Wrist heart rate and ANT sensors

If you have an activity selected and no chest strap heart rate then WHR should be active provided you have not turned it off. When you start an activity, or look for sensors in Sensors and Accessories, the watch will look for all connected sensors. Once you start the activity, there should be no issues with the WHR and other sensors working together.

Thanks for the reply. How do I ensure it is not off?  In this case it is Bike Indoor activity and I am using Kinetic inRide 3 ANT+ sensor.  For some reason when I choose Free Ride I am able to connect to the Power and Speed/Cadence from that sensor but at the same time my WRH stops taking readings. 

Judging from another recent discussion it sounds as if the newly introduced Indoor Trainer function is breaking wrist heart rate. If you want a free ride may I suggest that you disable the Indoor Trainer entirely and continue to use ANT+ for your data connections. If that gets WHR working again it would seem to confirm the bug.

forums.garmin.com/.../smart-trainer-and-hr-monitor

FWIW, I use Zwift on PC with a Neo 2 and chest strap and I have absolutely no need for the new Indoor Trainer feature. Every time it pops up an invitation to add the trainer I reject it. Everything works just fine on ANT+, as it has done for almost five years (I started with a Neo 1 in December 2015).

I think you are on to something. I did end up disabling the indoor trainer and connecting power and speed sensors individually and I was able to get all of that plus the WRH...but...my readings were crazy. Max speed 134mph?

134

Probably incorrect speed sensor calibration.

Make sure you set an appropriate wheel size for the speed sensor on the watch. Auto is the default and does not seem to work very well indoors. It is designed to calibrate the wheel size against GPS readings, which don't apply indoors. I used to use 2133mm for my Neo, but have bumped it up to 2190mm for a closer match to the figures from Zwift for a draft free ride on the flat.

I don't actually care what numbers the Garmin registers for Zwift, since speed and distance have no bearing on my fitness/stress monitoring on Garmin Connect. It's my Zwift data that goes to Strava for elevation, speed, distance, segments etc.. Still, if I'm going to get some numbers they may as well be sort of accurate, even if they are pretty meaningless in a simulation environment. For example, erg mode will completely stuff up the distance readings depending on the gear selection.

I don’t believe the newly introduced Indoor Training function is breaking WHR. I believe it’s down to a misunderstanding of what its purpose is. Read the review in DCR’s website. The aim is not to send WHR to Zwift/Rouvy etc via an FEC connected trainer. Its purpose is to control an indoor trainer from the watch - https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/08/garmin-shows-off-smart-trainer-integration-on-fenix-6-forerunner-945.html

Key point to note is that this is about getting data from the trainer, not sending data to the trainer other than controlling it. 

I understand all that. But if WHR was working previously the addition of trainer control from the watch instead of some other platform should not stop it from working. How do you record your workout and get the full analysis of training load etc. if half your data disappears?

In fact I did read that people were not getting the activity recorded at all when using this new function. I haven't investigated because it is irrelevant to my needs, but maybe this whole thing has been poorly implemented. What's the point in training if you can't record the benefits? Trainer control is a different matter. Have it by all means, but not at the expense of capturing the training session itself.

WHR has literally nothing whatsoever to do with the trainer or trainer control. It's entirely independent. 

Maybe I am getting confused in what the OP, and others perhaps are trying to achieve. As a I understand it people are trying to send WHR to Zwift/Rouvy whatever while using the new Indoor Training connection. From what I understand about the new setting, you cannot have Zwift whatever connected at the same time hence why WHR will not get there.

Again the aim is to collect data from the trainer with that setting. From that I take it that WHR will be collected on the watch along with the received data. It cannot be sent to a program that is also looking to control the trainer.

Happy to be shown otherwise.

I can't imagine why people would want trainer control from the watch if they have Zwift etc.. But put Zwift to one side.

If you want to do a training session with the watch controlling the resistance while also recording heart rate from the wrist and power/cadence/speed/distance from the trainer then that seems a reasonable expectation. What I'm hearing (reading) is that WHR stops working when trainer control from the watch is added into the equation. What I have also read is that the watch won't actually record the training session at all while controlling the trainer. Maybe that is user error or my own misunderstanding of the facts.

Even if Zwift is involved then, sure, there can only be one device in charge of trainer resistance, but there's nothing to say that Zwift shouldn't also receive the same data FROM the trainer and receive the broadcast WHR from the watch at the same time. You can certainly unpair the controllable trainer from Adrift of you want another crevice to control the workout. That doesn't stop Zwift seeing and recording everything else that's going on.

Maybe there is something missing in the descrption of needs and setup.