Ok, I’ve a smart trainer – 1-way smart – Elite Turbo Muin.

I’m thinking I might give Zwift a try but don’t have a computer to run Zwift on so what is the cheapest computer that will allow me to run Zwift and connect to the sensors on the turbo (ant+ and Bluetooth)?

Have a screen I could use, nothing fancy but also happy with a laptop of some sort, just need a WiFi connection and ability to connect to the sensors so I can get Zwift tried.

Had a wee nosey around and I’m pretty sure any new computer will do but it isn’t needed for anything else so would a tablet do?

Want cheapest as it won’t be used for anything else…

Thanks.

We run Full Gaz on our iPads with our Elite Direto. Works well 👍🏻

Got a smartphone?

It works well on your phone but you such a small screen isn’t ideal, but you can send the phone picture to a telly or w/e a few different ways. I used chromecast for a bit and it was fine.

Yes it works on tablets and phones as well as pretty much any laptop.

Yeah, got a smartphone, but screen is too small…I’d also have to shift the room around to see the TV so Chromecast isn’t really an option as I’d have to have my neck turned at 90 degrees to where the bike is pointed.
I’m thinking a laptop or tablet as I could stick that on the handlebars.

By far the best way I have tried is a smart trainer, in my case tacx flux, and Apple TV that I got second had on eBay, miles better than laptop in my experience

no mains in my garage, so I run zwift with an iPhone via 4G on a bar mount. Works pretty well.

battery site light and battery powered fan to keep the air moving.

I would strongly recommend the Lifeline ‘Zwift table’ from Wiggle for £100 ish. Sounds like a lot, but it’s really good because it lets you set up your viewing device in the right place really easily. It hugely improved my experience.

Otherwise there are tablet stands on a pole that you can get. Or get a cheap Amazon job and fix it onto some kind of wooden arrangement.

iPad in a cheap bar mounted holder works a treat for us. We used to cast zwift to a telly but the casting was hit and miss so we got fed up. No issues using the smaller iPad screen.

Old iPhone SE, plugged into any old TV (with a hdmi port) via a lightening to hdmi lead worked well for me.

Any tips for a cheapish effective handlebar iPad holder?

Any tips for a cheapish effective handlebar iPad holder?

Personally, I found with a handlebar mounted iPad holder I was sweating all over the screen a lot. Definitely interfered with touch and was generally horrible wiping sweat off the screen. I’ve now moved to a separate stand that can be positioned anywhere and certainly out the way of dripping sweat

It works well on your phone but you such a small screen isn’t ideal

I bother very little with what’s on the actual zwift screen. I have a TV streaming Netflix that’s the main distraction. Audio cues from whatever I’m running the zwift app on make me pay attention at the key moments for changes in pace/power/gradient etc. Then it’s back to whatever series I’m watching

That might work if I had a TV I could actually watch, but I don’t. I was hoping a tablet might work but sounds like it won’t…so I’ll check a cheapish laptop.

Seeing as you say you have a screen you could use I’d go for an apple tv. Just did exactly the same for my boyfriend and picked it up off facebook marketplace for £75.

You can build a rocker plate cheaply. Nine was two bits of wood, a broom handle, some squash balls and some curtain bits to hold the balls in place.

A tablet will work fine.

I bother very little with what’s on the actual zwift screen. I have a TV streaming Netflix

Ok if you are just doing miles but not so much for racing.

There was a thread recently where @stumpy01 was looking for an android tablet to run zwift: https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/zwift-on-android-any-good-what-do-i-need/

He got one in the end, and might have some feedback either way now?

^^^ yeah. I ended up with a Samsung S6 Lite. It works fine with my Tacx Flow Smart & Zwift, but the graphics are a little bit odd. I would describe it as surging or pulsing. The environment seems to slow & speed up a little bit, although it wasn’t as pronounced on the desert areas where there is less going on. I suspect it might be a graphics thing, but I don’t think on Android you can adjust the detail level of the graphics, like you can on a laptop

The graphics looked much more detailed than on my usual laptop, but they are much smoother on the laptop.
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<div class=”bbp-reply-author d-flex align-items-center flex-wrap”>molgrips
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Yes it works on tablets and phones as well as pretty much any laptop.

I would be careful with this – at least for Android. A lot of tablets work, but a lot don’t. They need a certain chip architecture that some of them don’t have. There are  a lot of people on Zwift complaining that the Samsung Tab A 10.1 (a £200 2019 tablet) doesn’t work with Zwift. My wife owns one of these, so I looked at the Play Store on it & sure enough, Zwift isn’t even available there; although the companion app is.

I was looking for a tablet anyway, & thought it worth finding one that will work with Zwift. If I was after a standalone solution, I would probably have gone for Apple TV (although I own no other Apple products) & plugged it into a monitor/TV. I think there is a limit with the Apple TV on the number of bluetooth devices it will allow, so something to think about before going for one of those. As Golfchick says though – if you can pick a second hand one up relatively cheaply it might be a sensible choice.

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A bloody great big fan. Without one you’ll not only get sweaty and uncomfortable, but it’ll actually impact on your power output.

Rocker plates are great to putting some ‘give’ into the system = less stress on chain stays / drop-outs plus less harsh on your butt.

A bluetooth speaker and some banging tunes 🙂

Thanks for the comments…I’ve got the trainer and bike, plus a big fan already…I tend to use the Google Home hub thing for playing tunes, but I’m now thinking of giving Zwift a bash. My turbo training has taken a massive nose-dive so this might be enough to get me back to do some miles in the evenings as there will be some interaction.

There is a TV in the room but it isn’t in a position that I can use it for this as it would require a near-constant 90 degree turn of the head to view it. It also isn’t possible to move it from where it is as the room has ended up with 3 rooms in 1 and space is not abundant.

Tablet was what I thought about as that would have the ability to connect to the sensors and be small/light enough to be located near the handlebars.

So, tablet or a laptop – going from last post, laptop now sounds like a better option as I suspect there are more that will run Zwift. I’m assuming I’ll need to ensure it has a bluetooth functionality (as I doubt Ant+ will be standard but can be sorted with a dongle-thing)…however, as this device is going to be used almost entirely for Zwift, I’m not wanting to spend a lot of money on it, hence the thinking that a tablet would be better.