I can’t imagine I’m the only one with this issue.
How do you find the one treadmill you want to use, when there are dozens cluttering the pairing dialog box?
-
Signal strength.
-
The code is usually on a sticker/dataplate behind the console, or under the front of the treadmill near it’s power cord.
-
There are SOMETIMES hidden menus accessible with a “Konami Code” to access device info. You’ll have to Google the specific model of treadmill online, looking for a service manual.
-
Trial-and-Error - Set your treadmill to 15km/hr, start with the strongest signal and pair them until you have the one reporting 15km/hr. (temporarily unplug any unused mills nearby if you want to cut down the number you have try)
Bonus:
- Once identified, put a small sticker with the code somewhere so you can find it again next time.
6 Likes
There’s not much I can think of to add here because, as best I can tell, Otto really covered it all.
Since the string of letters and numbers for each BLE enabled treadmill appears to start with “LF”, I’m going to assume these are Life Fitness brand treadmills.
If so, I found this YouTube video where it’s mentioned how to find the serial numbers and such located on the device’s sticker/dataplate, but I don’t see anything that matches that string of letters/numbers one typically sees in-game at the Zwift pairing screen.
So, that perhaps rules out option #2 in Otto’s list, but the rest of the suggestions mentioned by Otto are likely your best bet for narrowing down which treadmill is the one you’re trying to use.
It might also be a good idea to mention this to the people who run the gym and see if perhaps one of the employees can get that sorted out. I would imagine they should be able to print out a little sticker with that unique BLE number/identifier and put it on each of the treadmills to make it easier for the gym members to identify which treadmill is which at the Zwift pairing screen.
4 Likes
Appreciate the hacky ideas, but my question was more like: how is it that Zwift has not looked into this use case?
It’s probably hard to grasp the fact that when there are 50 machines on the floor there is no way in hell I’m doing trial and error… I have one hour lunch break, not 4 hours…
These treadmills will broadcast at least speed when in motion, so one idea for Zwift to implement is to show speed in the pairing dialog, rather than the useless BLE ID.
The user can set the speed to 3mph and then find the one that is advertising that speed.
This is definitely not a good user experience and quite disconcerting that Zwift has not looked into it.
1 Like
Look, I understand the frustration when you’re trying to get a workout in under time constraints but, respectfully, this isn’t on Zwift. Any other hardware or software would have the same issue - it’s likely a BLE limitation. (data-stream not visible until paired)
Based on the image you posted, all the BLE codes start with “LF” - I’m guessing these are “LifeFitness” 'mills? Maybe their “LF Connect” app would let you get more data from the machine you’re on: https://www.lifefitnessemea.com/en-eu/lfconnect-app
3 Likes
I would suggest asking the gym if they can label each treadmill with the BLE number. That will benefit many customers not just Zwift users. People recording on their Garmin watches have the same problem.
2 Likes
This seems like an interesting solution (which also would work with families with multiple trainers next to each other). I guess the issue is the total number of connections that they can have at one time, so I’m not sure they can auto-connect to all of them, then show the speed of all of them at the same time. Though if they could, then yes, they could show the speed of each one allowing you to get a quick sense of which one you’re on.
1 Like
This still has no solution, very frustrating.
To those suggesting to ask the gym to rename the individual machines, I don’t know what kind of parallel universe you live in, must be virtual reality…
Well, if this is parallel universe - in which universe could Zwift help you?