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[Twolanerider]

Looking for anything to be pleased about right now.  Found something this evening.

Have had Nolan helmet the N-Com Bluetooth package for awhile now.  It's worked quite well with my phone.  Making and receiving calls while going down the road on the bike was a do-able affair.  It is an entirely non-visual affair though.  Tap a button on the helmet and use voice commands that are part of the phone itself.

Some phones don't have voice commands.  That would be an issue for those.  But even at the best of times voice commands aren't always perfect.  You either don't remember the phone number (and it's hard to look it up crusing the interstate on the bike) or don't remember precisely how you entered the name in the phone's phonebook.

My old reliable Garmin 2620 dropped dead night before last.  Playing with the new 2820 today.  Had previously briefly played with the same type of combination using someone else's Garmin Zumo 550.  So Zumo users could do the same thing.

Once the Bluetooth enabled GPS unit, the phone and the helmet are correctly configured to one another it makes for an excellent combination.  The GPS unit dynamically captures your phone's phonebook each time they link.  So it's always current.  Readily accessible through the GPS touch screen is a dialing keypad, the phone book, caller ID display for incoming calls and every other necessary function.  It's easy.  It's almost seamless.  It so far seem to work very well and very conveniently.  Enough so I'm now not minding quite so much that the old 2620 crapped out.

[hogasm]

Don this is the set up that I have been wanting to get for awhile. I like the way that Nolan has the N-Com mounted into the helmet. Nothing hanging outside your helmet. You can also listen to the mp3 player through the helmet. One problem or situation...

The Nolan rep was at Hals HD when we were in Springfield for the flat track race early this summer. He showed me how the system worked with the phone and mp3 player, but....

The Garmin does not play in stereo. It plays in mono, so......J M corp makes a dongle that takes the mono signal and makes it stereo. After many calls to J M corp, no one there can tell me where or what the dongle plugs into.

[Fired00d]

Don this is the set up that I have been wanting to get for awhile. I like the way that Nolan has the N-Com mounted into the helmet. Nothing hanging outside your helmet. You can also listen to the mp3 player through the helmet. One problem or situation...

The Nolan rep was at Hals HD when we were in Springfield for the flat track race early this summer. He showed me how the system worked with the phone and mp3 player, but....

The Garmin does not play in stereo. It plays in mono, so......J M corp makes a dongle that takes the mono signal and makes it stereo. After many calls to J M corp, no one there can tell me where or what the dongle plugs into.

Is it the Zumo or bluetooth will not transmit/receive in stereo? If you use a wired headset then you can receive it in stereo so I thought it had something to do w/bluetooth. Which would mean that all products that use bluetooth would be mono unless they have something like you mention to add on or built in.

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[twojay]

Is it the Zumo or bluetooth will not transmit/receive in stereo? If you use a wired headset then you can receive it in stereo so I thought it had something to do w/bluetooth. Which would mean that all products that use bluetooth would be mono unless they have something like you mention to add on or built in.

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

It's my understanding that it's the bluetooth that will not play in stereo. I have the Nolan with the zumo and have it hard wired to my helmet. Nolan sales the cable to connect to a zumo. I had talked to J & M about their cable in July and they did not know when it would be ready. My initial intent had been to go with their headset in a Nolan 102 but as they could not give me any definite times I went with all Nolan (helmet, headphones, cables).

[hogasm]

It's my understanding that it's the bluetooth that will not play in stereo. I have the Nolan with the zumo and have it hard wired to my helmet. Nolan sales the cable to connect to a zumo. I had talked to J & M about their cable in July and they did not know when it would be ready. My initial intent had been to go with their headset in a Nolan 102 but as they could not give me any definite times I went with all Nolan (helmet, headphones, cables).

J M corp in my opinion did know what they wanted to do but did not know how to install their parts or when they would be available. The Nolan seems to be the unit to go with now.

[hogasm]

Is it the Zumo or bluetooth will not transmit/receive in stereo? If you use a wired headset then you can receive it in stereo so I thought it had something to do w/bluetooth. Which would mean that all products that use bluetooth would be mono unless they have something like you mention to add on or built in.

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

The Garmin unit using bluetooth will not transmit in stereo.

[Twolanerider]

Their is a wired aux in jack in the Nolan audio kit for the helmets.  A jack to plug in things like Ipods or other sources.  That is a stereo source.  The Bluetooth connection supplied by the N-Com module is not stereo.

For things like phone calls or hearing the nav instructions this is a distinction without a difference.  Just no big deal.  For using the 2820's multimedia player functions, however, it would be a real issue.

Two options would be to use a patch cord from audio out on the 2820 to either the aux in jack on the radio or the aux in wired connection on the helmet.  The latter loses the completely wireless connections of the helmet.  Neither option is as nice as it would be if the helmet's Bluetooth capability were that of a stereo headset.  But at least there are options.

I can hear the bike's audio just fine with the full helmet on.  Have in fact gotten used to it that way.  So if I wanted the 2820's MP3 player would probably plug to the bike rather than the lid.  Quite frankly with the XM and a good MP3 disc in the radio I doubt I'll do either though.

Even with the deficiency of the N-Com unit not being a stereo Bluetooth connection it has worked great as a phone tool for over a year now.  Tieing it all together with the 2820 adds so much functionality, increases ease of use tremendously, and is just pretty cool on top of all that.  So I'm pleased so far.

I actually liked the mapping display of the 2620 better then the new 2820.  There were also a few functions and controls offered within the 2620 that the 2820 just doesn't do.  If it were only a nav unit to nav unit comparison quite frankly I'd choose the 2610/2620 over the 2820; though some of that initial reaction is of course based on just a greater familiarity with the prior unit.

Navigation is still good with the new unit though.  And it seems every bit as "intuitive" as the old one displaying things you'd actually want to see when and just prior to your actually needing to see them (even if you don't know yet that you will).  So the differences between the two aren't a knock on the new unit's capability.  Just that it's functions and controls have kind of dumbed down a tiny bit.  If you're going to take advantage of the Bluetooth ability, however, its addition is a utility that more then compensates for the other minor losses.

[Twolanerider]

One other real gain in the 2820 compared to the 2620.  Could not load POIs to the old unit.  Loading the entire Harley dealership list in a moment is pretty slick.

[Fired00d]

The Garmin unit using bluetooth will not transmit in stereo.

I understand that part, but I'm just wondering if it's a bluetooth thing (as in any product that transmits bluetooth will be in mono unless it has that adapter you mentioned built in or added on) or just specific to Garmin?

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[Twolanerider]

I understand that part, but I'm just wondering if it's a bluetooth thing (as in any product that transmits bluetooth will be in mono unless it has that adapter you mentioned built in or added on) or just specific to Garmin?

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

No Gary.  It's not a universal Bluetooth limitation.  There are Bluetooth stereo headsets or headphones.  In this case it just seems the Nolan seemed to think the Bluetooth would be a speech carrier only, for wireless intercom, phone and GPS nav functions.

Since the N-Com module attaches to the same headset that can play stereo from the auxiliary input Nolan almost could certainly could offer a wireless module that was a stereo unit.  No data input port on the existing N-Com modules so no firmware or other upgrade would accomplish it with existing units though.

[hard10]

I knew I should have waited for that Bluetooth Nolan   

[Fired00d]

No Gary.  It's not a universal Bluetooth limitation.  There are Bluetooth stereo headsets or headphones.  In this case it just seems the Nolan seemed to think the Bluetooth would be a speech carrier only, for wireless intercom, phone and GPS nav functions.

Since the N-Com module attaches to the same headset that can play stereo from the auxiliary input Nolan almost could certainly could offer a wireless module that was a stereo unit.  No data input port on the existing N-Com modules so no firmware or other upgrade would accomplish it with existing units though.

So all one would have to do is get a "stereo bluetooth headset" and they would be able to receive the signal in stereo from the Zumo w/o any other devices?

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[Rhino]

One other real gain in the 2820 compared to the 2620.  Could not load POIs to the old unit.  Loading the entire Harley dealership list in a moment is pretty slick.

And why did you choose the 2820 vs. the Zumo??
Rhino

[BalDeagle]

One other real gain in the 2820 compared to the 2620.  Could not load POIs to the old unit.  Loading the entire Harley dealership list in a moment is pretty slick.

Hey Don. Can we do that over here in Europe?

I have the Zumo now and would love to be able to load all the European dealerships in as POI's. If so how and where do I find the info.

Cheers,

Nige

[Fired00d]

Hey Don. Can we do that over here in Europe?

I have the Zumo now and would love to be able to load all the European dealerships in as POI's. If so how and where do I find the info.

Cheers,

Nige

Nige,
Try this - H-D Dealers Europe @ GPSPassion. This website has many POI's and is where I got the US dealers from.

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d