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Done buying Garmin if they don't stop blocking Zwift for badges

heaths
over 1 year ago

I've bought quite a few Garmin devices over the years - even an Edge 840 Solar recently - but as the winters get colder and even icy here, I'm looking to Zwift to keep me on the bike and Garmin badges have always kept me going. I'm seeing, however, they haven't counted toward badges since early '21. Only Tacx rides uploaded directly to Connect count, and I dismissed Tacx quickly when comparing services. Nowhere close to what Zwift provides, which is a virtual environment that makes indoor rides tolerable.

This is a hostile and ignorant decision. I get not counting direct uploads since it can be too easily gamed, but you have authenticated third party service uploads that could easily count. People are putting in the work. The shear number of videos about how to divert sweat from destroying your bikes should be proof enough.

So maybe I'm done throwing money at Garmin if they are going to be so hostile towards users. There are a ton of threads here and elsewhere online with people angry. Maybe listen to your users if you want satisfied - and repeat - customers.

  • +1 over 1 year ago

    What prevents you from recording the ride on Tacx and Zwift simultaneously? Tacx will bring you most of the metrics and the badges, while you can still profit from the extra features offered by Zwift.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to trux

    If that works, great. Hadn't seen that recommend in some of the other that I skimmed. Would a Zwift even connect to both simultaneously?

    Still, seems like an end run around what could work, but seems to be Garmin's attempt to shut out competition. There are a lot of cheaper - and seemingly more-capable - trainers and services than Tacx.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to heaths
    heaths said:
    Would a Zwift even connect to both simultaneously?

    I do not use Zwift, but AFAIK the Zwift app only needs to connect to your sensors. And so does the Tacx app. ANT+ sensors can be connected to several endpoints simultaneously. 

    heaths said:
    There are a lot of cheaper - and seemingly more-capable - trainers and services than Tacx.

    You are free to use whatever you prefer. Garmin builds their interface for their own products. I'd tell it is rather comprehensible. If you prefer using Zwift, use Zwift and do not complain you do not get badges from Garmin. Ask Zwift to award you some badges.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to trux

    Should Strava shut out Garmin et. al. then as well?

    I'm free - as is anyone - to provide feedback to a product/company. I've been an avid Garmin user and purchaser but I have concerns purchasing from any company shutting out competition by artificially blocking access in this day and age.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to heaths

    They do not shut down anyone. Oppositely, they continue increasing the integration of 3rd party aps more and more. Formerly, metrics like VO₂max, Training Effect, Training Load etc. were not processed at activities from 3rd parties. And that was for a good reason - because the methodology at diverse 3rd parties differs, and often leads to considerably different results, than if the activities were recorded by a Garmin device.

    Recently (a ½ year or so), after some certification process assuring the consistency of the data from approved 3rd parties, this metrics is now being available even for those 3rd parties (including Zwift).

    And the distance and other metrics at virtual activities is again something that needs to be normalized first, in order to avoid that you get completely different results from various 3rd parties and from Garmin devices. Apparently currently no such standard was agreed upon, hence the conditions remain the same as they were, for the badges - you have to record them with a Garmin device or app. And that is possible even if you want to continue using Zwift. Hence I do not see how Garmin is blocking competitors here.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to trux

    Now that I got my Zwift and have hooked everything up for a few rides...I could almost believe that if Garmin didn't let you record an indoor activity on your Edge head unit and later update both the distance and elevation gain. I've been recording Zwift, not uploading to Garmin (which uploads its distance and elevation) but recording on my Edge 840 as well. I can later update the distance and elevation and those count towards badges. I've been trying to get the gear ration to get me closer to what Zwift shows, but it's highly variable. If you can edit those fields, may as well just accept the same input from Zwift.

    Given relative effort and time, the Zwift distance feels far closer to Garmin's. Granted, there's no GPS, so I wasn't really expecting anything close.