwing Tour everything with the radio CB and Mesh work properly until I added a Garmin XT. With the Garmin XT paired to the Sena 50S I lose the radio and the CB.
I currently have the bike paired to the Sena in the first phone position on the Sena and the Garmin in the GPS position. What am I doing wrong?
 
#10 ·
50s will not work in mesh and blue tooth @ the same time you have to be in one or the other just talk to two Sena reps @ Wing Ding about this I am glade I had that long visit with both of them, and he said you can change back and forth but you have to do it on the headset he said it is a real pain to go back and forth and you can't do it on the fly.
 
#3 ·
Hi Spence,
One thought.
If the 50s is also connected to your phone at the same time (bike on 1, phone on 2, garmin on GPS), try turning off the phone b/t connection. I've found most of my issues occur when I have the phone pairing with the headset active.

On a side note,
I just returned my 50s's. Couldn't hear well at highway speed in my Neotech II. Swapped out the 50s for a SRL-2 and + Mesh. SRL-2 audio can be heard at highway speeds.
Yes, I run with ear plugs to cut down on the tinnitus.

I also had more connection issues with the 50s than I have with the SRL-2s. No idea why.

Cheers
 
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#4 ·
Per the instructions from Garmin, Honda, and Sena the correct way to hook this up is Sena to the Honda in the Phone position, then phone to the Honda. This works perfectly. Next the phone to the Garmin XT in so you can get traffic and weather alerts. Still works perfectly. Now here is where the problem is when you pair the Garmin to the Sena in the GPS position when the Garmin gives an alert you lose all other forms of communication except mesh. I am trying a work around of pairing the Garmin through the second phone position. I will know if this works Saturday.
 
#6 ·
I have a zumo that I use on two motorcycles so it is paired with my Sena SRL, it is primary nav and entertainment and phone and tpms on my Tenere. When mounted on my Goldwing I turn the zumo Bluetooth off since the bike has nav and phone and entertainment. I can still use the zumo for nav but without hearing the commands and even though Bluetooth is turned off the tpms function still works to monitor my darkside tire and single wheel trailer tire.
If I forget to turn the Bluetooth off the SRL will connect to both zumo and Goldwing but doesn’t work well and often drops one or both and I have to stop and reboot.
 
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#7 ·
Those connections are my understand as well. I use Apple Car Play so always have my phone hardwired to the bike and bluetooth between the phone and bike turned off. That is one factor.

Wonder if you are seeing a problem similar to the CB interrupting the rider passenger non-mesh intercom issue. I use the +Mesh paired with the SRL2s to work around that issue.

Look forward to hearing what you discover and about the jell ear plugs.

The Shoei Neotech II and J Cruise II helmets that I have both have dedicated speaker holes. I placed the the speakers in the holes, no pads cover the speakers and they are flush and level with the helmet interior, not slanted.

With the 50s, had to max out both the Honda and the headset volume and still couldnt hear at highway speed. Sena thinks it might be a bad headset.

With the SRL2, had hedset volume set at about 75% and Honda set at about 75% for each of the volume controls (audio, CB, Nav, ACP, ect). I did notice that the CB can cause the volume level on other "channels" (Nav, audio, ect) to go lower occasionally. Just have to cycle the CB off and on to get it all to reset back to "normal".
 
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#13 ·
I understand what you are saying. I was on the phone with Chris from Sena. He was said that the only that it would work is with the Garmin XT in the GPS position. After we talked for awhile I asked if pairing the GPS to the Second Phone would work. That is what we are testing now. The problem is with the priority settings in the Sena50S.
When I was riding a BMW K1600GTL I could not stand the cords to the headset. I was told buy Sena and J&M as well as others that a Freewire could not be made to work. When I showed up in California with a working setup there techs had to see it work. They still say it can’t be done.
I may have a chance to test it today if not I will test it tomorrow.
 
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#14 ·
I have used the 50S paired to my Goldwing and my Garmin 396. The problem I've had is sometimes the Garmin will not release the connection to the headset when it announces a turn. That happens every few hours or so of riding. If that happens, I turn off the bluetooth on the Garmin which releases the BT channel and then turn it back on. The other problem I have with the Garmin is sometimes it wants to grab the A2DP profile on the phone instead of just connecting to SmartPhone Link on the phone. I have not tried to throw mesh into this mix yet. In general, I get things paired up and then leave the motorcycle on ACC and the headset turned on so I don't have to reset things as often.

I've also had problems with the BT on the Garmin when there are lots of WiFi or other BT devices around. I've had it refuse to connect to my headset in the driveway but if I get a couple hundred yards away, it works fine.

Bluetooth is useful technology but is definitely NOT fiddle-free.

Another thing that frustrates me is I can't easily use the phone app to change settings on the headset since the phone and the 50S are not paired. If I want to use the app to change settings, I pair it to the phone just for that functionality. Then when I'm finished I remove the pairing to the phone and re-pair it to the Goldwing.
 
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#16 · (Edited)
This is a long-standing problem. I've always had it with the 396 through 2 different generations of Sena headsets. What I have seen is the less RF interference is in the area, the less likely it is to happen. If I get a turn announcement that is clear with no crackle noise it is almost never a problem. When I get a garbled announcement from the GPS, it almost always holds the channel. In my experience it does not matter if the GPS is paired as a second phone or as a GPS. It does not work reliably either way. It is very infrequent but I have had to also power off the headset to get things to work correctly again. Usually just turning bluetooth off on the GPS works.

At times I have either left the GPS BT off and have let it keep the BT connection depending on which functionality I want / need the most.

And just because I did not think my 2018 Goldwing had enough fiddly bluetooth gadgets, I added a PDU that was managed by bluetooth. :D
 
#19 ·
I spent half an hour on line with Garmin yesterday. There tech said that the Garmin Zumo XT is designed to be the only source of communication. He said that it is supposed to override all other forms of communication. I asked him why it worked for the first few weeks and he said did not know. I will now just ride with the Garmin unpaired.
 
#20 ·
I have an 18, the XT, Sema 20S-Evo and a Samsung Galaxy A51. Riding buddy with an 08 also has the XT.

For my riding buddy, I bought a Bluetooth dongle from Amazon Amazon.com: GOTECK Mini Bluetooth Receiver/Car Kit, Portable Wireless Bluetooth Car & Hands-Free Adapter 3.5mm Stereo Output (Bluetooth 5.0, Built-in Microphone) for Home/Car Audio Music Streaming Stereo System: Car Electronics

Bought a USB powerbank for $5 at local 5-Below. Linked to his XT and plugged it into his aux input in left pocket. Works for him and he still has his CB. Occasionally it does unsync, restart one or the other to resync.

For me I have sena linked to XT by pressing the link button on sena. Have no idea what position it filled. Sena previously linked to bike, phone fully linked to bike. Phone linked to XT for music, but usually use the USB.

I occasionally lose sync with bike or XT on the sena. Usually resyncs itself after a bit of time, or I'll power down and restart sena to resync. Occasionally turn XT off/on to resync it. When listening to the USB music, the XT directions will override and be heard. CB overrides everything and can be heard.

Anyhow, if you're expecting 100% connection and working, don't think it will happen. Overall it works, could be better and the minor issues are small in the big picture.
 
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