I starting to run in Zwift via my treadmill but not sure which sensor is best.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
I have the Run Pod, Runn and Stryd.
Started with the Run Pod. Works. Felt like it went through batteries quickly and needed to be calibrated reasonably frequently. Calibration is easy, you just need to make the time before a run. It did what it needed to at a reasonable price. Cadence and speed for Zwift.
Bought the Runn. I liked this experience better. Easy to sync and the app allowed the speed to be tuned in much closer to the treadmill speed. There is always a questions what’s right the treadmill or the sensors. This attaches to the treadmill. Good smooth speed up to about 7mph. Over that and the unit itself has some bounce because it’s attached to the treadmill (I’m 183 pounds). I made a rig to mount it off the treadmill which is better, but still jumps a bit on speed. This is also because of the pounding on the belt which slows and speeds with the weight of running, increased at higher speeds.
Spent a bit more and bought the Stryd. This charges via USB and lasts a long time. Runn charges as well or can leave plugged in. The Stryd easily affixes to the shoe and provides cadence and speed. Connected to my Garmin watch as well for outside running (very accurate and better analytics than Garmin). This one seems to hold the setting for Zwift best of the other 2 in my opinion.
So… all three work. Good luck. Running with Zwift is far better than just running on a mill.
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The Runn in much better if you want an accurate measure of the real speed of your treadmill.
I have the Zwift Pod and the NPE Runn so based on my experience and the fact that I don’t want to trick myself into believing that Im running faster in my treadmill than in the outside, the NPE Runn will be my choice.
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Manny,
Ellie has given a good update on the different options.
There is also the option of using an app to send the speed to your treadmill. You can use an app where you manually tell Zwift what speed you have set your treadmill at. You have to change the speed on the app if you change treadmill speed.
If you have a BT treadmill there is also an app that can read the speed of your treadmill and link this to Zwift so it effectively acts like a more expensive smart treadmill.
After reading through many posts and other online topics I chose the NPE Runn.
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In short: I’ve used both the Zwift RunPod and NPE Runn. Out of the two, I preferred the RunPod. However, I had issues with both of them and these days I use a smartphone app (treadmill speed transmitter by BIPR) to transmit the speed data.
I started off with the Zwift RunPod. I found the accuracy fairly good, with deviations up to ± 0.6 kph. However, I wasn’t fond of frequently recalibrating the RunPod to keep the accuracy consistent. I also had issues with the RunPod overestimating my pace. (Great for PRs, not so great for personal integrity!) I also found that the RunPod was quite inaccurate outside the three pace zones I did the calibrations in.
I got the NPE Runn for two reasons: To provide more accuracy than the RunPod and to transmit the incline data to Strava (Zwift itself disregards that data). However, in my experience the Runn did not meet either of my expectations. The transmitted speed fluctuated WILDLY (whether it’s the fault of the sensor or my treadmill i.e the belt being loose or the built quality not being sturdy enough, I can’t say) and I found the transmitted incline data to be very inaccurate. At the price of the Runn I decided to return it and go back to the RunPod.
I also tried using Under Armour smart shoes (HOVR Sonic 4 in my case), but I found the sensors to be the most inaccurate of the three. I messaged UA support, and they told me that the sensors are more designed for outside runs (to correlate with GPS data). They told me there might be a firmware update to alleviate the issue in the future, but I haven’t seen one yet. Great shoes, not so great tracking.
Finally, I landed on the treadmill speed transmitter smartphone app. As you set the speed manually in the app, it matches exactly what your treadmill says. (Of course, you have to trust your treadmill to display the correct speed, which is fine by me) Some folks might not prefer to hit the buttons on your treadmill AND on the app to set your speed, but I personally am okay with it. I had some issues getting the app to work at first (Zwift didn’t pick up the BT signal on two Huawei phones, but it works just fine on an older Nokia model) After the initial issues, the app has worked perfectly. It’s also much cheaper compared to a hardware solution.
In the end, I’ve landed on the following solutions:
Me:
Speed: Smartphone app
Cadence: My UA shoes
My partner:
Speed: Smartphone app
Cadence: Zwift RunPod
Not sponsored by BIPR. 
(In fact, I found their cycling app to be pretty bad)
Julia, if you’re treadmill transmits BT signals you can use the QZ Domyos app to replace the speed transmitter app.
QZ will report the speed of your treadmill to Zwift.
Unfortunately my treadmill isn’t smart enough to have BT.
I haven’t had any issues with my NPE Runn, I have 3 reflective stickers 12" apart and the speed is bang on at 4mph. Anything higher than that, and I have to set my treadmill 0.1mph faster, but that is because of the weight of running on the belt, if I step off the speeds match. The incline is accurate as well,… you can calibrate using the Zwift Configurz app. I have more issues with the Zwift app itself,… love the NPE