Hi all

Just bought a Tax Vortex and I’m trying to pair it with Zwift got the blue tooth turned on, my Garmin has paired it but Zwift can’t find any devices. Any ides?

Cheers
Nick

might it be a similar issue to this ??

I’ve run the firmware update, Zwift isn’t recognising anything, Garmin Shinto etc?

Suunto sorry

Bluetooth protocol may only allow one device to be connected to the vortex at a time?

Pair the Vortex to your PC (or mobile link app), not sure why you’d want the Vortex pair to the garmin?

Also I believe the Tacxs can either do bluetooth or ANT+, not both at the same time. Ant+ is probably better as I believe it sends out a signal regardless of who is listening, wereas bluetooth is paired. Hence why you can have a ANT+ HR sensor broadcasting to 2 devices but a bluetooth heart rate sensor can only connect to 1 device at a time.

Just deleted the vortex from my Garmin and retried pairing with zwift, still no joy. From what I’ve read Bluetooth appears to be the preferred option,would any ANT plus transmitter work, with giving it a try?

Cheers
Nick

Confused.

The “garmin” should be ant+ for zwift. But the hrm,cadence etc will only be picked up when working. AFAIK zwift use their output “raw”, it’s not obtained via the garmin unit.

My point is, you need to pick one protocol with the Vortex. Bluetooth or Ant+.

Now you’ve introduced an Ant+ connection to the Vortex I think you need to reset it to enable bluetooth searching? I read somewhere it can be finicky.

With your setup it sounds like you want multiple things all connected at once, I’d be tempted go with the Ant+ with a dongle from your pc.

Did you have a “dumb” trainer connected via a speed & cadence sensor before? If so, try unpairing everything & searching for the Tacx under “controllable trainer” first. This worked for me.

Nah it’s the first turbo trainer I’ve tried to set up. Apologies for sounding thick (I’m an absolute half wit with technology) how do I reset it and what exactly is it; the turbo or Zwift?

Cheers
Nick

My understanding was that using the Tacx Vortex via Bluetooth only works with their own apps. 3rd party’s apps like Zwift and Trainer Road have to use ANT+. That is certainly how I use mine with a Sunnto USB in the PC. Tacx may have changed this in newer firmware, but that was the way it was when I bought mine in January.

Valleyboy, try unpairing everything that is in blue on this screen:

Then click search under “Controllable trainer” and hopefully the Tacx will show up, you can then search for the Garmin in the relevant section to add this as well (this is what worked for me).

I’ve got the Tacx Flow set up via Bluetooth only on a Macbook Air / Iphone with the Zwift App, I’d imaging the Vortex will work via Bluetooth also – I think the firmware update added Bluetooth compatability.

What are you running zwift on? If it’s a PC, laptop or mac you’ll either need a ant+ or Bluetooth dongle, or you can use the zwift mobile link app on your phone to act as a bridge between the turbo and the zwift app on your computer.

https://support.zwift.com/hc/en-us/articles/206576683-Bluetooth-LE-BLE-Support

If you are connecting to a PC, you need an ANT+ dongle.

The other option is to use bluetooth to send to an iOS or Android device running the Zwift mobile link app. This then relays the data picked up from the turbo to Zwift via the WiFi/Mobile data connection.

https://support.zwift.com/hc/en-us/articles/206208186

In summary – you can only connect a turbo to Zwift on a PC using ANT+ (with a dongle). You can’t connect to a PC using bluetooth.

Bluetooth Low Energy(BLE) isn’t supported natively by Windows 7 and earlier, even if you plug a BT4.0 domgle into the PC, you wont get BLE. BLE support on Windows 8 and Windows 10 is rather sketchy to say the least.

For a Windows PC, an Ant+ dongle is by far the easiest way to go.
On iOS go with BLE.

FWIW, I had to buy an ANT+ dongle for my 2013 MBP and TACX 2240. Cheap, £10 or so, and works very well and reliably.

stole the ant+ from the wife’s garmin watch – hooked the vortex up to the sensors/hrm that came with my garmin 520 no problem