Virtual Run vs Treadmill Activity with Zwift

Hi everyone, I'm using an Enduro 3 and Zwift for running. No external HRM or foot pod or anything ANT+ is involved, all BLE transmissions. My treadmill also broadcasts speed over BLE, which I prefer to use over the watch speed. I'm trying to understand if there's any advantage to using the Virtual Run activity over Treadmill. Normally I use Treadmill and have the Treadmill activity set to Broadcast HR. Doing that, I get HR and Cadence from the Enduro broadcast, and speed from the treadmill. I know can do the same with the Virtual Run activity. I can also "calibrate and save" with each activity, which is also important to me. Is there a reason I'd want to use Virtual Run that I'm overlooking or are they basically equivalent in this use case? Maybe Virtual Run is mainly there to serve as bridge if I was using ANT+ sensors and my Zwift device doesn't have ANT+ (it's a tablet and does not have ANT+). But if using the native Enduro 3 sensors or all BLE external sensors there's really no difference in functionality between the two activities.

Thanks,

Steven B

0 RobCuadro 25 days ago

Well, virtual run will transmit pace, heart rate, and cadence to Zwift. I didn't think Treadmill activity broadcasted anything except heart rate if you set your watch to do so.

0 RobCuadro 25 days ago in reply to RobCuadro

Using the Treadmill Activity Profile on My Garmin Watch | Garmin Customer Support

According to this you need virtual run to transmit data

0 sbrumley 25 days ago in reply to RobCuadro

Yes, you are correct, thanks. I was using a HRM Pro Plus and that was transmitting speed/HR/cadence when using the Treadmill activity. Without the strap I have to use Virtual Run activity to transmit.

0 BeneGi 12 days ago

The treadmill I have access to are not supported by Garmin because the broadcast in the FTMS standard (Woodways).

I tried both:
If I use treadmill activity, I have to calibrate and save.
Pro:
-All things recorded on the watch, everything counts towards training load, recovery time, badges etc in Garmin connect.
Con:
- While im running, pace and distance is usually 3-5% off (even if I calibrate every run). I trust the treadmill more than the accelerometer on the watch. I compared the treadmill to the NPE RUNN and its within 1%.

If I use Virtual Run to push Cadence and HR Data from my HRM to Zwift running on an iPad and recording the broadcasted speed directly, things were missing in Garmin Connect. Not recorded data but calculated things like training load etc. I don’t know if they changed this.
Biggest con:
I commute 30km on bike year around to our fire station and I don’t want to kill an iPad in a backpack due to weather or sweat.

I stick to recording on the watch (Treadmill Activity).

0 sbrumley 12 days ago in reply to BeneGi

What watch is it? I had similar issues with Instinct 2X but not with my current Enduro 3. With the Instinct I had to wear the HRM Pro Plus to get metrics like Intensity Minutes. With both, using the watch as a speed/pace source was all over the place. Using the HRM Pro Plus strap was a little smoother, probably because it's less affected by arm movement. I can look at my pace graphs where I used the watch and notice every instance where I used a towel to wipe sweat, using the hand where the watch was. It would usually show a pronounced pace drop for a few seconds. The HRM strap doesn't show that kind of effect. My treadmill is also FTMS (Horizon Studio) so I'm going to test using this data field to see if I can use the treadmill as a speed sensor in the Treadmill activity on the Enduro.

FTMS Treadmill - Absolute Bollocks Creations

0 BeneGi 2 days ago in reply to sbrumley

I am now on Fenix 8, but the watch not getting closer to 3-5% was already there with the Epix Gen 2 and the Forerunner 945 I had prior to that.
To be honest, 3% is close enough. But there are weeks were I only ran on the fire stations Woodway, almost always on the same one because one coworker starts half an hour before I go and he likes the placement of the other one better.