The new horizon 7.8 AT Smart Treadmill is not on the compatibility list. As it is new and supports bluetooth with other apps, I was wondering if anyone has been able to use this model with Zwift directly.
Thanks in advance.
Tim
I was wondering the same thing. I am currently debating on purchasing the Horizon 7.8 AT Treadmill.
I have one. I just tried it again and no luck. The bluetooth connection shows and I can pair it with Zwift, but the speed doesn’t actually register in game. Currently using my Garmin footpod and the virtual run mode on my Forerunner 945 to run on Zwift.
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I also temporarily ordered the Bowflex one and returned it for this one because it felt cheap and had a horrible creaking sound on one side of the running deck. I’m very satisfied with the Horizon Fitness 7.8AT for the price.
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I recently received my Horizon 7.8. I am having the same issues as an Chris. Zwift can connect to it, but no information appears to be sent from the treadmill. Before buying the treadmill I contacted the company via email. A sales rep forwarded my email to a technician,who has yet to reply. So far I like my treadmill but the technical support has me a little concerned.
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Has there been any updates on this? I just purchased a Horizon 7.0 AT and hoping it will work since they are advertising it is compatible.
I have the same question, I just purchased the Horizon 7.8 at and it does show that I’m hooked up to the treadmill but my aviator does not move when I start to run? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I contacted Horizon about this issue because the 7.x look like good machines with some interesting features (setting aside the alarming customer complaints sprinkled across various internet locations). I mentioned the conversations here and the complete lack of success. They assured me that their machines work with Zwift. I specifically asked if I will be able to see speed and cadence on Zwift and the tech said yes.
Zwift support, on the other had, tells me that if the machines are not on the supported list not to count on success (although in another place on Zwift, I notice language indicating that Zwift is trying to stay up to date with its list, but to defer to manufacturer’s claims when it comes to compatibility).
I just ordered a 7.8AT and, if I can escape all of the tragic results I see from other customers and get it to work at all, I will report back about Zwift success/ failure. (I am guessing there is a good chance I will just be purchasing a RUNN in the near future.)
I would love to see a post from ANYONE who has had success with a 7.x AT and Zwift. Has anyone tried connecting using the companion app as a bridge?
Do any of you happen to know what version of you 7 series treadmill you have? I see this on Horizon’s site which is curious, “** Enhanced BT connectivity is only available on the new 7.0-03, 7.4-02 and 7.8-02 models sold after August 31st, 2020.”
I just got my 7.8at delivered it is the 02 version and I have successfully gotten it to sync and work work with the Zwift app on my iPad. Including the included heart rate monitor.
The trick is not to use the Horizon app for anything as it will take over the connection to the treadmill.
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Just got my Horizon 7.8AT-02 today, and have been successful in getting it synced with Zwift. It does seem to be slightly inconsistent in whether it sends the speed to the Zwift app. It connects right away every time. But both times I tried to use the app on my Macbook right after the treadmill powered up, it failed to send speed to the app the first time I tried. Both times, I connected using my iPhone, started a run with the treadmill, it synced and the speed worked, and both times I quit the run on my iPhone and tried my Macbook again and the speed worked the second time I tried and every other time after that. I haven’t used it enough to know if that is a specific pattern that I’m going to have to follow or if it is just a bit flaky when first connecting.
But once it is synced it stayed synced through an entire 60+ min run and responded to speed changes as expected with one minor mysterious exception in that Zwift always jumps from 3.5 to 3.7 mph. When I set my treadmill to 3.6 mph Zwift app always shows 3.5 mph. Weird, but not a big deal.
BTW, you can verify if you have the 7.8AT-02 model with the advanced BT required to sync w/ Zwift by looking at the label near the power cord.
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BTW, I did not get cadence from the treadmill. I had to use my footpod. I didn’t see that cadence is displayed on the treadmill display anywhere so I guessing (?) that it doesn’t support tracking cadence so can’t send that data to Zwift.
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Thanks very much for the information. Your post is encouraging. I just got my 7.8AT -02 delivered a day ago. I am eager to give it a go too (as soon as I can figure out how to get it from my garage to my basement - these things weigh like 9 million pounds). Interesting about the cadence after what the tech at Horizon told me, but I was not super confident in the info I was getting. I’d be pretty happy if I can just get it to work with Zwift at all. It is nice if we are seeing a new option here.
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Thanks for the tip about the Horizon app. Sounds like it is super buggy anyway. I am happy to read that some people are getting these treadmills to work with Zwift.
I got the Horizon 7.0 AT - 03 to work with Zwift.
It can be kind of confusing and so hopefully this post will help you get it set up.
First of all, my Horizon treadmill came from the factory with the old firmware installed on it. So I had to install the newest version of the firmware. I’m not sure if this is needed for Zwift or not because I did the firmware upgrade before trying Zwift (I had to do the firmware upgrade to get the treadmill to work with the running app that Horizon recommends). Search “horizon software update” in google to find the page for instructions on how to do that.
The first thing to do before using the Zwift app is turn on the Horizon treadmill. It will boot up and then present you with the select user screen on the treadmill. Moving the selection dial will cycle through the users. Don’t select any user: leave the treadmill on this “user selection” screen without selecting a user.
Now that the treadmill is on, it is time to turn your device’s bluetooth on. Make sure the bluetooth is enabled before opening the Zwift app. Also don’t actually connect to the treadmill using the bluetooth settings app. If you did hook up to the treadmill through the bluetooth settings app, then use the bluetooth app to disconnect/forget the treadmill.
Ok now that the bluetooth is enabled BUT NOT connected to the treadmill, you should open the Zwift app. Very important: make sure you allow the Zwift app access to your devices location. Then the Zwift app has the “Run Speed Tap to Pair” button. Click on that and then have it search for the Horizon treadmill. It should find the treadmill, so select it and hit Ok.
Now, remember how I said to stay at the “select user” screen on the treadmill? Well notice that once you selected the treadmill in the Zwift app that the “select user” screen seems to be frozen. Like if you move the select user dial it doesn’t do anything. That is ok! All you need to do in order to get the Horizon treadmill to start going is hit the “Start” button.
Now that the treadmill is started up, you can use Zwift to start your Zwift run. And now Zwift should be recognizing the horizon treadmills speed!
If the above steps don’t work at first and you want to reset everything and try again, then close out the zwift app, turn your blue tooth off, hold the “stop” button on the horizon treadmill until it restarts the treadmill, then turn your bluetooth back on and open the zwift app and start the instructions again from opening the zwift app.
I hope this helps someone.
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Thanks very much for that information.
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I tried all those measures and they did not work for me. Here is my situation: I have a Horizon 7.4 smart treadmill which is supposed to be compatible with Zwift. I cannot get my Zwift avatar to run on my Mac 12 laptop (which I have connected to tv with HDMI cord). It appears to connect to treadmill when I start but the avatar won’t move. Yet, I can get the avatar running on my phone. I want to use my phone for the companion app and see my runs on my tv. Anyone else ever had this problem? I can still run using my Zwift foot pod but would prefer to have my brand new treadmill doing the work. Any ideas?
I have a brand new Horizon 7.0AT-03 treadmill and am having the exact same issues as Shelagh. The treadmill works with the Zwift app on my phone, but does not work with any other devices (have tried two other laptops) or the Zwift companion app in bridge mode. So right now my only option is to use Zwift on my phone, which is not ideal because I’d rather use my phone for the companion app or other things. The steps that Anthony mentioned above work with the Zwift app on my iPhone, but not with any other devices I’ve tried and also not the Zwift companion app. Have tried a lot of different things, and it’s possible I am still doing something wrong, will send an update if I am able to figure anything out.
I’m not sure if this will be of any use, but I had the same issue. In my case the 7.8AT-02 worked with my phone easily and well. The first time I tried it on my laptop, it showed up on the pairing screen and appeared to connect, but the treadmill would just do its 3-2-1 countdown, start the motor, then stop and begin the count down again. It did this over and over until I turned it off. I tried this two or three times and got the same result. The next thing I tried was to enable device connection under settings in the companion app. when I re-connected the treadmill to zwift on my laptop it worked! It has been working ever since (so far - fingers crossed) I have even tested it without the companion app and it seems to work fine now.
I just got a new Horizon 7.0AT-03 as well and am having this same issue. Zwift works on my phone but will not with my MacBook Pro. It shows that it is connected to the treadmill in the Zwift App but then the Avatar will not move. If anyone sheds any light on this please post…
Update - I found a USB dongle from ZEXMTE that works with the 7.0AT-03 treadmill - I ran out of things to try so I randomly bought it on Amazon (not allowed to post links but if you google “Bluetooth USB Adapter CSR 4.0 USB Dongle Bluetooth Receiver Transfer Wireless Adapter for Laptop PC Support Windows 10,8,7,Vista/XP,Mouse and Keyboard,Headset” it is the first result on amazon) and I’m now able to connect the treadmill to my PC that is running windows 10. I have no idea why this dongle works and not sure if it will work with other Horizon treadmills or other non-windows 10 computers, but worth a try if you are desperate.
From my experiments, the 7.0AT-03 treadmill works with:
- Zwift app running on iphone (confirmed with two different iphones)
- ZEXMTE USB bluetooth dongle on Windows 10
It does not work with:
- Zwift companion app running on iphone (confirmed with two different iphones), so iphones cannot be used as a bridge to send speed data through the companion app to another device running zwift. This makes no sense to me because the regular Zwift app does work.
- Zwift app on Macbook pro
- Zwift app on Macbook air
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