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Zwift and Treadmills
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Looking to get a new treadmill and curious if there are any out there that can be controlled by zwift like the smart trainer is. Also, if that is not the case is the 1400 price for a Sole F80 good?
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [mclousing] [ In reply to ]
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there was a thread about this topic recently, you might want to search on it. To your second question, I bought a F80 last year for a couple hundred or so under that on sale (new)...I think they are always priced at $1500 standard.
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [ilikepizza] [ In reply to ]
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Wahoo sells a gadget that will connect a treadmill to Zwift. Only some treadmills are compatible with the wahoo bridge. I believe the Life Fitness CST is one. Don't take my word for it though. I'm not 100% sure and I saw it on FB
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [Calvin386] [ In reply to ]
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Trying to keep this post alive but so people mind sharing their experience with zwift running and the treadmill being used. I am thinking seriously about getting a treadmill to supplement my road running. Looking at inexpensive options but wouldn’t mind hearing about a High end or even controllable unit.

Problems I have at the gym treadmills using zwift is thAt it requires three Bluetooth connections. I use a milestone pod, bt hr monitor, and bt headphone to connect to iPhone. Something always drops, usually he footpod. Anything to simplify or stabilize, would be good.
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [ In reply to ]
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Excuse my ignorance but how would zwift control on a treadmill?
When riding we use the bike to drive the trainer (we are the motor) so changing resistance will increase our workload, but a treadmill is the opposite. We set the motor on treadmill to a given speed and it drives us to keep the pace. I can see zwift controlling the inclination, but how will it calculate my speed at a given inclination to adjust the motor accordingly?
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [talegater] [ In reply to ]
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I have read that having Zwift control the treadmill will not be an option - the liability that would be present would be huge and no one would take on that risk. So you will have to control the speed yourself and incline - too risky to have the software do this for you.

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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [Art M.] [ In reply to ]
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Some treadmills connect to Zwift, then you do not have to use a foot pod

Art M. wrote:
Excuse my ignorance but how would zwift control on a treadmill?
When riding we use the bike to drive the trainer (we are the motor) so changing resistance will increase our workload, but a treadmill is the opposite. We set the motor on treadmill to a given speed and it drives us to keep the pace. I can see zwift controlling the inclination, but how will it calculate my speed at a given inclination to adjust the motor accordingly?
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [Herbert] [ In reply to ]
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That part I get, reporting directly to zwift makes perfect sense, my question came from the original post:
mclousing wrote:
Looking to get a new treadmill and curious if there are any out there that can be controlled by zwift like the smart trainer is. Also, if that is not the case is the 1400 price for a Sole F80 good?
so I was wondering if this is feasible at all for the reasons stated on my previous post.
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [Art M.] [ In reply to ]
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It is not an option for Zwift to actually control the treadmill. There are dangers associated with that as in folks tripping and falling when the treadmill all of a sudden speeds up. On the bike if it gets harder you may not be able to turn over the cranks but you won’t hit the deck
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [mooseknuckle69] [ In reply to ]
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mooseknuckle69 wrote:
I have read that having Zwift control the treadmill will not be an option - the liability that would be present would be huge and no one would take on that risk. So you will have to control the speed yourself and incline - too risky to have the software do this for you.

I'm not sure I buy the argument that liability is the reason that it won't happen. I just purchased a Nordictrack Commercial 2950, which has iFit Coach software. This SW will control treadmill incline based on the terrain in the video. You can even create your own routes using Google Maps and run the course you created. So, at least one company feels that liability isn't a concern with regard to the treadmill controlling incline (you still need to control speed manually).
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [Calvin386] [ In reply to ]
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Calvin386 wrote:
Wahoo sells a gadget that will connect a treadmill to Zwift. Only some treadmills are compatible with the wahoo bridge. I believe the Life Fitness CST is one. Don't take my word for it though. I'm not 100% sure and I saw it on FB



Wahoo GymConnect Retrofit Kit (Needs a CSAFE port). Treadmills are effectively in ERG mode (speed) anyway. Automated gradient control could be neat. As for automated speed control.... I'm not so sure it's a good idea.

Shane Miller - GPLama
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [mclousing] [ In reply to ]
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I ran 10 miles on my Sole F80 this morning while running Zwift on my laptop using an Ant+ dongle and a Garmin Footpod. I was planning on running outside but it was raining and that turned to snow.... I paid $997.97 for it in June 2013 at Dick's sporting goods. I'm about 220 pounds and I've put a lot of miles on it (as have 3 of my 4 kids and my wife) and we've never had an issue with it. About a year after purchasing it we had a flooded basement with water coming through a window well window right onto the top console of the treadmill.... I was sure it was toast but we've had no issues. We "only" had about an inch water in the basement and the treadmill ended up with a little rust on it. We were impressed enough to purchase a Sole E35 elliptical. Good luck with your treadmill search. I'm sure there are better treadmills out there but the F80 has been solid for the past 4.5 years.
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [el gato] [ In reply to ]
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el gato wrote:
mooseknuckle69 wrote:
I have read that having Zwift control the treadmill will not be an option - the liability that would be present would be huge and no one would take on that risk. So you will have to control the speed yourself and incline - too risky to have the software do this for you.

I'm not sure I buy the argument that liability is the reason that it won't happen. I just purchased a Nordictrack Commercial 2950, which has iFit Coach software. This SW will control treadmill incline based on the terrain in the video. You can even create your own routes using Google Maps and run the course you created. So, at least one company feels that liability isn't a concern with regard to the treadmill controlling incline (you still need to control speed manually).

The incline control is a theoretical possibility - it's speed control that's the big liability issue - but there's no real standard currently for this (and it's also such a tiny subset of treadmills that do allow for it) which is a big part of why we haven't yet implemented this feature on our end. Connectivity is a major headache. FE-C was/is supposed to alleviate this, and I would expect at some point we'll have an option that will allow you to turn incline control on/off if you have a supported treadmill paired. But for now, there's no treadmill that does this with Zwift.

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Rappstar wrote:
The incline control is a theoretical possibility - it's speed control that's the big liability issue - but there's no real standard currently for this (and it's also such a tiny subset of treadmills that do allow for it) which is a big part of why we haven't yet implemented this feature on our end. Connectivity is a major headache. FE-C was/is supposed to alleviate this, and I would expect at some point we'll have an option that will allow you to turn incline control on/off if you have a supported treadmill paired. But for now, there's no treadmill that does this with Zwift.

I've finally had a chance to play with my new treadmill a bit (Nordictrack Commercial 2950) and thought I'd share a couple of thoughts. First off, I'm pleasantly surprised that in iFit Coach I can create custom workouts that can vary both incline and speed, and then pull them up on the treadmill and run them - just like a preprogrammed bike workout in Zwift. So, at least NordicTrack and ProForm (AFAIK the two brands of treadmills that have iFit) don't seem bothered by the liability associated with the SW varying both speed and incline. That said, the treadmill gave me absolutely zero warning that the speed was about to change, and while the changes weren't anything I'd consider even close to dangerous, it did catch me by surprise at least once. Having some sort of warning chime that pace or incline is about to change would be very helpful (like in Zwift where there's a banner and a few tones when you're about to change power settings). So I guess I'd encourage you to keep pursuing this in Zwift if there's a technical means for accomplishing it, because from a legal standpoint there's precedent, and from a practical standpoint it's very, very cool based on my n=1.
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [mclousing] [ In reply to ]
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I have a sole f80. Not a bad treadmill but certainly not gym quality by any means (unless that gym is found in a fairly budget hotel). Anyway, I think $1,400 is probably a pretty full price for that treadmill. I got mine from Sears as an open box and paid around $600 with a lifetime service warranty. If you shop around you can probably do better than $1,400.
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [mclousing] [ In reply to ]
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If you’re not opposed to buying used there are deals. We bought a NordicTrack Commercial 1750 for $250 off Facebook market place. Moving it was a total bitch but it was in fantastic shape with low hours (you can check in the settings menu) and a list of receipts for service.
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [el gato] [ In reply to ]
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el gato wrote:
Rappstar wrote:

The incline control is a theoretical possibility - it's speed control that's the big liability issue - but there's no real standard currently for this (and it's also such a tiny subset of treadmills that do allow for it) which is a big part of why we haven't yet implemented this feature on our end. Connectivity is a major headache. FE-C was/is supposed to alleviate this, and I would expect at some point we'll have an option that will allow you to turn incline control on/off if you have a supported treadmill paired. But for now, there's no treadmill that does this with Zwift.


I've finally had a chance to play with my new treadmill a bit (Nordictrack Commercial 2950) and thought I'd share a couple of thoughts. First off, I'm pleasantly surprised that in iFit Coach I can create custom workouts that can vary both incline and speed, and then pull them up on the treadmill and run them - just like a preprogrammed bike workout in Zwift. So, at least NordicTrack and ProForm (AFAIK the two brands of treadmills that have iFit) don't seem bothered by the liability associated with the SW varying both speed and incline. That said, the treadmill gave me absolutely zero warning that the speed was about to change, and while the changes weren't anything I'd consider even close to dangerous, it did catch me by surprise at least once. Having some sort of warning chime that pace or incline is about to change would be very helpful (like in Zwift where there's a banner and a few tones when you're about to change power settings). So I guess I'd encourage you to keep pursuing this in Zwift if there's a technical means for accomplishing it, because from a legal standpoint there's precedent, and from a practical standpoint it's very, very cool based on my n=1.

The difference, from a legal perspective, may be that with iFit you created the custom workout yourself, so it could be argued that you knew what speed and incline changes were coming, and when, and you assumed the risk by creating the workout yourself. That may be a distinguishing factor from having Zwift control the treadmill based on parameters set by Zwift, not the ultimate treadmill user, from a legal perspective.
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [Iron Dukie] [ In reply to ]
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Iron Dukie wrote:

The difference, from a legal perspective, may be that with iFit you created the custom workout yourself, so it could be argued that you knew what speed and incline changes were coming, and when, and you assumed the risk by creating the workout yourself. That may be a distinguishing factor from having Zwift control the treadmill based on parameters set by Zwift, not the ultimate treadmill user, from a legal perspective.

iFit also has video workouts that you can access that automatically control speed and incline. What's more, the screen to see the terrain and speed profile isn't open by default, so if you just launch the video workout you'll have no clue when the speed/incline is about to change. Again, it's gradual enough that it's not dangerous in any way - and perhaps therein lies the solution... set a max change rate to speed/incline so that speed can't go from 2 mph to 12 mph instantaneously, for example.
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [el gato] [ In reply to ]
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does your nordictrack 2950 connect directly to zwift (via bluetooth connectivity) or is a footpod required? thanks
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [my-guinness] [ In reply to ]
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my-guinness wrote:
does your nordictrack 2950 connect directly to zwift (via bluetooth connectivity) or is a footpod required? thanks

No, unfortunately it doesn't connect directly to Zwift so I use a Stryd footpad.
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [el gato] [ In reply to ]
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if you have the cash laying around, i can confirm that a woodway transmits speed over bluetooth.

i ordered my workplace a new woodway 4front. did my first run on it today using zwift. i found out accidentally that this feature existed on the treadmill. it was a nice surprise... the mileage / pace was dead on between the treadmill and zwift on my ipad.

80/20 Endurance Ambassador
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [damon.lebeouf] [ In reply to ]
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If you’re just looking to transmit speed you could look at the runsocial treadtracker. Little device that sits under the treadmill. Gplama reviewed one on YouTube I believe.

My work gym has treadmills that have pre-filmed routes all over the world. They automatically adjust the incline based on the terrain in the video. It’s pretty awesome. They have little handles that have toggle buttons for speed +/- (and incline but I let the treadmill handle that) so you can quickly slap the “-“ to slow down a little when the incline points up and vice versa. I never use Zwift on the treadmill at home because it’s not realistic but I absolutely would if it could control the incline.


--Chris
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [chriselam] [ In reply to ]
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I bought a Landice. I had a Sole F80 before this treadmill, it was a good treadmill for the price. Lifetime warranty on all parts....including wearable parts like the belt. I have not tried Zwift, but I do use Run Social and the treadmill automatically connects to my ipad without wires and there are courses all over the world and the incline adjusts automatically. I added the mount they offer so the iPad mounts directly to it and it is right at eye level.
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [Mike Alexander] [ In reply to ]
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I’ve tried run social too before Zwift running was a thing.

Which model do you have? Run social is able to adjust the incline automatically?


--Chris
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Re: Zwift and Treadmills [chriselam] [ In reply to ]
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chriselam wrote:
I’ve tried run social too before Zwift running was a thing.

Which model do you have? Run social is able to adjust the incline automatically?

I bought the Landice L8 and added the tablet bracket and upgraded to the softer deck. Yes, you can have Run Social automatically adjust the incline or you can turn it off. Very pleased with my purchase.

https://www.landice.com/...8-treadmill-features
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