So I recently went with Garmin Ant adapters so that I could get speed and cadence data paired with my Garmin 735 watch. Now I have the data in Garmin connect but has rendered Trainer Road worthless since it no longer receives data. (iOS)
Can I run BOTH Bluetooth and ANT+ sensors on my bike? Seems like this would be the easy way around this problem but have heard of no one doing this so assuming not possible? Data interference?
I have been debating leaving Apple for Android for several months now but I shouldn’t be pushed because of stupid data sensors on a bike. Even then still have to buy the ant key, cable, etc.
The fact Garmin devices still hang onto a archaic standard (ant+) I find ridiculous, yet it is the defacto standard. Or perhaps it is Apple and Android devices that are to blame for not natively supporting a legacy standard. Regardless it’s just a unneeded pain in the arse!
Bluetooth worked just fantastic before I changed to Ant+, but have no data for Garmin. Damned if you do Damned if you don’t!
There are many devices (cadence, speed and heart rate) that send ANT+ and BLE simultaneously. I’d get those next time because they give you maximum options.
I’m 100% satisfied with a 200 USD Xiaomi phone. I run a custom rom (Pixel experience), have native ANT+, Pixel camera (gcam port), 4000 mAh battery, global ad blocker.
At work I use an iPhone so i’m used to them as well, but would never consider them for private use.
It’s funny… because when BLE was getting traction in the marketplace it seemed like ANT+ would be dead within minutes. Turns out, I still find ANT+ significantly more reliable and consistent than BLE. It might simply be my mix of equipment and environments, but I almost always pair up on the ANT+ side instead of Bluetooth when given a choice, both outdoors and indoors.
I suspect Bluetooth uses less battery than ANT+, but even on long days (10+ hours), ANT+ has never been a problem for me.
Hello John,
Bluetooth does not communicate with Garmin devices. So while my original BLE setup worked fine indoors with iOS & TR, I was not able to get any data (speed/cadence) on my Garmin watch.
Here is the problem, since I train for 3 sports (Triathlon) I need to unify all of my data in one device (Garmin 735 Watch), application(Garmin Connect). In order to get the bike data, I had to switch to ANT+, thus giving up BLE. Thus giving up functionality with iOS, and therefore the iOS based Trainer Road app.
So my setup before was BLE speed & cadence sensors + heart rate chest strap. This worked ok for indoor only trainer road workouts and I got all the data metrics I needed including virtual power. At the same time I could not record the workout on the Garmin watch. When I rode outdoors and recorded the ride with the Garmin watch I did not have any cadence data and speed was calculated from gps and not actual wheel speed. Since I am training for a specific bike pace I need to hit specified cadence/speed targets.
Hopefully I was able to articulate the issue a little more clearly with more detail.
Regardless, I have to now spend more money to communicate with iOS, or switch to a ANT+ compatible Android based phone or tablet. Or perhaps setup my old computer I rarely use anymore. Point being it’s just a pain in the arse to have to go through all of this due to a unsecured, antiquated 2.4ghz wireless broadcast standard known as ANT+. All of this only for indoor trainer rides using Trainer Road, or Zwift, etc…
I can confirm that the Wahoo dual sensors - RPM and TICKR - work fine with both iOS devices and Garmin devices at the same time. My iPad gets the signal via the BLE and the Garmin 520 gets the signal via ANT when I am doing the TR workouts. My Powertap hub is also “bilingual” so I get the power to both devices from it.