Sensor question
 

So I have a Lezyne Super GPS and I'm going to get the wahoo speed sensor and cadence sensor (the small separate ones not the combo unit). I know that my Lezyne and the sensors will support both Bluetooth and Ant+. Is there one of those connections you guys use more or find more reliable? I'm just trying to figure out which would work best or if it even matters. I did a search and couldn't come up with much on the topic.

How many days will we need to debate this? Why not just try one and see if it works for you? It's not much different than speaking two or more languages and being fluent in all of them.

I had the same setup for a while and couldn't really tell a difference.

However -- I had a hell of a time keeping my sensors paired with the Super GPS when I rode in large groups. It would always pick up other people's sensors and refuse to reconnect with mine. So I have several 100+ mile rides with no cadence or HR data because it wouldn't pick up my sensors.

I had the first generation of Super GPS -- the Year 9 version. I don't know if Lezyne has fixed this with the Year 10 version, but after a few initial emails their tech support people stopped responding and as far as I can tell abandoned the Year 9 version.

I have a Wahoo now. It's great.

I didn't realize I was debating anything. I was asking a knowledge question as this is my first bike computer and first road bike. I am very familiar with both technologies but wanted to ask if there was any experience with one being better than the other. Also if you noticed I did say I searched it and came across no helpful results. I guess I didn't realize it was an issue to post a question in a forum. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I have the year 10 and don't have any group rides planned. I am going to be riding solo mostly. I also may eventually get a wahoo.

If you take offense to comments others post to threads you post then you are never going have a conversation. You can't be thin-skinned on forums. It's not an inconvenience for me. Was it for you?

Just because you feel your question wasn't well received by me, does not mean you should not have ask or disccussed it. Maybe continuing with a more particular point about what it is you think might be different or better in one. Or is it that you think you might loose some feature that one gives and the other doesn't.

But since I'm back here, I did have another thought on the subject. Possibly it gets to dealing with network traffic. After all, the sensor is using a network protocol of some sort to communicate. I read some years back when Ant+ was coming out that they speculated in a large group of riders with ant+ sensors there would be some overload or missed messages from your sensor, due to the fact that your head unit also has to inspect the message from every other sensor in range to see if it's yours or not.

I seem to remember the article saying as few as 60 sensors transmitting in range of each other might be the point at which communications get dicey. It was all speculative and theory. No actual testing that I know of.

So in that light, if you ride in a group with a lot of other people using sensors and you have issues, then try using the other method.

Though I'm not certain at what level the difference between Bluetooth units and Ant+ lies. I thought that Ant+ was simply a piggyback on the bluetooth tech. But that must not be quite true. If it were, then someone would have come up with an app to utilize Ant+ on smartphones that only have bluetooth.

Never assume the intended emotion behind written conversation. It's easy to misunderstand.

I am not thin skinned at all. I am on man online forums and I can deal with it I guess I just don't see the need to leave a comment like that at all if you don't agree with the topic. I've had topics I see that I say the same thing g about but instead of posting something I just move on and don't comment at all.

I may have misunderstood your meaning of your post though and for that I apologize. Thank you for the information in your last post.

I was kind of hoping that the answer would be as simple as changing the type of connection, but with the Lezyne I had the same connection issues when I was riding in groups regardless of whether it was bluetooth or ANT+

I've never had that problem with my Wahoo.

The Lezyne did have some good features -- all day battery life, and it never crashed or froze or lost a ride. It's just the sensor thing eventually was a dealbreaker for me.

So I did some light googling and as far as I can tell the only real difference is that they are different proprietary standards - ANT+ is Garmin and Bluetooth LE (or Bluetooth Smart) was designed to get around that, and also address the energy consumption issues that regular Bluetooth presents.

The only functional difference that I can see is that ANT+ is reported to use marginally less energy than Bluetooth LE.

https://powermetercity.com/2016/02/1...h-power-meter/
Keith Hack: Why hasn?t ANT+ been crushed by BLE
https://www.******.com/r/cycling/com...c3&sh=b48d01f5

That last link is to a red it thread. I'm not sure why BF sensors links to red it. You aren't even allowed to say "******"

I went with the Lezyne because I wanted a gps computer to track rides not necessarily for turn by turn and because my lbs that I bought the bike from let me get credit for the basic cateye computer that came with my bike. So I only paid $90 extra out of pocket for it compared to $250 for a bolt. Eventually I will probably use a 20% off REI coupon and pick up a bolt down the road. But for now this will serve me well this season.

Bluetooth is pairing-required and device-to-device (one sender-one receiver)
ANT+ is broadcast-receive, bunch of devices broadcast in 10m/30ft range with unique ID numbers, and bunch of devices within that range listen to a specific frequency and receive data. One ANT+ sensor can talk to many receivers at the same time, but with BT it has to be only one.

Also ANT+ should be more battery friendly since the communication is simple. It has shorter range than BT (and since the protocol is simple it is susceptible to interference) but on a bike it's perfect. (using turbo trainers with Zwift etc. usually BT is preferred though, or sometimes the ANT+ receiver is moved closer to the bike/trainer)