ANT+ or BLE: any material difference:

TrainerRoad Software
1

Hello TR community,

Seeking the opinion(s) of others as to recommended device connectivity.

Since I began using the TR ecosystem, I have been using my legacy Wahoo Elemnt Bolt v1 to drive my TR structured workouts with my bike mounted on a Wahoo Kickr Snap. The old Bolt v1 could only connect to the Kickr by way of Bluetooth (BLE), and I had all my other peripherals (HR, Speed, Power/Cadence) connected to the Bolt v1 via ANT+. I also used my bike’s onboard powermeter (Stages v2 left-side crank) to be the primary power measurement source for the Kickr using ANT+. I had no real issues with this set up - effectively running TR structured outdoor workouts in ERG mode.

Earlier this week, I finally opted to upgrade to the new Elemnt Bolt v3 and retire my aging Bolt v1. I have read numerous online commentaries that claim connecting the Bolt (or any head unit) to the Kickr (or any smart trainer for that matter) using ANT+ is better than BLE - but without much in the way of evidence as to “why”. After a considerable amount of fiddling, I finally managed to get the Bolt v3 and Kickr connected using ANT+, and now I have the Bolt v3 running my TR structured outdoor workouts in ERG mode.

Everything else in the setup has remained unchanged.

My questions are:

  1. Is there a performance, accuracy, or technical rationale to favour having the Bolt and Kickr connected via ANT+ versus BLE? Reason I ask is the two connection methods “feel” different. Using BLE connection with the Bolt v1, changes to high power target bands were very aggressive, almost binary, and risked onset of ERG-death spiral if you didn’t make a conscious effort to keep the cadence up. Yet with the Bolt v3 using ANT+, the ramp up to higher power targets has felt much more forgiving. The enforcement of the power band (say target power +/- 10W) also seems a bit looser.
  2. Is there any reason that the TR workout names no longer get carried over when syncing my workouts using the Bolt v3? Using the Bolt v1+Kickr in BLE, workout names automatically got ported over, yet since moving to the Bolt v3+Kickr in ANT+, the workout name always defaults to “Indoor Cycling”. Ok, not a big deal - I can manually add the TR workout name for my records, but I find it unusual that there would be a change like this. Any suggested fix?

All this tech stuff can leave me in a bit of a muddle as all I want to do is get riding!

Grateful for any assistance and suggestions.

Adam

2

Quick question – why aren’t you just connecting your SNAP directly to TrainerRoad via Bluetooth?

3

Hi Eddie,

The main reason is down to familiarity and perceived simplicity of using the head unit. If I were to introduce the TR app (via my mobile phone), wouldn’t I need to then have my phone effectively replace the Wahoo Bolt as the main “guide” for the workout?

Or is there a way I can have the Kickr connect to TR on my phone via BLE and then the Wahoo Bolt simply relays the intervals and zones on the screen? That way I don’t need to do anything drastically different except connect my phone via BLE before starting the ride. I guess that means I could nominate all my workouts as TR Indoor workouts as well, instead of TR Outdoor.

Let me know if the above is possible and I will give it a shot. Just fyi, tech and I don’t get along :wink:

4

I think connecting TR to your SNAP is by far the best way to get your workouts in.

It’s easy, intuitive, and everything should work seamlessly.

I think you could connect your BOLT to your SNAP via ANT+ and then connect everything else to TR via Bluetooth…

Regardless, I do still think a direct Bluetooth connection between your SNAP and TR is the way to go. I’d give it a shot. :+1:

5

Ant+ tends to be more stable connection, less affected by interference. BLE has more dropouts in my view. Ant+ is also one to many, thus the data transmitted by sensors / your kickr can be read / displayed by multiple receiving devices such as Wahoo plus a phone for example. BLE is generally one to one. One transmitting, one receiving.