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(WTB) Smart treadmill
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Hey y'll,

I'm looking for advise on buying a Treadmill, preferably able to connect with Zwift. I have a Stryd running pod and am tired of my gym anyway. Since we are entering the nasty season, I may cancel gym subscription. I spend most of my time on zwift with the bike anyway so this would be a great addition.

Any advise?
thanks!!
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Re: (WTB) Smart treadmill [Christoph0315] [ In reply to ]
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Budget?
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Re: (WTB) Smart treadmill [indianacyclist] [ In reply to ]
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I guess not really. I dont want to waste money buying something that doesnt work but dont want to spend more than I need :)
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Re: (WTB) Smart treadmill [Christoph0315] [ In reply to ]
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Dan has looked into this extensively and published a few articles on it. https://www.slowtwitch.com/...ift_Sensor_7614.html.

To date there is no treadmill that is truly smart in terms of allowing 2 way communication with Zwift. This limits the real-world value of a 'smart' treadmill because treadmills are very imprecise in how they measure and report speed. As a result having a treadmill send data directly to Zwift may be a clean solution but its a its not an accurate or precise solution. Foot pods, like the Stryd, should in theory be better but that relies on them being carefully calibrated. Personally if its your treadmill I would invest in something like the RUNN. Its accurate, reliable and shouldn't need constant re-calibration. This can be fit onto any treadmill which opens up the market in that respect.

The other advantage of using a Runn or a footpod is that they communicate via a standard protocol. This makes them much more future proof than relying on a treadmill. Treadmill companies have yet to adopt a standard protocol for transmitting data so companies are doing there own things. This makes then susceptible to rapidly becoming dumb mills as technology moves on. A decent treadmill should last many years of at home use and the internal software is almost certainly going to become obsolete before the hardware breaks.
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Re: (WTB) Smart treadmill [Christoph0315] [ In reply to ]
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I use a Woodway 4Front and I love it mostly for the feel of the "forest path". It is an amazing treadmill and most would agree that it is the best treadmill out there. It has bluetooth and thus connects to Zwift, but Zwift does not control it, but when I do a race I use my Stryd pod too just as the backup. I also have a Runn - also as a backup. But in my view the Zwift connectivity is just the icing. It is all about the amazing cake really and once you ran on a Woodway it is a let down to run on others.
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