Headset & GPS Question

I bought a blue parrot 550 and a Garmin OTR 800 GPS. Is there a way to sync both of these devices to my phone to create a perfect orchestra of digital convenience on the road? Or do I have to switch and/or choose between having my phone tethered to either my GPS or Headset?

If the GPS does bluetooth you should be able to connect the headset to it through the Blueparrot app.

I have the 550 and don't want to discourage you but sometimes I want to toss it out the window.

The Garmin Drive app will link the GPS to your phone. I do not allow my Garmin to handle calls or texts. My headset is for that.

I've had the Dezl OTR1000 for a while now. Don't attempt to link your phone to your Garmin for calls.

1. Unfortunately, the folks at Garmin are better at designing a GPS than a phone speaker. Once you link your phone to the Garmin your phone will automatically select the Garmin for audio when you receive a call. Overrides whatever you had setup. There's no easy way to get around this. Say you're outside of the truck, but still in bluetooth range of your Garmin. Your phone rings and you attempt to answer it. NO! Your call will be routed to the Garmin (you can't hear the caller and they can't hear you using your phone or headset). Sure, you can open a menu on your phone and tell it to use your phone's audio and attempt to answer the call, but before you get the phone up to your ear the Dezl program will override your selection and re-route the audio back to the Garmin. Your only hope is to sprint to your truck and climb inside to use your Garmin to complete the call before the caller hangs up in frustration.

2. You might think, "Ok, I'll just shut off the bluetooth before I take a call" to make sure Garmin doesn't hijack your audio. While this will work for using your phone (not your headset), the problem comes when you do want to use the Garmin as a phone speaker (or to display your texts) again. Turning your phone's bluetooth back on won't automatically reconnect it to the Garmin. You have to power cycle (turn it off then back on) BOTH your phone AND the Garmin to get them to work together again.

3. Garmin has been replaced the Drive app with the Dezl app.

Yes and no is the simple answer. Depending on what your phone is.

I have a Galaxy S21 plus. Garmin OTR 500 and the blue parot btx250. Set the DEZL app up on your phone, go through the steps and connect the gps to it. Then, set up your Blue Parrot. Then set up your truck radio (if Desired)

In your phone, set the Garmin not to take calls (android will remember your choice), then set your blue parrot to calls only, no audio. then set your Radio (if desired to audio only, no calls.)

It will take a couple of times and you will get error messages the first few times, but the Garmin will realize that its only function with the phone is bluetooth for data. It is handy because if you listen to pandora or similar, it will flash the song titles on the screen at the bottom at the start of song.

Also, you can still see caller ID on the garmin, but that can be turned off in settings. After the first few times, the Garmin will remember your preferences.

I have an ipd with unlimited data, which I run the Dezl app on for the live traffic updates. I do not let the Garmin have anything to do with my phone. With the issues I have for my truck radio hijacking phone calls, I just don't do it, at all.