Newbie with questions around Tacx Neo set up

simkin911

Hi All

I’ve been looking in here frequently in the last few months and finally - Xmas Day - took in the plunge and bought a Neo Smart in a ‘flash sale’.

I’ll be putting it together this weekend.

Initially will get myself used to it and will find my way around the Tacx cycling app etc before giving Zwift a go.

It’s the connectivity that continues to confuse me slightly.

Plan to use (initially) either my iPhone 6 / iPad and assume there is no issue connecting the Neo to either of these. (I do have an old laptop too but have assumed I’d need a ANT+ dongle if I use that).

However, I also have a Garmin HRM (ANT +) which I believe won’t talk to the iPad / phone.

So, either I get another HRM or use the laptop but buy a ANT+ dongle?

Can anyone please help me understand if I’m thinking appropriately here?

Many thanks - I’m sure such questions have been used 000s of times so I appreciate your attention :-)

the_rover

Not knocking the folk on here but it might get a faster response using the FB Tacx Neo owners group. I’m waiting on my LBS getting some elite direto trainers in and found the FB groups very helpful.

Cheers Stuart.

n1ckster

Hi, it is slightly more complicated when using an iPhone/ipad as these devices are not natively ANT+ compatible, hence the need to use BT.
Your HRM is ANT+ only so you'd need some sort of dongle to fit the pad/phone. If you've got a decent laptop you could use an usb ANT+ dongle and connect all devices this way.
Take a look at this link for a pretty good breakdown of what you need to connect a smart trainer..
https://zwiftinsider.com/how-to-broadca ... screen-tv/

Nick

bendertherobot

Which iPad do you have?

simkin911

Thank you to all for the replies.

Sadly I’m not on FB but I could ask a friend to do some research for me.

One thing I have picked up on is that reviewing older postings (various sites) may not entirely reflect the current situation.

Ultimately - I’m looking for a quick hit here. To get the Neo up and running with my HRM and using Tacx apps.

Great point re the iPad - since my original posting it seems that my iPad mini 2 won’t work with some apps.

So, I’m now thinking about simply using my iPhone 6s with the Neo. Re the HRM, I understand my Garmin won’t work with the iPhone. Should I simply buy a Bluetooth HRM ?

However, another posting online I read seems to suggest that using a 2nd device - such as a HRM - needs to connect using a different method from the first device. That would suggest that the Neo connecting via BT means I couldn’t connect a BT HRM too - back to square one... is this still accurate?

Thanks all.

n1ckster

A Wahoo Tickr HRM is both Ant+ and BT enabled, and a pretty fine bit of kit to boot.

For info, I use a Neo and Tickr HRM both BT paired to a 4th gen Apple TV running Zwift and it works sweetly; coupled with this is my iPhone 6 or newest gen iPad running the Zwift mobile Link app to control Zwift (rather than trying to use a tiny Apple TV remote with sweaty hands at HR max, lol).
Any questions, feel free to ask.
Nick

Mikey23

I have my tacx flux working with an ipad mini 2 on a handlebar mount thingy. My HRM is a mio link wrist device which dual broadcasts. Works well with zwift and fulgaz. Not tried anything else...

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I'm using the following ANT+ dongle and cable extension with my new Direto...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LIIMHP4
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NH12O5I

The Elite Android app seems to work OK in Bluetooth mode, allowing me to get data from the Direto and my Polar H7 HRM (despite thinking I read that Bluetooth mode wouldn't allow the Direto to work alongside other hardware in this mode).

However, the Elite Windows app currently only works with ANT+ devices (Bluetooth "coming soon"), making my Polar H7 useless. Instead of paying out ~£50 for a well known brand, I've added the following Bluetooth/ANT+ HRM to my wishlist, to maybe buy...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M8QD9Z4

Something curious I discovered this last week is that my Nexus 7 2013 (plus some other mobiles/tablets) have a "dormant" ANT+ mode that can be activated, by installing a few small apps from Google Play, then using an OTG cable (which I would need to buy) between the ANT+ dongle and the tablet...
https://www.selfloops.com/resources/tech-guides.html