Sena SMH10 pairing to Garmin Zumo 395

[gregory]

Greetings all,

I just acquired a Zumo 395 and in pairing it to the Sena SMH10, I had a little issue.

Much to my dismay, the 395 will not support MP3's on the SD card (apparently, only maps go there for this model.) No big deal, will play through the phone, as I can control the (phone) music on the Garmin. Once I got the Garmin to recognize the headset in the Sena for phone calls, everything seemed to work. When I tested the set up, I would get like 5 seconds worth of music, then the music would cut out like the system heard me talk and switched to intercom. The intercom would go for the next 5 seconds, even when I moved the mic well away from my mouth and made sure to not even breath. This cycle would repeat till I shut it all down.

Wondering if the collective can help. Is it pairing order? as far as I can tell, I need to pair the phone to the Garmin and the Garmin to the Sena, which I believe I have done.

Any suggestions?

As always, thanks in advance.

Gregory

 

[Fred W]

Question: Does your Sena headset do the same thing if you pair it with some other Bluetooth audio source? Are you wearing earplugs and cranking up the sound level to hear it thru the earplugs (like I do)?

What Im guessing is the the microphone is picking up some of the audio because it is playing so loudly inside of your helmet. Maybe see what happens with no earplugs and sound level turned way down (as a test). I would assume there is some way to turn off Vox initiation of the intercom. You could see if turning Vox off lets the music play continuously.

 

[gregory]

Thanks Fred.

Vox should already be off, but I will double check that.

I was using the helmet speakers to test, but I usually ride with earbuds. I will check that also.

I wasn't sure if I paired in the right order (and if that matters as I am only pairing two devices). I had the hardest time just getting the Garmin to see the Sena as a headset.

Have not had time to play with it, but will check it out tomorrow

 

[Harald]

The 395 should support playing music off the SD card. I do know from my Zumo 660 experience that it's important to have numerous folders rather than all music in one big folder. In my case my thousands of songs are broken up into seperate folders for each album.

I'm considering a 395 and this is a big consideration. I just looked for the old ZumoForum and it's been closed. There's new Zumo forum here:

https://www.zumouserforums.co.uk/community/index.php

 

[Harald]

The Garmin 395 manual specifically says you can play music stored internally:

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/zumo395/EN-US/GUID-DE21AF16-F2F7-42B8-BE17-5F727677077E.html

 

[gregory]

Yup, internally only.

It is a bit misleading on the website. As a previous owner of a 550, I ASSumed it would be the same, and did not really read the description online. I think I have 2GB available of the 7GB (going from memory) total internal memory. The Micro SD supports the maps only.

I have 56 hours of Jimmy Buffett, every Pink Floyd album and most of the Beatles, I can fill a 32GB card without trying. Even if I could move the maps to the SD card and use all the internal memory for music only, I would still not have all I want (I know I can reduce the amount of music I carry, but why?) As long as I can control the phone playing my music, I am happy. 64GB card in the Galaxy S9 and off I go.

As long as I can get the Sena, Garmin and phone to play nice, I will keep the 395.

 

[FJRay]

following closely . I have 32GB of Greg's music in my 660 and it works fine without folders. I haven't tried to pair the phone yet but from listening in here it seems I should pair to the SENA rather than the 660. I will wait for a success story or Carver is going to be here next week and I'll get him to do it.

 

[Harald]

Reading a review on Amazon, someone complained about the MP3 player. A response was added by Garmin with a link to how to load music into the Zumo:

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=tytHec27o01tlI9YgQASL6&searchType=noProduct

Maybe this helps?

 

[philter]

Seems there are two ways to connect the Sena SMH10 to bluetooth, if I remember correctly, Did

you try the other one?

 

[gregory]

Not yet, been to damn busy to even pick the helmet up. Maybe tonight.

 

[Fred W]

Interesting. I just checked and the fancy zumo 590 and 595 have the same software, where you can only load MP3 files on the device internal memory, or to a connected USB device.

I wonder if it will work like it does on my car and truck; just load up a big USB memory stick with all your MP3s and then plug it into the Garmin. Of course you will need to adapt the USB stick to the mini-usb connector at the end of the motorcycle mounts cable, but that should allow you to keep those connections out of the weather.

Has anyone with a new zumo tried this yet?

 

[BigOgre]

Of course you will need to adapt the USB stick to the mini-usb connector at the end of the motorcycle mounts cable, but that should allow you to keep those connections out of the weather.

If it did work I'm thinking weather might be a problem there. That little (watertight?) flap bottom right covers the mini-usb port and would have to stay open.

EDIT: Morning reading comprehension. Only the unit itself has a mini-USB under that flap. The mount cables have the Type A connection in the bundle - at least in the 590, not sure about the 595. That might make it easier to try.

 

[Fred W]

Yeah, that is what I was assuming, that you would use the mini USB connector at the end of the cable.

 

[gregory]

So,

I originally loaded a 64GB card and put it in the 395. When it went through it's start up, the unit wanted to format the SD card and when I said no, proceeded with its start up. The unit would not recognize the SD Card in any way.

Last night, I tried the method that Harald found, and got no love. I let the unit format the card and the computer recognized it as "Zumo SD card". I loaded about 7GB to see what would happen. When I went to start up the unit, it stayed at the Garmin start up screen. I ASSume that the unit is checking the SD card for maps and has to go through all the MP3's. The unit ran out of battery and never got past the start screen. I took the SD Card out an normal start up resumed.

I am going to call Garmin and see if I can use the SD card for music on the 395

 

[FJRay]

I used a sd card plugged into the 590 on the Spyder and it worked great. Same with the 660 on the Wing . Didn't do anything special it just worked.