Connecting Electronics - Pairing Order?

[SMSW]

I just bought a Cardo Packtalk Edge, and at the beginning of the season I bought Garmin's Zumo XT.

Is there a specific order in which I pair my iPhone to the Edge to the XT via bluetooth? By that question, is it more than just turning the devices on in a certain order? Should I delete each of the devices from the phone, then link them in a specific order? Ideally, I want to be able to talk to fellow riders and hear either music or directions from my GPS.

 

[sherob]

Phone to XT... XT to Packtalk would be my preference. I can use my gloves to control everything via the XT... phone calls, music, volume. Keep phone in your pocket. Still be able to comms to other riders via Packtalk.

 

[larryg]

I just bought a Cardo Packtalk Edge, and at the beginning of the season I bought Garmin's Zumo XT.

Is there a specific order in which I pair my iPhone to the Edge to the XT via bluetooth? By that question, is it more than just turning the devices on in a certain order? Should I delete each of the devices from the phone, then link them in a specific order? Ideally, I want to be able to talk to fellow riders and hear either music or directions from my GPS.

I'm not a Cardo user (I have a Sena) but I do have the Zumo XT. This is what works (usually, lol) for me:
Pair your phone to the Zumo, away from the bike.
When riding, start the bike first and allow a minute or so for the Zumo to boot up.
THEN, turn on your Sena (or Cardo).
Doing it out of this order usually causes problems - for me anyway.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Do not Pair the phone to the Cardo. If you have, unpair it.
Pair the phone to the XT. Pair the Cardo to the XT. The order doesn't matter.
You can then boot up the phone, the XT and the Cardo in any order that you want- doesn't matter. The phone will always pair to the XT, the Cardo will always pair to the XT, and the XT will be the hub for the both of them.

 

[Daboo]

I'm not a Cardo user (I have a Sena) but I do have the Zumo XT. This is what works (usually, lol) for me:
Pair your phone to the Zumo, away from the bike.
When riding, start the bike first and allow a minute or so for the Zumo to boot up.
THEN, turn on your Sena (or Cardo).
Doing it out of this order usually causes problems - for me anyway.

Do not Pair the phone to the Cardo. If you have, unpair it.
Pair the phone to the XT. Pair the Cardo to the XT. The order doesn't matter.
You can then boot up the phone, the XT and the Cardo in any order that you want- doesn't matter. The phone will always pair to the XT, the Cardo will always pair to the XT, and the XT will be the hub for the both of them.

Good advice. You have only two BT channels in the Cardo (if it is like the Sena, and I'm sure it is). You can eliminate the issue Larry is talking about by looking at how to pair to the Cardo on the secondary channel. Yes, it is probably different than simply making two pairings.

On mine, the phone pairs to the Zumo XT. The BT headset pairs to the Zumo XT. The phone does not pair to the BT headset. The Zumo XT is paired to the secondary BT channel. My radar detector is paired to the primary BT channel. When I do a Group Intercom, I usually lose the radar detector on the primary channel.

Chris

 

[jfheath]

I agree with all of the above - except I prefer to pair the headset with the XT first. It is easy to verify that sound is coming through the headset before the phone gets in the way. I found problems doing it phone first.
It was maybe because the headset that I was using just pairs with the first thing that it finds that it has previously paired with. Sitting at my desk there were plenty of devices around - including the phone ! Knowing that the headset was paired with the XT and was working was the key to cracking that little problem.
Getting rid of the pairing between headset and phone was the next !

 

[Gerhard]

I would pair the phone with the Packtalk directly because it allows the use of Siri (or the Android assistant) to control the phone by voice, this wasn’t possible through my Garmin GPS.

 

[SMSW]

Do not Pair the phone to the Cardo. If you have, unpair it.
Pair the phone to the XT. Pair the Cardo to the XT. The order doesn't matter.
You can then boot up the phone, the XT and the Cardo in any order that you want- doesn't matter. The phone will always pair to the XT, the Cardo will always pair to the XT, and the XT will be the hub for the both of them.

Andrew, will doing this kill using Siri or "Hey Cardo" from the features? I'm asking this because of what @Gerhard said in post 7 above.

 

[Gerhard]

It doesn’t stop the “Hey Cardo” but the voice assistant native to your phone doesn’t hear you when you route the phone through the Garmin device.

 

[Gerhard]

It doesn’t stop the “Hey Cardo”

Having given this some more thought it may affect “Hey Cardo” and it’s ability to make/answer phone calls since the phone is hidden behind the GPS, you probably answer and make calls from the GPS screen. Haven’t actually tried it so this is conjecture on my part. So basically “Hey Cardo” might be limited to volume and FM radio controls.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Andrew, will doing this kill using Siri or "Hey Cardo" from the features? I'm asking this because of what @Gerhard said in post 7 above.

I don't know about Siri, I don't use Siri. I have a Sena. This set up does not affect the use of voice commands on the Sena. I can't imagine that it would with Cardo either. Voice command is direct to the head-set. It is not routed through the GPS.

 

[Gerhard]

Will the Sena dial the phone via voice commands or do you have to use the Garmin interface?

 

[Andrew Shadow]

I doubt it because the headset is not paired to the phone the way that I connect things, but I haven't tried that specific command because if I was to make a call I would use the GPS even if the voice command did work.

What I meant to write is that the voice command function of the Sena is internal to the Sena and is always functional regardless of the way in which it was paired to other units. If a phone is not connected directly to the Sena, it would not be surprising if it can't control it, but I don't know for sure as I haven't tried that specific scenario. Another test to be done but I am 3,000 miles away from my Sena and GPS so .......

 

[Gerhard]

What I meant to write is that the voice command function of the Sena is internal to the Sena and is always functional regardless of the way in which it was paired to other units.

That is what I said in a roundabout way about the Cardo when I said you might end up with only being able to control the the volume and radio with voice control. I always found the Garmin interface an awkward way to place and receive calls so voice control is a step forward to me and I am use to it from Apple CarPlay.

 

[jfheath]

Bumping a thread - looking for help.

My Cardo Edge Packtalk Duo arrived this morning.

I'm sitting here at my desk with Phone, XT on a car mount and plugged in, mobile phone, and house phone, and a pile of loose bits of papers which I think are supposed to be instructions.

I can pair the two units to each other, but I seem to have to use the app on the phone to do it.
I can pair one Edge to the XT and the phone to the XT and I can make and receive phone calls which alert on the XT screen.
I can play music on the XT and hear it through one Edge. I can hear XT instrcutoosn through my headest.

What I have not yet been able to do is to have all three things connected at the same time.
ie phones, XT and to each other.

I can't If the phone is connected to one of the edges to allow the App to work, the edge doesn't have a channel to see the other edge.
Surely you don't have to use the mobile phone app to connect the two BT headsets ?

I must have lost something - (as well as the will to live).

I have not yet experimented with the DMC intercom - perhaps I need to use that rather than Bluetooth.

Also - there is no 'fold-back' (Is that the correct term ?) to allow you to hear your own voice in your earphones when in a BT conversation. Is that correct behaviour ? Perhaps due to the BT delay ?

 

[Daboo]

I don't have a Cardo, but I think the principle is the same.

You have two BT channels on your BT headsets and two on your Garmin XT. How you chose to pair those two, is up to you. Chose wisely as someone more famous than I am once said.

I leave my Garmin XT on the bike all the time while riding. It's literally a "snap" to put it on and take it off.

1. Primary BT channel is connected to the smartphone.
2. Secondary BT channel is connected to the BT headset.
   
   There is no direct BT connection from the BT headset to my smartphone. All phone calls route through the GPS.

My BT headset has two channels.

1. Primary is connected to the radar detector.
2. Secondary is connected to the GPS.
   
   If I'm using "Group Intercom", then the primary BT channel seems to go to the Group Intercom and not to the RD. Remember, you only have two BT channels, no matter how much you wish you could get 3 or 4.

Virtually all my music is stored on the Garmin XT. I don't try to access my music on my smartphone. Music, phone calls, etc. are all run through the visual interface on the Garmin XT.

(I have to give a little caveat on all the above. I'm on drugs for something I'm allergic to and hives. Who knows what reality is, and isn't. )

Your Cardo app (I'm assuming) is assuming you have no other device you're connecting to. They want you to be tethered to their app and theirs only. And it would be impossible to program for every other manufacturer's options. Skip the app, if at all possible.

I used to connect my smartphone to both the BT headset and the GPS. The results were random. It all depended on which one paired first as to what the final outcome would be.

I hope this helps.

Chris

 

[jfheath]

Thanks Chris. Yes it does. It was the problems with specifics with the PackTalk that I was having. I started looking for the second channel that I'd heard about but which isn't mentioned in the documentation. Part of the problem is that the phone connection is using one BT channel for the Cardo App - which meant that I couldn't connect to anything else ! It seemed to shoot itself in the foot.

I may have to pair the rider pillion using DMC - assuming that doesn't require BT.

I came across this long and very detailed video, which is worth posting I think. I've yet to try it with what I know, but its already given me more info than I have found anywhere else.

Cardo Packtalk Edge Full Tutorial - YouTube

 

[Smudgemo]

I'm not sure if this will help, but for 2/3 of a trip last summer with my daughter using Pactalk Bold headsets, we could barely hear our music while both headsets were on. Communicating was fine. I finally figured out that pushing the roller wheel for 2 sec would mute conversation and let the music play at a normal level, but if we wanted to talk, we'd need to push it again for 2 sec or no comms.

I think I need to revisit this before the next trip with her.

 

[SMSW]

@jfheath, If you go to the Cardo website > Support, you can download and print the manual for the Edge. I think I remember reading you access the second channel (for pairing, I'm not sure - I was looking for other info at the time I read it and just skimmed this section) by pressing the wheel for a couple of seconds. When all else fails, read the instructions. If you really want to get confused, call Customer Support. Btw, I found Cardo's customer support people to be iffy, but their support guy named Alan was excellent. I doubt you would get the same folks I do but my experience with Customer Support was via email.

 

[Gerhard]

Smudgemo I think if you play with the intercom and music volume control it might be the solution to your issue.