The Begining of the End for ANT+ Wireless
dcrainmaker.com
dcrainmaker.com
BLE and ANT+ are fundamentally different, the latter being a broadcast protocol. You can have any number of devices connected/logging the broadcast of an ANT+ device, while BLE is usually limited to one or two devices. I am sure is not a fundamental limitation of BLE but is the reality for the currently available chipsets.
The fact that it is unencrypted is completely irrelevant.
My heart rate data over a short period of time is not useful to anyone but myself, and that is the only personal data any of my ANT+ devices broadcast.
Unless you consider cadence to be personal information but that is also broadcasted to the world visually and is no more secret than the colour of my running or cycling shorts.
The rest of my devices broadcast mechanical, device status and/or environmental data.
I read recently that the bluetooth standard was getting a broadcast protocol.
this seems like a no-brainer, think of uses like museums or movie theaters, let alone your television
EDIT: it is public broadcast protocol PBP
EDIT2: wasn't the protocol used in gyms anyway not ANT+ but the protocol developed by polar?
It is pretty fundamental. Ant has an inverted master/slave (or whatever we're calling it nowdays) relationship. In Ant, the sensor determines the timing, and can broadcast to many receivers. In Bluetooth, the central device (phone) determines the timing, and each sensor connects to one central with a one-to-one connection.
There are ways around this limitation of BLE:
1. A few bytes of data can be stuffed in BLE advertising, so the sensor can communicate without a connection in the Ant style. To my knowledge, none of the Ant+-replacing profiles support this.
2. The sensor can basically run multiple instances of bluetooth stack at the same time to connect to multiple central devices. This basically doubles the resource usage, and good luck determining if your sensor supports this without trying it.
#2 appears to be the path forward. A few sensors support it already, and the next generation of radio SOCs will make the resource requirements less onerous.
Radio transmit is expensive power-wise. The numbers I'm seeing for BLE energy per bit are all over the place, but the numbers I found for some SHA3 testing say that even with a pretty old chip fab you can make a circuit that encrypts more than 10 bytes per nanojoule. That's a pretty small tax.
Not to mention real-time broadcasting of sensor data to multiple devices.
In the case of HR data: ~1 update per second which is usually broadcasted three times in succession to ensure transmission)
30 seconds of searching shows me the polar h10 is already multiprotocol and supports Bluetooth.
https://www.facebook.com/dcrainmaker/posts/pfbid02doLyLhNSwT...
The next time you buy health insurance or are involved in a court case the data may be used against your interests. (probably someone can invent a still more nefarious scenario)
On the other hand, all Android phones dropped ANT+ support after approximately Android 9. My old Xiaomi Mi A1 supported ANT+ till some major update, my next phone (Samsung A72) didn't support it from the beginning, my current Pixel 8 Pro doesn't support it too. You need true "head unit" and cannot use phone as one.
Hardware is here, but drivers are not installed and cannot be installed from Playstore.
It is pity.
> They are discontinuing certification programs
> They are however continuing to ensure ANT+ is available on silicon
> All documentation to be made fully available online
funny how "the beginning of the end" kind of sounds excellent.
> They are ceasing development of new ANT+ Profiles
Which kind of ensures a slow death, as new devices potentially would require them.
ant+ is not a protocol that has or needs to have frequent updates. opening it up could have been a lot more significant than stopping the development of new profiles.
Looks like there ARE BLE profiles for these already.
Another tweak to the Garmin HRM design is conforming to laws in Australia and USA for requiring a tool to access coin cell battery compartments. But the required tool is built into the HRM strap.
I bought a mount for my phone but then discovered that vibrations can kill the autofocus/stabilisation, even with a damper.
It's about $100 direct from them or on AliExpress.
Ant+ and BLE, dual band GPS, comes with a Garmin compatible mount for your handlebar as part of the package too. Does turn by turn (but on the 630 doesn't reroute if you go off course, the 630S does though).
I've got it paired up with a Wahoo HRM, a Magene P505 power meter and the Magene Radar and it works flawlessly.
Edit: almost forgot, also integrates well with my Kickr Core. Exports in standard file formats so you can analyse your rides, bring them into other apps etc. as well as auto upload to Strava and Apple Health.
I've been considering getting the Magene power meter cranks as well but was a bit hesitant on account of the relatively larger price tag, and it being the first item I would be buying that is subject to tariffs in the EU (it's hard to figure out whether there are anti-dumping tariffs in place).
How are you enjoying them? Also, do you have any other nice Chinese cycling gear to recommend?
I'm really liking them, I started being more serious about training rather than just winging it (in my 40's, want to stay fit for as long as possible).
Their accuracy seems good, I've got the bike on the Kickr now and the numbers from that and the pedals agree with each other. Fitting them is super quick if you have some knowledge of bike maintenance and the required tools (a torque wrench is a must). I didn't get the chainrings, just the power meter and cranks as if felt silly not to just reuse my 105 R7100 rings. I use the DC Rainmaker analyser to view the data, which is easy with the iGS630 as I export the file via airdrop and then upload it.
As for other Chinese cycling brands, Magene and iGSPort are the only two I've used products from, and both have been solid, especially for the price - but there are some great YouTubers who cover the market, such as China Cycling (who also runs the Panda Podium store) and Luke from Trace Velo who's done deep dives on the electronic groupsets from LTwoo and the like.
Chinese bike parts manufacturers are really knocking it out of the park at the moment quality wise - it wasn't long ago that "Cheap Chinese Carbon Fibre" was a pejorative term.
road cycling you go for 5 to 8 hours in bright sunlight with the screen at 100%, that battery is going to die very very quickly.
Cycle computers are much lighter than phones generally. Their mounts are more robust and aerodynamic. If you crash, you're very likely to destroy your phone, whereas cycle computers are generally fine unless you directly bash them into a rock. Cycle computers have configurable high brightness LEDs for navigation cues and other training specific data display like HR or power.
Ok rant over. Mumble mumble Chesterson's gadget. If one doesn't know why it exists, maybe ask why...
Edit: phrasing for clarity
Here’s a discussion about it: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/rf-microwave/looking-for-a-rec...
https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/specs/heart-rate-pr...
> Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.
> Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that".