Hello to all of you!
I have been a Zwift Running user since April 2020. I discovered the game through the Garmin reddit, since there was a post announcing the new “Virtual Run” profile for Forerunner (245, 945) and Fenix (6) series watches.
Once downloaded, I ran into the sensor calibration menu already known to all, and had my first issue. Zwift asked me to indicate a “normal” speed, and automatically calculated a “slow” and a “fast” speed. ¿The problem? It was practically impossible to get the game to detect my “slow” speed for 40 seconds. At a certain point it would fail, and I had to restart the process. ¿The solution I found? Keep the wrist still, so that the game would take that as “slow” (sacrificing the slow speed calibration).
Today, a year later, the menu is still the same, nothing has changed regarding the calibration, and it’s really a pity, because I think Garmin watches (in this case) have good potential as sensors.
In what follows, I would like to clarify that what I am going to propose would also be for users of pods like the Stryd!
Although I don’t know about programming, nor the science behind this, I got to thinking: wouldn’t it be better to rebuild the calibration menu? Why not calibrate more speeds? Create some system whereby the Zwift asks us the maximum speed of our treadmill, the minimum speed, and what intervals we want to calibrate, to get more accuracy.
Examples:
On the other hand, why not create a system that lets us calibrate for a while, save the progress, and continue calibrating at another time? For example, I would like to select my treadmill speeds (minimum: 1kph, maximum: 16kph) and 0.1kph intervals, to achieve the highest possible accuracy. Assuming Zwift would require 40 seconds of arm swing for each speed, it would logically take me a long time, but I would be willing to do it, since I use the watch in my daily use, and it would save me from buying another device.
Example:
Finally, in the current calibration system, Zwift tells us to reach the speed first, and then automatically starts the countdown, the problem is that, as I said before, many times it fails. Why not change it and add an “ok” button, so, when we reach the desired speed, we press “ok” and then the countdown starts?
I finally gave up and downloaded an app for android. The problem with this is that it somehow or other forces us to be aware of another device to change speeds.
If you made it this far, thank you very much for your time! Ride on!
TL;DR Revamp Zwift Running calibration system, giving us the opportunity to select more speeds, resume calibration later and change the automated speed (arm swing in this case) to an “ok” button.