Ant+ vs Bluetooth

Former Member over 8 years ago

SO I know the Fenix 5 has both. So if I attach my Schosche Rythm+ someone said that it connects via bluetooth. But It has both options. With the bluetooth it seems to drop out from time to time. I usually take the watch off once it connects to the Rythm+ then I move about my garage gym and it will drop here and there. So I am curious if I can force it to connect via ANT+ instead and would the connection be more stable.

I updated to the latest Beta so maybe that will help with Bluetooth

0 mcalista over 8 years ago

Garmin is new to Bluetooth (the Fenix 5 is the first that has supported BT sensors), so there may be some glitches. Updated firmware will probably help here.

Also, ANT+ tends to have more established communication standards between manufacturers.

If you have a choice, use the ANT+ connection. I haven't experimented myself, but I thought that the Fenix 5 connected to ANT+ in preference to BT (if available) anyway.

I suspect that BT rather than ANT+ is the long term future of sensors, as many recreational exercisers will be trying to connect sensors to their phones or smart watches rather than dedicated sports watches. If I was buying a sensor today, I would want it to be BT - or even better, dual ANT+/BT as your Sosche is.

0 chimpware over 8 years ago

Major advantage of Ant+ is the ability to have multiple connections at once to a single sensor, so you can connect your watch and an Edge to an Ant+ power meter at the same time, but BT is a one to one connection only. Generally either should provide the same connection sustainability, but it seems in certain instances with certain sensors one is better than the other. Stages Power Meters for example seem to connect better to the f5 by BT than by Ant+.

0 NeilJonesOnline over 8 years ago

If you want to 'force' your f5 to connect to ANT+ in preference to Bluetooth, the best workaround to achieve this is to delete the Bluetooth pairing (you should see the device listed twice in your paired sensors, one will be the ANT+ connection, the other the BLE one - the BLE one usually has the device/brand name followed by some numbers, whereas the ANT+ one is usually just some numbers)