Bluetooth

[me.clay]

Hi;
I feel like a rant...
I ordered a new 2022 GL1800DA, the most expensive bike that honda makes. Looking for the 'perfect' bike. OK, I know... no such thing as perfect, but WHY does Honda put 14 year old technology on a $40,000 bike?
It will come with Bluetooth 2.1... that was the standard in 2007... 14 years ago, and so it does not even have rider to pilon communications! No wonder I hear about so many issues connecting.
My last two GW did not have BT, so this is an upgrade, but for $40K, I would expect a little more up to date technology. I am going to try to did a little deeper into this, it has three BT antenna within a very short distance, so I suspect that the key fob is also BT... or? Now I wonder if one could hack into the system to upgrade... it limits the area for the key fob to be active to very close to the bike, probably triangulates from the three antenna, but it also says that if you can't find your bike just press the button and the GW will flash signals and beep three times... it (2022 user manual) does not say how close you have to be.
Yes, I will be getting modern BT5 communicators for our helmets, but it burns me that Honda could use such old technology in their flagship bike.
Now I have said it, I feel a bit better... will feel much better when my new 'wing finally arrives.

[johnny42]

You're going to have fun with Honda's outdated Navigation/GPS software as well. We're all waiting for the next update. And don't forget about using a thumb drive for mp3 music. No matter how to load the albums on the thumb drive, the player will play the album in alphabetical order. Some albums need to be played in numerical order. Nope. Not on the $30,000 Gold Wing.

[DenverWinger]

Rename the files in the thumb drive to prepend the filenames of the tracks in the thumb drive with a 2 digit number (01-, 02-, ... 11-, 12-, .. 23-, 24-,....) and they'll play in the order of the prepended numbers in the filename for each folder/album.

[johnny42]

I've tried that on an album and it didn't seem to work. Also, with hundreds and hundreds of songs, I'm not going to edit each track. I use an old iPod which works great. I use the USB when I don't care about track order.

[DenverWinger]

Well, I don't have a sixth-gen 'wing, but that trick works on 'Most any MP3 player I tried it on. The new wing must be sorting by title in the metadata if it's ignoring the number in the file name.

FWIW I've used the free tool "MP3TAG" to fix bad metadata and/or edit filenames in ALL files in my music library, so any files I copy to a thumb drive are already prepended with track number. This tool does a very nice job of even Bulk-editing data!
https://www.mp3tag.de/en/

[me.clay]

You're going to have fun with Honda's outdated Navigation/GPS software as well. We're all waiting for the next update. And don't forget about using a thumb drive for mp3 music. No matter how to load the albums on the thumb drive, the player will play the album in alphabetical order. Some albums need to be played in numerical order. Nope. Not on the $30,000 Gold Wing.

With dealer prep, taxes etc... I will have to cut a cheque for a bit over $41,000 when I pick it up in Nanaimo...

[Rambozo]

There are some threads about how to get the music to play in order. As I recall it is dependent on the file table order. WIndows default file copy will often mess with the file order and will not even display the files write order by default. There were alternate file copy software that would take care of the issues. Search either here or on GoldWingFacts. I don't remember which site had the info.

[mharnack]

My problem is when I call lots of static. When I go through Honda bt system I can hear find but caller can't hear me. When I go through my seana 20s ( disconnect from Honda bt) everything fine. I tried turning down mic volume. That did not help. Does anyone else have this problem.?

[infotechjrf]

Hi Everybody,

I know my reply isn't related to the Bluetooth Conversation thread, but for those who would like to get an easy and quick way to sort your music library onto your USB drives/key, see this app:

http://www.anerty.net/software/file/DriveSort/?lang=en

Works like a charm and does what it's intended to do.

[DonR]

My problem is when I call lots of static. When I go through Honda bt system I can hear find but caller can't hear me. When I go through my seana 20s ( disconnect from Honda bt) everything fine. I tried turning down mic volume. That did not help. Does anyone else have this problem.?

I have the same problem. I think it might be related to the headset model which is used. In my case I have an inexpensive model from Fodsports called M1S Pro that looks identical to J&M BT-04. If I connect the phone directly to the headset and not to the bike the call audio is clear. If I connect the phone to the bike and the headset to the bike but not to the phone the call audio quality for folks who hear my voice is "screechy" like to much gain. Like you I adjusted the mike volume which helped but didnt eliminate the problem all together. Im interested if you find a solution.

[mharnack]

I had the same problem with the Sena 20 and now with the 50s. Bike is still under warranty. Call Honda dealership. Ask to make an appointment. They told me never heard of that problem. First I call through holding. Then my through my phone tech could hear the difference. Hope they can fix it

[kwthom]

It will come with Bluetooth 2.1... that was the standard in 2007... 14 years ago, and so it does not even have rider to pilon communications! No wonder I hear about so many issues connecting.
My last two GW did not have BT, so this is an upgrade, but for $40K, I would expect a little more up to date technology. I am going to try to did a little deeper into this, it has three BT antenna within a very short distance, so I suspect that the key fob is also BT... or? <...>

Let me give you a brief history lesson.



Honda *does* have some brilliant technology (DCT, among many out there...), *but* they will always be a rather conservative corporation in certain things. This is plain to see it's in their DNA as a corporation.

My 2019 Honda automobile? Great technology; not quite cutting edge, but good and useable. On the previous Goldwing generation bike, they repurposed and repackaged technology they were using in the Civic and Accord of 1999 and 2000 for the 2001 and up bikes. Why? Cheap. Honda is notorious for reuse of technology. It's easy to see when you know how to decode a Honda assembly part number, for example.

For whatever reason, Honda didn't sign again with Panasonic & Garmin to do the audio & GPS stuff for the '18 & up machines. Harman Kardon must have been a significantly cheaper product for incorporation into this generation of bike. Or, maybe, Panasonic/Garmin (I'd bet Garmin, personally) didn't want to play the game any further on vehicles that sell only a few thousand units annually. Recall that Honda only built a shade under 200,000 GL1800's from '01 through '17.

THAT's why you get BT 2.1 vs. BT 4.0 or higher. Agreed, should have been > 4.0. Honda didn't care to pay for that. The *good* news is you at least get to download updates for the system - including map data - from the Internet to update the bike. Free.

Wanna *really* cry? Go look at a comparable unit from that Bar-and-Shield brand at their infotainment system.

Luck to you, and enjoy your new motorcycle!