I hope Jon revisits this soon. There has been reliability issues with zml during its entire existence and to keep leaning on zml is well… I don’t have nice words for it. The last couple weeks really put a spot light on the zml issue. Please put this on the list of to do rather than saying zml is good enough.
I have to agree wholeheartedly with all of the negative comments posted here regarding ZML…as kindly as I can say it — it sucks! I have a KurtKinetic which I can connect to my phone, my windows 10 bluetooth, and a BLED 112 dongle - all without any problems and without any dropped connections. But for the life of me, I cannot get the Swift/ZML combo to work – it searches forever for the sensor and never finds it (and yes, everybody, the sensor is not connected to another device); I have literally spent hours trying to get the game to find the sensor. Several posters here have mentioned they would be more than happy to buy a dongle if that’s what it would take. For $10-15, one can get a BLED 112 dongle that acts like a COM port, thus bypassing the native BLE in windows. I have used one for over a year to use another training program and never have I had a connection issue or data delay - I see data change the instant I change my effort on the bike.
For Zwift to say it is not possible to provide a linking route for windows that doesn’t inlcude ZML…well, it just seems lazy…especially now that they are upping the monthly fee. I can say emphatically, that I will not be paying for a Zwift membership unless they correct this boondoggle of a bandaid.
Since my last post I started experiencing the same issues all over again - devices not showing up for pairing, taking a long time to show up to pair, split second connection drops, etc. I’m trying to be constructive by saying this, but I have had ZERO issues pairing and using BLE devices with TrainerRoad (on the Android app). I also understand that TR will pair BLE/Windows with the compatible BLE dongle (have not tried this yet, but I plan to). If TR can do this successfully, Zwift can too (if they really want to).
For this reason (and a few others) I’ve cancelled my Zwift subscription. If they fix this, I may very well decide to come back. I’m just not interested in spending 5-10-15 minutes pre-ride EVERY ride to get Zwift to work. My available time to ride is short as it is, Zwift is not worth the extra time and hassle to me right now.
hallelujah!! I have been saying/wondering the same fro the past year. Several other systems work just fine with windows/BLE without the need for some sort of ZML bridge. I agree wholeheartedly with Jordan, time is too short to be wasting time trying to get the system to work each time you want to ride, and I, too, will not be considering a Zwift memebership until this is changed.
Good!!! It’s not just me who’s experiencing this!!! Lately, I have been having more and more issues with ZML dropping the connection to my Kinetic or taking forever to discover it, or even discovering it at all!!!
I have no idea why Zwift can’t use native support for blue tooth, or even use a COM port like PerfPro - a direct wired connection to the trainer/laptop would solve everyone’s problems! All the app would need to do is searc for a device on a COM port and voila - done! If PerfPRo can do it, and they’re a smaller company from what I gather (it’s literally one guy doing the development), I don’t see why in the world Zwift can’t follow suit.
The ZML has become an utter nuisance. I’m trying to eliminate all outside factors, so hopefully it will start behaving, but it should not have to be this hard!!
Same boat as everyone else. I have tried every single thing they have suggested (ongoing tickets ) and read every single suggestion from the forums.
ZML is just not solid enough. I also have a Kinetic Smart controller and it’s pretty much dropping and searching all the time.
With a price increase coming later this year, it’s not going to be worth my while to stay attached to Zwift if we can’t address.
Just an update. Something I found that seems to have cleared up the issue ( hopefully not cursing myself ) . My ZML and PC are both on the same network, however my Iphone was running at the 5G band while the PC at the 2.4G band. I have them both on the same band and there has not been one drop since I did this. I read the instructions before about needing to be on the same network, but had not considered the band.
I also do a full shutdown of my phone
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turn on airplane
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turn off bluetooth
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shut down and restart phone
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open ZML once the app is open on the PC
Doing this, I used my vector pedals for power and cadence, while allowing the trainer to control the resistance for hills. It was excellent and I am pretty excited and hopeful.
Update # 2 - Big SIGH. Although I don’t appear to experience drops, the trainer does not seem to know how to handle extended climbs or down hills. Short up and downs it adds and takes resistance off perfectly. For big climbs, it seems to fall asleep and not turn off the resistance or add it back in. I slip into pair mode and it looks like the controller or ZML is dropping signal . So here is where I basically am. I can’t use my smart controller for racing or group events because the power is overstated and ZML drops signal. I have to use my pedals. I can’t use the controller for cadence because it’s just whacky. I use my pedals for that too. It appears, I can’t use the controller for resistance because ZML or the controller are dropping.
Why did I buy a controller?
Corey, sounds like maybe you should be blaming the controller and not Zwift. If you have a decent WiFi and phone, ZML is not going to drop. I run ZML using BLE, wife runs ANT+ direct to Mac. Neither ever have a problem with resistance or dropped signals using a cheap Elite Qubo Digital B+. Sounds totally like a bad controller to me.
The problem with relying on ZML is that you need a network connection between your device and the laptop. If you’re e.g. in a gym, even if they have Wifi it will probably enforce AP isolation so that individual devices can’t see each other on the network (and that’s even assuming you can connect 2 devices at the same time).
Bit gutted that after hunting down a device I can take to the gym to use on the treadmills, I still won’t be able to use Zwift running because the footpod I’ve ordered is Bluetooth.
I really don’t think you make this limitation clear enough, and it’s clear you’re currently treating Windows customers as second class citizens in this regard (my first choice would be an Android version, but that’s even further away)
Any update to this? When will BLE be supported in the Windows 10 game?