I was able to pair my Zumo 665 to my '14 Tri-glide last night. In the pairing process it did give me a message that it failed even though it did work. I was able to hear prompts and even XM radio from the Zumo through the HD infotainment system.

 

Yes, once you learn to ignore the "failed" message and carry on, it seems quite happy.

 

I just got back from the dealer about an hour ago. You are correct that if you ignore the failed notification and let the system sit for a bit it works. We actually had to turn the radio off and then back on to get it to work on 2 of the bikes. Strange that we had to do that on those bikes and not on the other 3 bikes we tried.

This is actually good news for those who wish to use their Garmin's.

Jim@hdbomm.com

 

Glad you got it to work, Jim. Still not ideal though, as I've said to you elsewhere. Please while away the boring winter hours by developing a Garmin interface to the new system that mutes all else! :-)

 

And I've been able to do something similar with my 665. Sales guy and I spent about an hour playing, and our plan was to use the zumo's music player as the audio source, since we were indoors and couldn't get a satellite lock to try route guidance audio. One of the things we learned - and that became an important clue - is that when 2 devices are successfully paired at the same time, the 6.5 seems to be designed to disable the controls on the non-selected device. Unfortunately, sometimes it would disable the controls with only a single device connected, and we never did figure out why.

IGN set to ACC, zumo bt enabled, 6.5 to MEDIA, then add device, the zumo could see the H-D radio very quickly, but it took well over 5 minutes for the 6.5 to discover the zumo. First several times, we were asked for a PIN and got "failed to connect" message. It became apparent that the 6.5 had control despite the error messages as it locked the controls on the zumo's music player and would not allow it to play music, even though the zumo was the only device paired.

Cycled IGN off, then tried again. Again, the 6.5 took a long time to discover the zumo (zumo quickly discovered the radio), but it didn't ask for the PIN. We did get the error message, but the music player's controls were not locked, and we successfully played mp3s through the 6.5 - woohoo! We paired a phone and this is when we figured out that the 6.5 would lock the controls on the non-selected device. Select the phone and all zumo media player controls were locked, select the zumo and the phone's mp3 player controls were locked (we were using the sales guy's phone - forgot to ask what model). Don't know why it locked the zumo on first attempts with no other devices paired, however.

So.....it's progress, but the whole process seems to be rather twitchy. Not consistent from bike to bike, and not consistent from attempt to attempt. Would you go through this every time you went for a ride? How about every time you cycled the ignition off, like gas, meal and rest stops? (it would be a real PITA to go through a 5-10 minute pairing process every time) Would the connection be stable over time, during a long ride, or would you find yourself pulling over to cycle the IGN switch to re-initialize?

It'll be interesting to hear as riders gain more experience with the 6.5.

 

Used and compared many different systems, the units that come factory installed have always been the worst. We compared three Garmins, a Tom Tom, Subaru factory system and Google on a smart phone. Google was better than them all. None were totally accurate and dependable however.

 

Didn't have quite as much hassle as that with the two 660 models I connected, and they re-paired easily afterwards. Need to try the locking symptoms you describe, though I didn't notice that happening with a Blackberry connected - it was selected for the phone, and the Garmin Just for audio.

 

I was in Orlando and decided to ride to Port Charlotte to Black Widow HD. The Boombox 6.5 GPS got me to the city and then directed me to turn left in 2.3 miles just as I looked left to see the dealership.
In addition to that, I have since been on secondary roads and noticed the many and I mean MANY of the side streets are not even on the map! What kind of crap is that? Missing roads? These are not new areas, and not dirt roads. Streets that connect to small towns, not even there.

 

It's just HD buying from the cheapest supplier they can find, as usual. They get what they pay for, basically. On the other hand, we do not!

 

Dan,
I started a new thread and added some new info. It would be nice if we could consolidate a discussion of the 6.5 Infotainment issues without the trolls polluting the thread with off-topic comments but we will see....
Thread is here:
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touri...l#post12008851

Please join in.