BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

I know this is a super newbie question.  the 2013 I am looking at has a GPS "base station" already installed, but no GPS unit.  What recommendations are there for units that work with this?

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If it's a long cradle with buttons down the left side it's for the BMW Nav  IV or v and possibly VI.  The 660 fits but the buttons don't work snd you cannot use the audio out socket. I'm also not sure the BMW ones will fully work with the standard Garmin one shown.

RTman10 wrote: If it's a long cradle with buttons down the left side it's for the BMW Nav  IV or v and possibly VI.  The 660 fits but the buttons don't work snd you cannot use the audio out socket. I'm also not sure the BMW ones will fully work with the standard Garmin one shown.

That is exactly what is has.  Thanks for the input!

The Nav V is a great piece of kit but it's expensive and on a 2013 RT I don't think you get a lot in the way of integration with the vehicle so if you can live without the buttons you might be better off going with a 660.

The only thing about the 660 is it's been out of production for some time now, I think since 2014.  I wonder how long Garmin will continue to support it.  The V has only recently been replaced by the VI so there might be some deals on them, I have recently been forced to swap from a Nav V to a Garmin 590 which is the replacement for the 660.  It's nowhere near as good so far as the screen goes.

RTman10 wrote: The only thing about the 660 is it's been out of production for some time now, I think since 2014.  I wonder how long Garmin will continue to support it.  The V has only recently been replaced by the VI so there might be some deals on them, I have recently been forced to swap from a Nav V to a Garmin 590 which is the replacement for the 660.  It's nowhere near as good so far as the screen goes.

It looks like hte Nav IV is slightly cheaper than the Garmin 660.  The Nav V is still pricey, but I bet it comes down in price sometime.

So, I'm a little confused, which is normal.


Say I have an iPhone that I plug into the communications system on the bike and say I have a Nav IV plugged into the BMW cradle.  Will my headset get the music and phone calls from the phone and turn by turn directions from the Nav IV and radio station stuff from the radio?  If I had the 660 I wouldn't get turn by turn directions and the cradle buttons wouldn't work? 

You would get prompts from both types via a Bluetooth headset and music/radio from the audio unit also by Bluetooth but the one in the audio unit. The speakers on the bike will give you everything but are as good as useless on the move.  Plugging an  i phone in is expensive as you need a special addition cable.  Much better off just loading a flash card with MP3 format music and plugging it straight into the cable already there.
The other option in wired.  Do some digging on here for all the options.

I can't really speak to the 660 option as I have the Nav V. Rather than having to mess about plugging my iPhone into the bike I went for a cheap 4th Gen iPod, loaded all my music onto that, and bought a cheap 'BMW Mini' cable to connect it into the bike. It now lives permanently in the right-hand cubby.

Regarding BT connectivity, my iPhone connects to the Nav V. My Scala BT headset then connects to the Nav V and to the audio system on the bike (via separate channels). If my phone rings I get the option on the Nav V display as to whether or not to answer it. Prompts from the Nav V over-ride the music from the audio system. It all works fine.

If you can afford it I would definitely go with the Nav V. It's designed to work with the bike and you know that you'll get the best functionality.