TFT and General stuff on the 21 R1250RT

[Casbar]

My understanding is that the early USA bikes will not come with speakers as the radio is not available. The radio option which was part of the premium package disappeared when they removed the premium package due to the chip issue. My goal is to turn that space into storage. Once my bike arrives I’ll investigate further. The comments about information organization on the TFT don’t surprise me I felt the same about the dash on my GTL and KGA. Although I don’t care that much about the radio I hope that BMW at least retrofits the TPMS that is also being left off due to the chip shortage.

TPMS is on the UK bikes as is the speakers if you pay for the prep pack I mentioned. In the UK at least, you can pay for the audio prep pack which is around £250, which gives you speakers and the loom. Then when the radios turn up, you can pay the extra for the radio to be fitted.

[Mr Gone]

Hi


I currently ride a Yamaha 2013 Yamaha FJR1300A. It has no radio no speakers no nav.  My locution has been to Bluetooth my helmet to iPhone. Music and calls and other apps work well. I use ram mount also. I connect with Schubert’s and Shoei helmets equally well. Hopefully this will be helpful.

[JamesH920]

Created an iPhone IOS shortcut (Apple App) for turning the volume up to 100% on the iPhone when you launch the Connected App. Pretty simple to setup and solves the problem of forgetting to increase the volume up to max before storing your iPhone in its little cubby.

Open the shortcuts app
Select “Automations”
Tap “+” in the top right
Select “Create a Personal Automation”
Select “App”
Tap “Choose”
Select the “Connected” App
Tap “Done”
Check “Is Opened”
Tap “Next”
Tap “Add Action”
Select “Scripting”
Select “Set Volume”
Tap “50%” and increase to 100%
Tap “Back”
Tap “Done”
Turn off “Ask Before Running”
Tap “Done”

Still trying to sort out how to deal with the WiFi connection dropping. I think this happens sometimes when another “known” WiFi network is in reach. Also have had issues with the connection dropping when a call comes in via the TFT

Let me know if this works for you.

[DavidMcK]

I have now had the bike about 5 weeks and its due for its first service next week.  I believe I am getting to grips with the TFT and BMW App so here is a summary of what I have learned.


First of all I have a Samsung Galaxy 10 and a Sena SRL, I also have a Sena RC3 remote control on the handlebar.


1.  A dedicated phone is a good idea, you can put it in the bike and leave it all day, it will stay charged.  If you are taking your phone in and out of the pocket you might not seat it properly and you could end up with a discharged phone.  The wireless charging will put a bit of charge into your phone but not much.


2. Connectivity is an issue and I wrote to BMW.  My bike is on TFT version 5 and needs upgraded to version 7 which will happen next week, I wonder what happens if newer TFT updates are released and my bike is not due in for a service.  Anyway, BMW wrote back to me and I followed their instructions.


I did 100 miles on Wednesday and for the first time I had no connectivity issues.  You need to go to this site and follow the instructions.


https://dontkillmyapp.com


3.  Audio is good, particularly radio.  I can run a radio App on my bike phone and its far better than the dedicated radio that I had on 2 RT's and 3 K16's.  I can swop stations using the wonder wheel. But I cannot swop between the radio and music.  I gotta stop, kill the radio App and start the music App, when I do this I can swop between tracks.


4.  Navigation is good, but you don't have traffic re-routing or speed camera warnings.  You do get lane control on little arrows, hard to see but they are there.


5.  I have purchased MyRouteApp and highly recommend it, I can plan a route on my laptop and drop to streetview to see what the road looks like.  When I finish the route it is already on the Bike phone and I simply download it and the BMW App will open to import it.  However, the BMW App will make its own calculations so waypoints are essential.  MyRouteApp has a max of 350 waypoints and I have asked BMW how many waypoints their App will support.


6.  Export of the route you have ridden from the BMW App is a simple track, very bland.


7.  The BMW App respects waypoints, but will not show them and you cannot modify an imported route.


8.  I don't plan to use the BMW App for any route planning, its simply not easy on a phone and the POI's do not exist (apart from fuel).


9.  To see a POI when on a route or just riding you have to be on the bike.  It will bring up POI's and you can navigate e.g. to fuel or parking.


10. The TFT will navigate to a waypoint, it will not show it or read it out e,g, "Approaching Fuel Stop on the left" which is what the Garmin stuff did.  If you miss a way point it will re-calculate the route automatically to either take you back to the last one or skip to the next one, I am OK with that.  I don't have to push a button to skip a waypoint.


11.  Phoning someone is easy, provided you have them on your recent call list, finding someone while riding a motorbike is not fun, so ring your favourite people and they will be on your call list.  Phone call quality is excellent.


12.  Don't forget to put the volume on the phone to Max, use the buttons on the phone.


13.  When on Map view, i.e. Map on main screen and directions in small screen, you can push the wonder wheel right to bring up a menu including repeat instruction, very good.


14.  When on Map view, you can push the wonder wheel left and then use the wonder wheel to scroll in or out of the map, very good as well.


I have worked out why the TFT, BMW App, Music, Phone calls, Route Planning were bugging me, its because I had taken this stuff for granted and I had to change things, understand new stuff, work through problems until I got it sorted and now I think I have, which means I can put this behind me and move on to enjoy the bike.


Hopefully this summary and the contribution of others will make the learning curve a bit less.

[michaelc2710]

Hi DavidMck


Thanks for the great write up, as I too am waiting for new bike to turn up and run the same phone and intercom as yourself, so very useful.


Enjoy the bike.

[Hors Piste]

The dedicated phone idea is all well and good unless, as I guess will be the case for most, your "normal" phone is the one on which you will expect to receive any calls.


Can you use the app to turn off the yellow engine warning light which will be permanently on after your exhaust flap valve sticks?  :))

[DavidMcK]

You can forward calls from your personal phone to the bike phone.  You should also be able to setup your personal phone for incoming calls depending on your headset, the Sena allows two phones to be connected to it.

I am quite lucky, in our Company we have a "Work" phone as well as our personal phones.  I never used the Work Sim, but we have been paying for it each month, so my Work SIM went into my wife's old phone.


It helps that I am the MD.

[Casbar]

All this because you can't be bothered to remove the phone from the pocket when you stop. A little bit of over engineering going on Most manage to remove the Sat Nav when stopped I still see no difference between the two options. But like all things your bike your choice

[Cruisincruzan]

I’m thinking of getting a used iPhone (that fits with a case), use it as a small computer without the ability to make calls. Just load my moto/travel apps. I never take calls when I’m riding. When I stop I’ll check my “regular” phone and make a call if needed or if I can pair it separately to my PacTalkB.

[wethead]

[size=15px]Is it possible to be monitoring Waze at the same time one is using the Navigator with this TFT gadget?[/size]

[Hors Piste]

I've been watching the BMW instructional videos on you tube and note one of the comments regarding their (BMW) suggestion re transferring routes from Basecamp to the Connected App.  The comment says that Basecamp uses HERE maps whereas the App uses Open Street Map, so it is possible that your carefully planned route with Waypoints etc. will be different when transferred.


Since I already have and use Basecamp (with all its foibles) I really don't want to shell out for the My Route App, which can apparently export things to suit all sorts of formats.


Possibly too early for this to have affected anyone, but is it a real problem?

[Levisp]

I've been watching the BMW instructional videos on you tube and note one of the comments regarding their (BMW) suggestion re transferring routes from Basecamp to the Connected App.  The comment says that Basecamp uses HERE maps whereas the App uses Open Street Map, so it is possible that your carefully planned route with Waypoints etc. will be different when transferred.


Since I already have and use Basecamp (with all its foibles) I really don't want to shell out for the My Route App, which can apparently export things to suit all sorts of formats.


Possibly too early for this to have affected anyone, but is it a real problem?

I don't think the different maps is the main issue provided both have up to date road information. The main problem with planning a route in a different program to the one used for navigation is the interpretation of the GPX file. The GPX file is just a bunch of coordinates. It knows nothing about route options, winding, fast etc.. How the planning program routes you between two coordinates depends on its algorithm. This is where the problem lies because the planning algorithm will probably be different to the navigation program. If the route between 2 way points can only go one way then there is no problem. If its more complex then which way it chooses will be program dependent. One way around this is when planning choose your waypoints intelligently. What I mean by that is if a route from one waypoint to another can go more than one way and you have a preference then force the route your way by adding additional waypoints. Also be very careful to place waypoints accurately on the road and on the correct side for direction of travel otherwise you can get strange loops. Hope this makes sense. GPX files are dumb but very useful.

[DavidMcK]

All this because you can't be bothered to remove the phone from the pocket when you stop. A little bit of over engineering going on Most manage to remove the Sat Nav when stopped I still see no difference between the two options. But like all things your bike your choice

Yup, you could say I can't be bothered, on the other hand I had 3 K16's where the sat nav was locked up and on my last R1250RT I put on an Old Timers lock, so I am pretty used to leaving my sat nav on the bike.


I also don't fancy making sure the phone is locked and charging every single time I put it in the pocket, if its not seated correctly and locked in place you will end up with a phone with little charge quite quickly.


I could go on with the benefits of a dedicated phone, but what I have works for me and obviously everyone has a choice.

[BoB21]

Wonder how many dropped phones putting in and removing from the cubby hole?

[Hors Piste]

Thanks for the info posted here David (and also on BMW LT, which I hadn't read before posting above).


Is it possible to have several helmet pairings in the TFT memory, as is the case with e.g. the Nav VI ?  It would be a pain to have to re-pair every time I wanted to go out with a different helmet.