AJ,
When read your post last night I did think you were refering to me. I should have read more carefully. And thanks for the welcome.
I have been running 8.11 for a while now and haven't had anything to bad going on. I loaded the 8.18 yesterday and honestly I couldn't see any difference. I know some have complained about their radios not coming up in the same mode after a power cycle but I can't say I've see the problem.
I do have a problem when listening to XM. If I shut the bike down and restart it, often the softkey information in the display does not appear. If I change modes, say hit the COM button and back the screen will show correctly. I had my radio replaced for this issue and it didn't fix it so I'm guessing it's a problem with the XM module.
I think you are spot on about the BT. That software is in the module, not the radio.
Again, sorry for my bad assumption.