Hi,
I’m new to Zwift. I already have the following: Garmin 45 Runner, (Wahoo Element Bolt), the Kickr Core and a MacBook from 2017 running on Ventura 13.6.7.
I understood the Garmin 45 Runner has to broadcast to Zwift via Ant+ if I want to use Zwift on my Mac.
Correct? Should I buy an ant+ dongle for Mac? Which one?
Thanks for your advice.
K
The ANT+ dongles are all pretty much the same. It does help to connect it on an extension lead. I use the Coospo ANT+ dongle with a mac and it works fine. They offer a bundle with an extension cable if you need one. Garmin also sells an ANT+ dongle. The drivers for these devices are built into macOS so you just plug it in and it should work.
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Hello @Kaatje_MT welcome to Zwift forums and Zwift more generally!
Shuji at Zwift HQ here. Is this Forerunner 45/45 Plus the watch you own? It says this will pair via Bluetooth, so you should not need an ANT dongle to use it in Zwift.
The ANT+ protocol was invented by Garmin a long time ago as a way for their fitness devices to talk to each other and to their own proprietary apps. At one time, Garmin manufactured watches that were ANT-only. This is no longer the case for newer fitness watches.
Broadly speaking - unless you have an old ANT-only device (i.e. cadence sensor, wheel speed sensor, heart rate monitor), it’s better not to have an ANT dongle present to complicate your Zwift wireless environment.
There is a difference between Garmin watches that have some Bluetooth capability and those that can broadcast HR via Bluetooth. In the document below, expand the section that says “Watches That Broadcast Heart Rate Data via Bluetooth” I see the Forerunner 55 on the list but not the 45. Garmin support could say for sure but I think the Forerunner 45 is too old for that feature.
Yes, Paul is correct, some of the older Garmin watches did not broadcast heart rate to third party apps like Zwift, only to Garmin’s own proprietary app(s). Short answer is ask Garmin Support what that watch is capable of.
FWIW, if your choices are either 1) buy an ANT dongle so you may / may not be able to use an old fitness watch or 2) buy a basic (inexpensive) Bluetooth heart rate monitor that you can know for sure will work in Zwift, I would recommend #2.
I bet the inexpensive Coospo bluetooth HRM is about the same price as the ANT+ dongle with the USB extention cable, I would also suggest getting the bluetooth HRM in this case.
Hi, I have the Garmin Forerunner 45 and I know it can broadcast because this works fine between my Garmin watch and my Wahoo Element bolt. But you are right I’ll ask Garmin how it broadcasts: via Bluetooth or Ant+.
One thing that I find is necessary using the Garmin ANT+ dongle is to connect it to a USB hub otherwise MacOS (from Monterey onwards) doesn’t show it. If you had the old wired extended keyboards with the USB ports on those, you could connect the ANT+ usb to those ports on the keyboard.
That’s how I connect my Kickr Bike to Zwift on a upgraded 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 running MacOS Monterey and Opencore.