new zumo 660 gps question

[dd]

hi all.
this is a question for the techies:

1. i had a garmin zumo 550 connected to a scala Q2 bluetooth wireless headset, and i never felt like it transmitted music in stereo. if i actually plugged wired headphones in, it would output in stereo.

2. the new garmin zumo 660 has something called 'bluetooth A2DP'.

3. does this mean that it will transmit mp3 music in stereo via wireless bluetooth?

if anyone knows, i would appreciate your response.

thanks so much.
-daniel.

[red baron]

Suggest you contact Garmin directly. They are very helpful and since the 660 is not available at this time I am sure they will know better than guesses from the forum
Peter

[MSFMikeyJ]

Everything you wanted to know about the Zumo (old and new): http://www.zumoforums.com/

Sorry, I haven't looked at the 660 specs yet so I personally can't answer your questions.

[snag]

Daniel,

I went down this road about a month ago when I wanted to Bluetooth my earphones to my 550 so that I could listen to some tunes on a road trip. You will get only mono out of the 550 as it doesn't have the A2DP protocol which is for streaming stereo audio. The Jabra Bluetooth device that I bought only produced mono even after a heavily quizzed salesman said that there was no special protocol required. Don't get me started!! I have not tried the 660 yet, but Garmin indicates that it does have the A2DP protocol. The research I did online indicated that the A2DP protocol was necessary for streaming stereo. All I got from my 550 was mono and I packed in the research effort quickly once I came across the A2DP information (after had I bought the Jabra). Here's a pdf with the technical information:

http://www.bluetooth.com/NR/rdonlyres/8 ... pecv10.pdf

I don't know what you are using for earphones, I have a pair of Etymotic ER.6 phones and they work wonderfully in my noisy Shoei. Others on the forum use them too.

Let us know how you make out as I am considering upgrading to the 660 just for this reason. I wired my Etymotics into the 550 with a quick release plug on both ends and it worked great, but wireless would be the cat's pajamas!

Doug

[Mollygrubber]

I too have the Cardo Scala Q2 Multiset (awesome! my wife loves it), and am awaiting delivery of a Nuvo 660. Although the 660 will output a signal in stereo, the Cardo headset will not play it back in stereo - you will get 2 channels of mono. Of course I have not tried it myself yet, give me a day or two.

Hopefully the new firmware (v 2.80) for the 660 addresses the complaints the first batch generated, I may have jumped the gun getting this one rather than the tried and true 550. Greedy, I guess... will let you know...

**EDIT**

GPS works very well, with the exception that apparently Laguna Seca raceway has no access roads... very odd. I'll be calling Garmin about that.

[Ashveratu]

I have been using A2DP bluetooth devices for the last 2 years (and searching for them as well). If it says A2DP then it should be in stereo. I wear a Nolan N103 helmet with integrated bluetooth which supports A2DP very well (but the speakers that Nolan supplies are horrible, I had to upgrade mine). I nearly made the mistake of purchasing a Zumo 550 myself, even though it probably would not have mattered too much. I use my phone to stream music at the moment.

If you have questions or are curious about the N103, read on for my opinions on it.

It is a very loud helmet. Wind noise transmits right through the shield and shell of the helmet (this is in comparison to the Shoei Multitec which I used to own and it is a very quiet helmet next to the Nolan). Ear plugs are a must unless you never plan to go above 40 miles an hour or you have a big wind shield on your bike. With ear plugs in, the stock speakers on the Nolan are barely acceptable when at highway speeds. If you have any skill with a soldering iron, changing out the skeakers is easy (I have very little to no skill...). I replaced mine with HS24 Helmet Speakers from HelmetSpeakers.com and I must say, it makes a HUGE difference. Sound quality and volume has improved dramatically. The only thing I cannot comment on is making/receiving phones with the helmet since I have not installed the microphone in it. I abhor people who use cell phones while driving and I refuse to use one while riding.

[famousperson]

I abhor people who use cell phones while driving and I refuse to use one while riding.

How do all you users of Blueteeth devices deal with the problem of recharging the little buggers? I've tried using them with my cell phone but am always defeated in the end by having just one more thing to remember to plug in.

[Dan-A]

I abhor people who use cell phones while driving and I refuse to use one while riding.

I like my XM but don't want to be called on the phone when riding either.

[websterize]

3. does this mean that it will transmit mp3 music in stereo via wireless bluetooth?

Yes, Garmin advertises this. The zumo 660 transmits in stereo via Bluetooth, but it fails to pair with a stereo headset receiver, the Jabra BT-3030, which I was hoping to use for audio turn-by-turn directions. (I plug in Etymotic ER-6 headphones to the Jabra.)

Hopefully, Garmin will fix the 660/Jabra pairing with a software update. A report on zumoforums makes me think I might be plugging the ER-6s into the 660 for awhile. Garmin told the customer to make sure he was running the latest firmware — he was.

The 660 and the Jabra pair fine with an iPhone 3G running iPhone 3.0. Motoring with stereo music via the Jabra and iPhone is really something.

[deilenberger]

Hopefully, Garmin will fix the 660/Jabra pairing with a software update. A report on zumoforums makes me think I might be plugging the ER-6s into the 660 for awhile. Garmin told the poster to make he's running the latest firmware — he was.

The 660 and the Jabra pair fine with an iPhone 3G running iPhone 3.0. Motoring with stereo music via the Jabra and iPhone is really something.

Bill,

Odd that it won't pair with the Jabra - I use my Navigator-III (Garmin 2820 basically + 1 or two bells/whistles) with the Jabra and it works great. I did have trouble pairing it once when the GPS decided to pair first with my phone. I went into the GPS menu and told it to turn off pairing to the phone and then it worked fine. Apparently at least the older GPS can only pair with one thing at a time (and it really puzzled me because the phone wasn't talking to me.. people could hear me, but I couldn't hear them, I'm guessing the phone audio was coming out the GPS audio output.)

[websterize]

Bill,

Odd that it won't pair with the Jabra - I use my Navigator-III (Garmin 2820 basically + 1 or two bells/whistles) with the Jabra and it works great. I did have trouble pairing it once when the GPS decided to pair first with my phone. I went into the GPS menu and told it to turn off pairing to the phone and then it worked fine. Apparently at least the older GPS can only pair with one thing at a time (and it really puzzled me because the phone wasn't talking to me.. people could hear me, but I couldn't hear them, I'm guessing the phone audio was coming out the GPS audio output.)

Odd, indeed. Apparently, the Jabra will pair with the zumo 550, which makes me think the problem lies in the 660's software. (Wireless turn-by-turn directions are more important to me than stereo Bluetooth, but the 660 seems more robust than the 550. And I got an AMA discount on the 660.) I e-mailed Garmin, asking what Bluetooth headsets the 660 does support. They list only compatible phones on the zumo site. If the response is helpful, I'll update this thread.

Leading edge is the bleeding edge.

[websterize]

Updating to v3.10 software tonight on the 660 fixed the pairing problem with the Jabra BT-3030. I moved some .mp3s files to the zumo and am using its audio player. It's no iTunes. Wirelessly streaming music from an iPhone and direction prompts from the zumo, concurrently, seems to overload the Jabra, so I turned off the iPhone's Bluetooth radio. Music from the zumo pauses for navigational instructions and resumes automatically. I can also advance tracks, adjust volume from the Jabra. Beauty.

[dderrig]

Updating to v3.10 software tonight on the 660 fixed the pairing problem with the Jabra BT-3030. I moved some .mp3s files to the zumo and am using its audio player. It's no iTunes. Wirelessly streaming music from an iPhone and direction prompts from the zumo, concurrently, seems to overload the Jabra, so I turned off the iPhone's Bluetooth radio. Music from the zumo pauses for navigational instructions and resumes automatically. I can also advance tracks, adjust volume from the Jabra. Beauty.

I just got the 660 and thanks to your suggestions and others in this thread I purchased the Jabra BT3030 and it works great, the only negative observation is the MP3 player volume doesn't get very loud vs. the turn by turn directions. I know there are seperate volume controls for the media player vs. the turn by turn and a master volume but still can't "crank it" vs. my wifes I phone which can blow your ears out. Anyone have this observation also? (and yes I did try cranking it up with the Jabra).

Dave

[websterize]

I just got the 660 and thanks to your suggestions and others in this thread I purchased the Jabra BT3030 and it works great, the only negative observation is the MP3 player volume doesn't get very loud vs. the turn by turn directions. I know there are seperate volume controls for the media player vs. the turn by turn and a master volume but still can't "crank it" vs. my wifes I phone which can blow your ears out. Anyone have this observation also? (and yes I did try cranking it up with the Jabra).

Dave

I set navigation volume to 100 percent; media to 80 percent; and Jabra volume as high as it will go.

I use Etymotic ER-6 earbuds, which do a fairly amazing job blocking ambient noise. I also don't have to turn up the volume as high because the seal is so good. Look forward to trying them out on a plane. They rival noise-cancelling headphones, at least to my ears, and are a lot more portable.

[snag]

You 660 guys are making me jealous. The only advantage to the 550 is that when I slow down to pass the Harley daisychains, they can see the hardwire to the 550 and know that I can't hear those friggin pipes. Tip, if you don't know already: a little spit on the buds before insertion creates a great seal. My ER-6is are absolutely wonderful on the road and completely shut out the racket from my Cee Bailey and Shoei (not to mention the Harleys).

Doug