How to get a Garmin Zumo XT speaking through the speakers on a Spyder RT 2020+?

[Big Mac]

Like many people who have struggled with the small SatNav display on the newer Spyders, after several weeks of trying it on our 2121 Sea-to-Sky (using an iPhone), we decided it was time to go back to a standalone SatNav unit.

Although many people like the TomToms, we have had Garmins for 20 years on our GoldWings so I decided to go with their latest offering and bought the Zumo XT (which is generally wonderful, BTW).

Sadly, this then highlighted one of the many known deficiencies of BRP Connect/Go in that it will not pair with the XT. The known workaround is to pair the XT to a standalone Bluetooth (BT) receiver and feed the output of this into the bike's auxiliary input by wire. What a palaver this is becoming, eh?!

I happened to already have a tiny BT receiver, so I tried this. It passed the XT's music into the bike for playing through the speakers very successfully - but surprisingly the SatNav directions did not come through!

Research yielded the fact that BT devices have different profiles which indicate whether they can pass only music or voice as well. I have to admit that I hadn't realised these 2 signals were separate - I thought it was all just audio! As a Zumo XT FAQ notes: "to pass the voice, the BT receiver's spec must include the term "HSP" (Head Set Profile)".

I also happen to have a BT Speaker which I use for playing music outside while we wash the bikes. It's obviously too big for my current need but I decided to test it anyway. Sure enough, after pairing to the XT, both music and SatNav directions played through it just fine....which at least proved that what I was trying to achieve could be done! So, the final job is to find a small BT receiver with HSP.

More research discovered hundreds of tiny BT receivers on Amazon and eBay, none of which included HSP in the spec. Deeper digging found one which did, so I gleefully ordered that and it arrived today. It took but a moment to set up and it looked very promising because it showed all the right things in the display (e.g. the previous one had shown a music symbol but not a headset symbol - the latter being key, apparently). I fed it some music and a route - it played the music fine and even this time successfully paused the music when the SatNav was apparently issuing directions.....but sadly the directions themselves did not come through!

So, to get to the nub of the matter, has anyone found a small BT receiver which will do the job? I have seen one mentioned by a US owner, but haven't been able to find the same device here in the UK.

P.S. I don't wish to listen to the audio in my helmet thanks, before anyone suggests a Sena.

[pidjones]

I'm using https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 with our Garmin 396.

[Peteoz]

This is way out of left field, and I will try it myself when I get home, but have you tried to BT your XT to your RT as a phone? I don’t like Connect/Go much, and am using an XT for GPS, phone, traffic etc, and have BT my second, older old iPhone to the RT as its phone (obviously), so that I can control the iphones music library, and I can use the Headset/speakers switch button on the tank to move between headset and bike speakers.
I do not have a clue if this would even come close to working, but it would only be 5 minutes to try it.

Pete

[Arion]

Lamonster Garage offers a small Bluetooth audio receiver ($24.95), and has a video as well titled "BRP Connect and Bluetooth Zumo XT," that he uses to pipe sound from his Garmin XT to the Spyder speakers.

I've used his Bluetooth audio receiver to pipe music from my phone to the Spyder speakers and it works very well. The nice thing about his receiver is that it is in a small case that fits easily in the RT 2020+ glove box where it plugs into the audio jack and USB, which will keep it charged. Pairing with the GPS is straight forward. It's a simple work-around for BRP's trailing edge electronic integration technology.

[Big Mac]

pidjones: That particular board seems hard to find in the UK, though I'm interested in how you implemented it anyway. Did you mount it in a box?

[Big Mac]

This is way out of left field, and I will try it myself when I get home, but have you tried to BT your XT to your RT as a phone?

I'm pretty sure that's what we tried, but I will verify tomorrow.

[Big Mac]

Lamonster Garage offers a small Bluetooth audio receiver ($24.95), and has a video as well titled "BRP Connect and Bluetooth Zumo XT," that he uses to pipe sound from his Garmin XT to the Spyder speakers.

He doesn't actually demonstrate voice directions coming through the speakers, but he says they do so I believe him. Sadly, that particular BT06 receiver is not available here in the UK. so I might have to get one of his shipped over.

[Peteoz]

I'm pretty sure that's what we tried, but I will verify tomorrow.

Don’t bother checking, Big Mac…. I just tried it, and the XT recognises BRP Connect, but it can’t pair to it

Pete

[RiderDuke]

The Lamonster BT receiver works on my 2021 F3T. I get both music and Directions from the F3's speakers

[pidjones]

pidjones: That particular board seems hard to find in the UK, though I'm interested in how you implemented it anyway. Did you mount it in a box?

I used a short USB cable to power it, wrapped the whole thing in clear packing tape, and shoved it into the bottom of the glove box. Fancier could be done, but now that I have a working solution (another board that I tried had the same problem as you had with Bluetooth channels) it becomes very low priority to improve it. Although I have a selection of music on the 396, it is seldom used for that, and I usually only used the 396 audio out when in an area requiring navigation (unfamiliar city streets/intersections, etc.)

[Big Mac]

Don’t bother checking, Big Mac…. I just tried it, and the XT recognises BRP Connect, but it can’t pair to it

I did check anyway and found it no use, as you did.

[Kingz]

Mine works sometimes and not other times. Very Frustrating. Could you tell me what settings should come up on the screen?

[Peteoz]

Mine works sometimes and not other times. Very Frustrating. Could you tell me what settings should come up on the screen?

Sorry, Kingz, but so much has been discussed in this thread that it is unclear what you are referring to when you say “mine works sometimes and not other times”. Can you elaborate a little please?

Pete