BMW Navigator VI

so, I bought the Garmin / BMW Navigator VI with my new 2018 R1200 GS Adventure.

I cannot figure out on Garmin's site how to sign up for a traffic subscription. I am willing to give them money, I just can't see how.

And if traffic requires using the Smartphone Link app, can I do that without pairing the phone to the Nav when on the bike?

Does this make any sense? I'm struggling with coming from the world of carbs and throttle cables. It's a great bike but the tech is a bit, opaque.

1. Pair your phone and the Nav.
2. To activate live traffic, when the Nav is turned on, have your phone automatically connect to the Nav.
3. The key step is to then start the Smartlink app on your phone. From then on during that session, live traffic updates will be sent to the Nav.

brookscooper said:

I cannot figure out on Garmin's site how to sign up for a traffic subscription. I am willing to give them money, I just can't see how.

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I get traffic updates when my phone is connected to the Nav.
I did not pay for traffic on the Smartphone Link app, but I did pay a one time fee of $5 so I can see live weather radar on my Nav.

It's been a few years since I set up my traffic and weather, but I think those subscriptions are handled through the Smartphone Link app, not through the Garmin site.

lkraus said:

It's been a few years since I set up my traffic and weather, but I think those subscriptions are handled through the Smartphone Link app, not through the Garmin site.

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Yes, weather and traffic are Smartphone Link features.

brookscooper said:

... I cannot figure out on Garmin's site how to sign up for a traffic subscription. I am willing to give them money, I just can't see how...

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The Traffic, Parking, and Basic Weather are now free services through the Garmin SmartLink phone app.

There may be some confusion because the "Traffic" feature used to be part of Garmin's Premium Live Services which requires a one-time fee, but the "Traffic" feature was moved to the free basic-features portion perhaps a year ago or so. There is a fee required for the Premium Live Services if you want those. That gives you Traffic Cams and Advanced Weather.

For me, while I have all of it, I do not use the Premium Live Services at all (YMMV). I do however, use the Traffic feature whenever I'm in an area of coverage and it has been very helpful. When returning from the Des Moines Rally everyone except me wanted to leave early so the group headed out over an hour ahead of me. About 2 hours before that evening's hotel, my Navigator, with the SmartLink Traffic feature enabled, identified that there was an "incident" along my route and that it was automatically re-routing me (IIRC there is a setting to have it re-route automatically) to save ~26-minutes. The other riders had Navigators as well but did not have the Traffic feature setup. They got caught in a long and nasty traffic jam and arrived at the hotel after me.

I've had this feature help me several times and really appreciate the automatic re-routing (needs to be configured to do that). I have not identified yet how much of a delay will trigger the automatic re-routing, but it appears to be somewhere above 15 or 20 minutes. Time savings below that come up as suggestions that you can follow by responding to the GPS screen. Unfortunately, my vision, while fine for driving/riding is not sufficient to read the smaller detail on the GPS without wearing bifocals (which I don't do on the bike) so the auto feature is a godsend for me.

brookscooper said:

... if traffic requires using the Smartphone Link app, can I do that without pairing the phone to the Nav when on the bike? ...

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No, you need to pair your phone to the Navigator and need to have both with you and connected (via Bluetooth)

brookscooper said:

... It's a great bike but the tech is a bit, opaque.

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You are not alone in that feeling. The lack of intuitive design and flexibility even holds true for German cars as well. Whether I'm driving my 2015 VW Touareg, or recently both a 2017 BMW X5 and a 2016 Audi A5, their user interfaces are not well worked out and way too rigid.

Even my 7-year old Lincoln MKZ has more features, is more intuitive and versatile (compared to the systems in German cars I've tried):

• Allows you to identify which style keyboard you want (I like QWERTY) - Fortunately, the Navigator allows for this as well
• Allows you to identify which of many cell phone pairings is to be the primary one
• etc., etc., etc.

My 2019 Mustang puts them all to shame. Unfortunately, it is just the nature of the beast and you will need to spend more time than you should have to in order to get comfortable and familiar with the tech. However, once you do it is very nice and helpful to have available.

Sorry, I forgot to include some links that might be helpful to you.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-CA/CA/p/111441

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=cFpFGiTQmu9GBwp7ohwWN8


Only allows for 1 video to be in each post so I'll add the other two below.

AlanColes said:

There is a fee required for the Premium Live Services if you want those. That gives you Traffic Cams and Advanced Weather.

.

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Is live radar part of the free service now, or is it part of Advanced Weather?

Edit: Found my answer. Live Radar is part of Advanced Weather.

My problem with the Weather portion is that you can't customize what alerts you get. That means:

• if you are even 50-100+ miles away from water you that you will still get "Small Craft Advisory" warnings, etc.
• you can't customize what level of wind warnings, or type of warnings, etc., you receive

I'm not a Coffee Shop to Coffee Shop rider, so medium to medium-high winds have never stopped me from riding. But I have to put up with a ton of warnings that, for me, are more nuisance warnings. YMMV, and that is why these rigid systems are so terrible for me, after a while it becomes "the boy who cried wolf" situation - I certainly don't need "Small Craft Advisory" warnings on dry land, on my boat, yes, on my bike, no. Also, there is, AFAIK, no way to reduce the sound-level of the alarms which are very loud.

I recently unpaired my Sena headset from my Nav VI, just so I would not get the audible chime every time a weather warning popped up on the GPS screen. The problem is that the chime interrupts any intercom conversation I may be having. This new "workaround" worked fine on my recent seventeen-day ride to Colorado. I still see the warnings (weather and traffic), but I don't hear them. I also, of course, don''t get GPS directions in my headset either.

marcopolo said:

This new "workaround" worked fine on my recent seventeen-day ride to Colorado. I still see the warnings (weather and traffic), but I don't hear them. I also, of course, don''t get GPS directions in my headset either.

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I started using a GPS on my bike in 2010 and was not connected for sound until early this year.
Not being able to hear the directions was not a big deal, but I did miss turns once in awhile.
At those times it was nice not having intercom so I could not hear the verbal abuse from my wife as we make a U Turn
In 2016 and 2017 I had the Nav V with weather alerts. Most of those alerts I never saw because I don't look at the GPS a lot while riding.
This year I'm connected to the GPS for sound and the alerts are not terribly loud because I wear ear plugs.