Do you know if the Elite Real E-Motion B+ Rollers, will run/work Zwift on a Mac?
Elite say their software for the Elite Real E-Motion B+ Rollers is PC ONLY, hence my reservation that the rollers will run with Zwift OK on a Mac?
Can someone clarify please, thanks.
Elite’s own software is Windows only, but Zwift is Mac and PC. For their B+ line you should have Zwift compatibility as long as you use an ANT+ dongle (and a usb extension cable for the dongle). We can’t control the “Real” units over bluetooth yet.
Having said that, I’ve only tested the previous Real E-Motion rollers on mac, not the B+ version - smart rollers are a pretty cool experience. We have tested B+ trainers and they work fine and the protocol is the same.
Hi Jon, I think you mean Elite’s software is ‘PC’ only, no?
but from what you’ve said, with an ANT+ And extension cable (which I’ve used to test Zwift) it should work AND change the resistance?
What does the B+ refer too then??
Ooops, sorry, I just updated my post. Thanks. The older Real E-motion rollers do have resistance changed by Zwift, but the newest B+ version uses a slightly different protocol over Ant+ (which we generally support), so I give it a high likelihood of working given the other B+ trainers work fine.
B+ means they added bluetooth support.
What I can say is that if you order these rollers and the resistance isn’t changing, we’ll make our best efforts to make it have variable resistance in a timely fashion.
Thanks Jon.
so actually the older, real e motion works fine, without the B+
does either give a power output, it’s really not clear from anything I’ve read from Elite.
sorry so many questions, you’re being very helpful.
I’m just trying to work out how they differ from my basic rollers, other than the floating frame - ie what’s the ‘smart’ bit in relation to Zwift?
So I have the non B+ version of the Real EMotion rollers and what you get over basic rollers is:
Power estimations broadcasted from the rollers and picked up by Zwift
Variable resistance changes, so you feel like you’re going up and down hills a bit
The ‘floaty frame’ as you say.
The B+ version should work in the exact same way.
My 2013 Real E motion rollers work well with the Zwift software on my Macbook pro. Resistance change, power, cadence etc… and air play to my tv. It connects quicker than the actual Elite software!
B+ will work as well as mentioned it only refers that these new models have Bluetooth added.
I would be interested in any updates and experiences with this setup. More specifically…
1-Either the newer B+ rollers or the older e-motion rollers without a power meter - what does Zwift do for power output max? Example - i have the standard elite arion non smart rollers, no power meter, speed sensor, HRM and cadence sensor and Zwift power estimator maxes at 400 watts.
2-Either the newer B+ rollers or the older e-motion rollers with a power meter - what does Zwift do for power output max? Example - i have the standard elite arion non smart rollers, no power meter, speed sensor, HRM and cadence sensor and Zwift power estimator maxes at 400 watts.
3-Either the newer B+ rollers or the older e-motion rollers with a power meter - what it the max power output you are able to laydown? Im hoping it is better than whatever your output could be without the e-motion feature > again since I have the standard elite arion rollers without the e-motion.
If this topic has already been discussed somewhere else, my apologies. Please point me in the right direction either way. Otherwise I am interested on hearing from you guys! -Jeff
I’m also curious about the “Power estimations” from those rollers. Likewise, with my traditional rollers, I’m capped at 400W. So how do those “Power estimations” compare to real power numbers produced by e.g. a Wahoo Kickr ? And how does Zwift treat those “Power estimations” within the software ? As “power meter” or “smart trainer” ?
Jon,
I just bought and set up my Elite Real E-Motion B+ rollers and there seems to be an issue with them losing connection after about 15 secs. Zwift finds 2 signals: 1 Elite FE-C and 2 Elite Real E-Motion. When connecting via FE-C it seems to not being able to establish connection at all, but it will when choosing the Elite Real E-Motion it connects, However once it establishes the connection it will drop it in 15 secs or so and the LED on the trainer will start blinking again. I’ve tried 2 different dongles, directly putting the laptop right next to the trainer for better signal, but nothing helps. Any idea what I can do with that smart trainer that is currently behaving not so smart?
Thanks,
Vilen
Jon,
I’ve finally got them to work properly and can now officially confirm that B+ version works just fine with Zwift (resistance is changed by the game).
To troubleshoot the issue I had above, I’ve installed Elite’s iOS App and connected it to the trainer via Bluetooth. I was then able to change the resistance of the rollers within the app and I could get a feel for what it should be like. After confirming that the issue wasn’t with the trainer I relaunched Zwift and connected to Elite FE-C instead of Elite Real E-motion. This time it connected just fine and the trainers were interacting with the game. I then unpaired and paired with Elite Real E-motion option just to see what happens. The signal dropping started again, which means that Elite Real E-motion is using some proprietary protocol which is causing the signal to drop. So if anyone is experiencing these issues the solution is to connect to the Elite FE-C.
Hope that helps.
Vilen
Hi … VILEN.
I’ve been using the Elite REB+ for a while on Zwift. And it works well on ANT+ whenever you have an extension cable and the ANT+ dongle like 30cm away from the rear right side of the roller where the electronics are placed.
On this scenario, the roller is detected by Zwift perfectly, and there are no disconnections. There is no need to have the Elites IOS app installed at all.
Zwift is now supporting Elites B+ line on their IOS Beta app over bluetooth. But the bluetooth link to the roller is dropped constantly.
Looks like the problem is more on the Elites antenna design or radio than the protocol.
Saludos.
Vicente.
Hi - I’m considering purchasing these rollers and would love to hear how and if the power works with Zwift? I’ve seen some posts indicating the power output reported is low? For those of you with real power-meters, how does the output from the Real E-Motion compare?
Im selling mine if your interested? I’ve checked out the power riding with a power tap and they was only 5-10 watts differential. Only selling mine as I don’t have the time anymore. 07912677409.
Hi Mark.
I use the REB+ together with the Garmin Vector 2 power meter. Zwift works just great reading the power from the power meter and controlling the resistance on the roller. Whenever you are not in ERG mode. Workouts in ERG mode doesn’t work with the power meter.
The power from the roller doesn’t match the power meter. But the difference is not lineal. It can perfectly go from 10W difference when developing 100W to 40 or 50W lower when Vector indicates 300W. And it also variates notably after 1 hour riding.
Hi all, does the Elite Real Emotion B+ work with the Zwift iOS App just with a Bluetooth connection including automatic resistance control? Any experiences on this setup?
Ulrich, it should work fine. We don’t have B+ rollers at Zwift to verify with, but we do support Elite bluetooth smart trainers in general so there’s no reason it shouldn’t work.
Hi Ulrich. Sorry for the late response.
This REB+ roller has never worked well over Bluetooth for me. I tried it several times when the iOS app was launched and then again when support for Elite B+ was announced. And decided not to waste more time on it.
My experience is that this roller doesn’t work stable with my iPad. Either over Bluetooth or Wahoo ANT+ dongle. Zwift has been constantly upgrading the app and may be things has changed since last time. But I blame it more on a poor Bluetooth performance on Elites device.
On the MacBook with ANT+ I’ve been using it for a long time without any problem. Even on ERG mode lately.
Regards.