Folks, Wanted to quickly round-up the issues I'm having with Ducati Connect and related, just to see if I am alone - my hope being if these are just me, I can sort it, and it if's all of us, Ducati can sort it in a future software release. Just to add (after comments on my previous post) I am not whining or "crying for help" just think when you spend £24k on a bike it ought to work - we all know the GS does - but I do love the bike itself! (Also worth saying I am a very technical guy, so I am pretty sure none of this is my ineptitude... but of course I could be wrong): 1. Controlling the handlebar heaters through the menu system is silly anyway (when there's a dedicated button!) and insane if doing it whilst using DC - I have posted elsewhere on this. 2. Sygic is really clunky and far inferior to others they could have gone for but, to be fair, when you get it working it works most of the time. There are SO many features present on every other satnav but not present on Sygic, let's hope they upgrade it soon. 3. Sygic "froze" mid-ride. The map froze and I could not control the screen at all with the joystick (unable to select anything or go backwards out of nav / DC). Had to switch the bike off and on again. I have this screen-lockup problem several times in Sygic and the only solution is to stop and either turn the bike off / on, or take the phone out and disconnect then reconnect Ducati Connect using the phone. 4. Audio from the nav is inaudible except while stationary even when my headset is on max. No amount of fiddling around can get this higher (e.g. turning the volume to max on the phone before starting DC and the bike). 5. Ditto for the phone. Unusable while riding, too quiet. 6. Ditto for music, above 30mph not usable. (on the above points - same helmet as my Multi 1260, used audio / phone through my Garmin on that and it all worked fine so it's not the headset) 7. Sometimes I get the screen message that Ducati Connect is having trouble connecting to my phone. I can't work out exactly when this happens or, indeed, whether there is a pattern. 8. Related to the above, sometimes (maybe always.. not sure) when I make a call or take a call with Ducati Connect running, I lose nav while I am doing phone things and get the message that DC is struggling to connect - most times it seems to reconnect after but I think not always, at least once I've had to stop, get my phone out of the tank, clear the call message / phone app from my phone's screen and manually go back to the DC app (which was still running). Essentially makes using the phone on the move while navigating a bit hit and miss. 9. Despite (6) above and the audio being super quiet, sometimes I have anyway persevered so at least I have some sort of inaudible rhythmic beat in my ear. But the audio control through DC is so flaky... sometimes it stops while playing and won't restart... sometimes I completely lose the ability to control it through DC but, if I use multiple presses to go back to the basic menu, I can control it from there. My thing is I would have bought the bike without any of the this tech, just for the machine and the new safety tech which works great - the engine is fantastic, and for handling / comfort / usability for what I do (touring) it's a fantastic upgrade to my 1260. I would rather Ducati just didn't try to do electronics if they can't do it, instead sell the bike without any onboard media system, and compete on the brand / engine / Multistrada heritage; but when they announce it all with a big "tada" and very much raise expectations that, this time, they've nailed it, somehow it's even more annoying - I for one thought the kit might work this time... let's hope it does, soon.
Cant comment much, apart from thinking heated grips should always have an independent switch. The GS is super easy. My Monster does not have too much tech (an R version) but even that sometimes I use the indicators and when I look down have entered the menu at the same time. If memory serves on the KTM GT it was necessary to go into the menu to turn on heated grips. Which meant taking your eyes off the road. Never a good idea and less so on a motorcycle. It also had the most awkward to switch on cruise control, resolved on later models I believe. I often wonder if tech is designed and applied by boffins, instead of riders, because logic seems to not be applied to layout at times. Back to your V4, I would be confident in updated software coming out soon. It is Ducatis flagship tech tourer. They will not want unhappy customers.
The connection with the Ducati App has always been poor, I’m not surprised they still haven't made this as any better. Why don’t they just pay the software licence and get Apple Play and the Android equivalent? It would be a lot less painful all round
I dislike Sygic, TomTomGo is awesome, costs £12 a year sub but for that you get up to date traffic situations, speed camera warning and live speed indicator which goes red when speeding. My vehicles have car play which is so good, I would hope this would become the norm on bikes in the near future
Been a TomTom user for years myself, I guess it’s all personal preference as I actually started to like Sygic. The navi works great on the V4 dash and it even shows local speed limit (I tend to miss reading the signs). Couldn’t be more happy And, I’m one of those that don’t like apple carplay. I always switch to oem navi.
CarPlay would be my preference, then you can run whatever map software you like. One day, fingers crossed.
I agree that sound level is way too low. Sygic is not so bad and it is not the cause of the mid-ride map freeze. This is caused by the Ducati Connect App. When this freeze happens the audio from Sygic continues to play correctly indicating that Sygic is still working properly. However the screen mirroring that is handled by DC is terminated as soon as DC is no longer the App with focus from the OS. This happens because of pop-up from other App, system message etc. Also when you exit the Ducati Connect setting by long pressing the left joystick button a few times, the DC is losing focus and you cannot reconnect without having to dig up your phone and activate DC. Very ugly. I only have experience with Android and wonder if the same applies to IOS.
Not sure if it makes any real difference, but there's an update out (at least on the Play Store). It now launches even when the BMW Connect app is installed, so there's at least one bug fix working
With the 1260 it never really worked satisfactorily as a hub for BT audio, generally we, or at least I did, shrugged our shoulders and and continued using a sat nav for that same purpose as we had for years. With the V4 the fact that they made something of a song and dance about the sat nav screen sharing feature from the very beginning of the design concept but then not deliver this as a fully functioning solution in the production version of the bike is quite a fail in my book. I hope that they sort this out with a firmware update soon. Android Auto works great in my car (a VAG vehicle). Admittedly this doesn't work quite as well as a dedicated sat nav for pre-defined routes compared to dedicated units from the likes of Garmin or TomTom.
Hmm, well if Ducati are selling something as a new ‘feature’ it might be an idea to test it and make sure it actually works?
I would always much prefer to use a standalone sat available unit and personally I can't see any need to want to listen to music while riding but each to their own. I am quite tempted by the base V4 Multi.
I posted a rather damming app review on the apple app store a little while back. I work for a very large software company and I can see why they are having so many issues with this app because they refuse to pay for the apple car play license. they think they can code around the requirement but what they refuse to realise is that they will forever be stopped in the tracks each time there is a security related update on the device. so even if they manage to get it working by shear luck today, tomorrow it will probably stop. because they want you to pretty much turn off security on your device to allow any kind of connection, and that the latest IOS version is pretty well nailed down, I ended up dedicating an old iPhone 7 to the bike with an other IOS version which proved more reliable. it has no other apps or ability to connect to anything I have apart form the bike and it cannot be updated. even after all that it still fails to render the screen properly, or I get stuck in an app and cannot return to the normal screen display and of course, you have to still wait 2 minutes after switching the bike on before you carefully stow the phone making sure you don't accidently lock it or exit the app and then set off.
I just hum a tune I want to hear to myself. And if I want to hear another tune I just hum a different one. No fiddling with buttons for me
yep that works for me as well except when i have the wife onboard and then I don't get to choose which tunes are hummed or have the ability to turn off the running commentary about anything we pass. .
I’m in the US, with a V4S. The bike is awesome, but Ducati Connect sucks. In the short time I’ve had the bike, the Sygic mirroring has only worked maybe 3 of 30 times I’ve tried it. I explicitly followed Ducati instructions. Dang frustrating… constantly getting the “check your phone” message.
hi Aliistar, I have now had my V4s just over a week and experienced every single one of your issues you have posted. I’m thinking of investing in an external sat nav as the Sygic and connect system is pretty much useless, . I can’t even get the volume to work on music by just using the direct Bluetooth connection via the bike and skipping the DC system. have you had any joy or any improvements been made? I’m hoping there is an update at first service but who knows
