How do I play Zumo XT voice directions through Spyder speakers?

[WDAVEY]

I recently purchased and installed a Garmin Zumo XT on my 21 Spyder RTL. I have bluetoothed the Garmin to the spyder and I also bluetoothed my phone to to the spyder. I cannot figure out how to get the voice prompts from the Garmin to play through the Spyder speakers. The phone plays my Sirius XM radio through the speakers, but I get nothing from the Garmin. The Garmin voice only comes out of the tiny speaker on the back of the GPS and my 75 year old ears can't hear it. The Garmin manual only talks about pairing the GPS with helmet speakers or earbuds. What am I missing?? TIA.

 

[duke50]

Lamonster Garage sells the blu tooth device you need to get the garmin XT to work through your speakers. He has a video that explains everything, it's a simple work around.

 

[Peteoz]

WDAVEY, how did you Bluetooth your Garmin XT to the Spyder? The only BT options via the console menu for the ‘21RT are for phone, rider helmet and passenger helmet.

Pete

 

[WDAVEY]

WDAVEY, how did you Bluetooth your Garmin XT to the Spyder? The only BT options via the console menu for the ‘21RT are for phone, rider helmet and passenger helmet.

Pete

Pete, it turns out that I did NOT bluetooth the Garmin to the Spyder. I bluetoothed it to my phone as part of the setup of the Garmin Drive App. I don't know why I need the Drive App, or how it works.

 

[WDAVEY]

Lamonster Garage sells the blu tooth device you need to get the garmin XT to work through your speakers. He has a video that explains everything, it's a simple work around.

Duke, I just looked at LaMonster's on line catalog and could not find the device. I did see a "plug and Play" harness that I already have and used to provide power to the Garmin. Do you have any specifics on this device: part number, name, vendor???? TIA for trying to help me.

 

[Peteoz]

Pete, it turns out that I did NOT bluetooth the Garmin to the Spyder. I bluetoothed it to my phone as part of the setup of the Garmin Drive App. I don't know why I need the Drive App, or how it works.

The Garmin drive app lets you link your phone to your XT so that as long as you have phone reception you can get on-the-fly traffic and weather conditions passed to your XT display. It is handy but not essential.

Unfortunately, you are going to struggle to get your XT directions through your speakers. I’m not sure if XT to Phone to Spyder is even a possibility. BRP want you using their linked proprietary apps like Rever, Sygic etc through BRP Go, so they won’t let you BT the XT to the Spyder. I have given up on BRP Go and simply BT my phone to my XT to my Helmet. Having said all this, there may indeed be someone out there who has done it. It is not something I have investigated. Fingers crossed for you.

Pete

 

[RiderDuke]

Duke, I just looked at LaMonster's on line catalog and could not find the device. I did see a "plug and Play" harness that I already have and used to provide power to the Garmin. Do you have any specifics on this device: part number, name, vendor???? TIA for trying to help me.

This is what Duke50 was talking about. I'm using it also and it works.
https://www.lamonstergarage.com/bluetooth-receiver-for-rt-f3t-st-br1-lamonster/

 

[dmiles]

I'll jump in here, but I can only share my experiences trying to link up without BRP GO, as I have a 2017 RTL. I am using a Bluetooth receiver similar to what Lemonster sells. I can Bluetooth link my Garmin to my phone, but not to the Bluetooth receiver on my RT. The issue appears to be with the Garmin firmware, as it appears to only be able to connect to a phone. I can't even get it to connect to my Bluetooth headset in my helmet, which is ultimately what I would like to do.

Best of luck to you, I'm going to keep trying myself, and if I come up with anything, I will share it here.

 

[ThreeWheels]

I recently purchased and installed a Garmin Zumo XT on my 21 Spyder RTL. I have bluetoothed the Garmin to the spyder and I also bluetoothed my phone to to the spyder. I cannot figure out how to get the voice prompts from the Garmin to play through the Spyder speakers. The phone plays my Sirius XM radio through the speakers, but I get nothing from the Garmin. The Garmin voice only comes out of the tiny speaker on the back of the GPS and my 75 year old ears can't hear it. The Garmin manual only talks about pairing the GPS with helmet speakers or earbuds. What am I missing?? TIA.

I think I may be late to this party, so forgive me if I'm repeating existing comments from previous posters.
The simple answer is: No, you cannot connect your Garmin XT to 2021 Spyder directly. Neither Garmin nor BRP have allowed for this.

There is a work around. You can use a Bluetooth Receiver from Lamonster Garage:
https://www.lamonstergarage.com/bluetooth-receiver-for-rt-f3t-st-br1-lamonster/

You physically connect the Bluetooth Receiver to the AUX connection of the BRP radio, and then pair your Garmin XT to the Bluetooth Receiver.
This allows for instructions from the Garmin to annunciate through the bike's speakers.

Like all work arounds, there are advantages, and disadvantages,
The advantage is obvious, you now have navigatioin instructions heard through the Bike speakers.

Here's the disadvantage:
You can only choose one source of audio at any given time.
When you choose the AUX Bluetooth Receiver as your audio source, this disconnects your phone and the Sirius XM.
When you choose your phone as the audio source, this disconnects the AUX Bluetooth reciever and you will no longer hear the navigation instructions.

There are some further options:
1)
Some people choose to AUX Blutooth Receiver all the time to receive the audio from your Garmin XT enabling the navigation instructions.
The Garmin XT is quite a capable little device, and can also double as the source of your music. I think you can pair your phone to the GPS to get your phone music to the GPS and then from the GPS to your speakers.
This way you get your music and navigation instructions through the Bike speakers.
The minor downside of this is that you lose control over the music from the bike controls and must use your GPS screen to control the music.
Here is Lamont's video:
https://youtu.be/_uIRSQ-KQJY

2) And this is my favorite option....
Use bluetooth headsets and have your phone paired to bike, have the GPS paired to your headset.
This way you get all the navigation, music, intercom etc, directly into your helmet speakers. Millimeters from your ears. Inside the helmet without the road noise. You can even set up ear buds.
As I said, this is my favorite option.


As always, my free advice comes with a 100% money back guarantee.

 

[Peteoz]

Thanks ThreeWheels…….very comprehensive……..and option 2 is my preferred method also, except that I bypass the Spyder altogether and link phone to XT, XT to headset for all the reasons you listed. :thumbup:

Pete

 

[WDAVEY]

Three wheels: thanks for the clear explanation. I contacted LaMonster, but the bluetooth device is temporarily out of stock. I'll get one as soon as possible and try to link my phone (music) through the GPS (directions) through the bluetooth thing to the Spyder. It's gonna be a while since LaMonster is closing for a break from 7/10 to 7/18 but I have no urgent need, just a desire to get everything working.

 

[DanDanTMM]

2) And this is my favorite option....
Use bluetooth headsets and have your phone paired to bike, have the GPS paired to your headset.
This way you get all the navigation, music, intercom etc, directly into your helmet speakers. Millimeters from your ears. Inside the helmet without the road noise. You can even set up ear buds.

I have a couple of question on this setup. I currently have everything connected to my Zumo XT and nothing is paired to my 2021 RTL. That was after all of the frustration of trying to use the AUX Bluetooth adapter so everything goes through the bike. My current setup works great but I miss being able to switch songs with the controls as well as answer the phone with them. Your favorite is like my setup except you have the phone paired to the Spyder and the Zumo XT. At least I am assuming you have it paired to the Zumo so you can use the headset to answer the phone. If I pair my phone to both the Spyder and the Zumo XT will I be able to use the handlebar controls to control the phone? I can't believe I have not tried this yet and if this works it fixes one of my biggest complaints of my setup with the Zumo XT as the hub.

 

[Frostbyte]

I don't go through BRP CONNECT at all...
Here is my gear and setup: Pixel4 XL phone, Garmin XT, Cardo PacTalk Bold headsets.
My cardo is connected to both phone (Channel 1) and GPS (Channel 2) via BT.
Phone connected to Cardo and BRP via BT (Not the frunk cable).
Garmin connected to Cardo only.

With this setup I get music from phone via RT speakers...phone Calls go to headset but pause music till hang-up...GPS instructions go direct to headset while music continues, and I still have VOX comm with my wife sitting behind me.
The only problem was digging through the two sets of instructions to figure out how to do it so it worked right. One thing I found out was that you do NOT want to connect the Garmin to either your phone OR BRP Connect because if you do, it will mess up the whole thing.
It works beautifully for me.

 

[Peteoz]

The only issue I personally have with that setup, Frostbyte, is that you don’t get Traffic conditions and weather into your XT from your mobile. I use my XT on frequent long trips, and that info is invaluable, so I link phone and headset to XT. We all have our own drivers, and you can usually find a solution that works for you, with some good research :thumbup:

Pete

 

[WDAVEY]

I installed the Bluetooth device from LaMonster today. It's simple, cheap and it works! Bluetooth the phone to the device, got my Sirius XM music; Bluetooth the Garmin to the device, got my spoken directions. When the music is playing the GPS will mute the music and give directions. Turned the bike off and restarted with no fussing around to get the bluetooth device working again, it just starts right up.

https://www.lamonstergarage.com/bluetooth-receiver-for-rt-f3t-st-br1-lamonster/

 

[ThreeWheels]

I have a couple of question on this setup. I currently have everything connected to my Zumo XT and nothing is paired to my 2021 RTL. That was after all of the frustration of trying to use the AUX Bluetooth adapter so everything goes through the bike. My current setup works great but I miss being able to switch songs with the controls as well as answer the phone with them. Your favorite is like my setup except you have the phone paired to the Spyder and the Zumo XT. At least I am assuming you have it paired to the Zumo so you can use the headset to answer the phone. If I pair my phone to both the Spyder and the Zumo XT will I be able to use the handlebar controls to control the phone? I can't believe I have not tried this yet and if this works it fixes one of my biggest complaints of my setup with the Zumo XT as the hub.

I may not have been clear. I have two separate devices.
I use an old android cell phone as the music source paired to the bike, just for the tunes. I can control this using the buttons on the bike to skip, pause or replay, as well as see the song and artist on the display.
I have my current cell phone paired to the Zumo for calls.
I'm not sure you can pair a phone to the bike and the Zumo at the same time.
In addition, this allows the passenger buttons to control the music.
I should never have told her about those buttons.

 

[nightcruiser]

sm10 sena