Hi sidtmedid, I’ve cut up a piece of aluminium to fit behind the satnav, which mad little difference until I connected it using a wire to the bikes frame, that improved the signal but not as much as covering the dash with aluminium foil. I need to find a permanent earth point (handlebars aren’t earthed, there must be some grease in the steering head bearings ! ) then I will test it on the road. It’s odd, every part of the bike has a label on with noise and interference specs except the dashboard.
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My XT is mounted high using the Givi phone bracket FB8203. It’s on the Garmin mount (which is garbage btw, the pins are far too fragile) and powered from a tail taken off the USB power line behind the headlight. I don’t get any interference with this - but then, I’ve not got MIA.
Thank MrB1967, looks like you have the earlier dashboard if you are using the Givi FB8203, mine is the later (2024/2025) model with the same dashboard as the V100 Mandello. I tried holding my XT above my dashboard and the signal strength is still greatly reduced. I have yet to disconnect the MIA which is mounted under the passenger seat but may be causing the issue.
If the MIA is interfering the direction of the problem will be towards the seat rather than the dash i would expect.
That would be the logical thing, but it may well be that the MIA unit activates a bluetooth module or similar within the dashboard. I will update once I have tested disconnecting it.
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Quick update. I have made a small aluminium plate which sits on the Garmin mount between the Garmin and the dashboard, it reduces the problem enough for the satnav to work most of the time, but you can still see the signal drops by 50% when the ignition is turned on. Will probably go down the apple car play route as I have never really liked the Garmin but I don’t want my phone mounted on the dashboard.
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Also, disconnecting the MIA (missing in action ?) unit made no difference.
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glad i saw this forum, i was about to buy a garmin xt for my 25 plate strada same dash , how have you got on now with your sat nav issues any updates?? cheers john
Hi John, I am still using my Garmin XT, I put an aluminium plate behind it and it works most of the time, but regularly takes the first 2 miles or 5 minutes to lock on but then seems to work. There is an alternative mount which goes above the dashboard, I haven’t tried it, but when I held mine above the dashboard, using the signal strength meter, there wasn’t an improvement. I am looking to test the DMD Navigation system but need an android phone to try it. I don’t know whether TomTom satnavs fair better. I also don’t like the Garmin xt menu system and it doesn’t accept Postcodes, the newer XT2 may.
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my XT accepts postcodes but the order it asks for information is not natural- for addresses with names rather than numbers. Is your firmware up to date?
Hi Hayden, yes my firmware is up to date. I think it did accept postcodes but only in the trip planner App, but just trying it out now it doesn’t appear to either from the Where To option on the front screen Or from the trip planner. It also picks quite random routes often taking me in completely the wrong direction. Also, if you plan a route to avoid a town (like Hereford) and enter village names to route around, if you say you don’t want to go to the city centre but just go through it decides to go the shortest route which is through the place you were trying to avoid, I know its partly operator error, but … I have decided I have had enough of it, so anyone want a cheap Zumo XT ?
It can be very “clunky” but when you get it right it is brilliant. Sounds a bit like a Guzz. I program mine as a car for speed (including motorways) and as a bike for twisties/ touring. When it misbehaves/ try aimng for 2 or 3 villages away and just before you get there tell it skip to original route. It will recalculate and take you in a straight line to rejoin the route. If you deviate enough it will not take you (back) to where you went “off piste”. Crap workaround but it works. Sometimes you get lucky and find interesting places. The seemingly random routes may well be the twisty routes function which can be very entertaining.
Ride safe