Bkool. What's up with Bluetooth on Windows 10?

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karlkras

Regular
Hey group. I got a Kickr smart trainer for xmas and have been trying to find a training system that fits my needs, e.g, simple (ha!).

Both BKool simulator and Zwift claim to have bluetooth sync capabilities, but this has been an exercise in futility for me with my Windows 10 laptop. Found out that Zwift simply punts entirely with windows OS's and requires you to either use an ant+ dongle or use their mobile app bridge to interface with the PC on the network running Zwift, while the latter works, I've found that it's really clutzy, love the riding experience though (kicked my butt today).
But BKool is a mystery to me, and I'm yet to get an answer from their support that would explain... maybe others here with hands on experience could explain.
Initially I used their phone app on my android phone. I have all wahoo devices that support both ant+ and bluetooth. I am primarily interested in bluetooth for two reasons... doesn't require an extra dongle on my pc and is consistent across my systems... e.g., should be portable without any extra hardware requirements.
Using bkool simulator on my phone was sorta okay. It would recognize my devices, most only in ant+ and wouldn't give me a bluetooth option for any of them (kickr, tickr, cadence, hrm). I'm assuming that bkool is attempting to default to ant if available and not give the option for bluetooth otherwise. However, watching the sim from my phone is, well, unacceptable.
From my Windows 10 laptop (ble v4.1 so, yes, it's "smart") when I try to sync from Bkool it simply spins stupidly and doesn't find any devices.
I really have an aversion in purchasing yet another thing to make this system even more convoluted (I even bought a new laptop with better graphics so I could run Zwift).
While I can work around Zwift's shortcomings (but as I mentioned it's very clutzy) I'm puzzled by the Bkool issues. Can anyone speak to this? Is it not possible to connect to devices via PC app by bluetooth?
 

gbrown

Geoff on Bkool
Location
South Somerset
ANT+ only on PC I'm afraid, and also with bkool sim on any platform with any trainer other than a bkool trainer, as there is no Bluetooth standard like ANT+ FEC, so Bluetooth is always proprietory between app and trainer.

Geoff
 

bobinski

Legendary Member
Location
Tulse Hill
I have a NEO and find bluetooth works fine in zwift, either when i use the pc or when i use my phone or ipad instead of the pc. I say this because you mention "simple" and if i want a quick blast i just load up the zwift app on the phone or ipad. Can you not just do that? Or even buy a 2nd hand apple tv and airplay to your monitor from phone/ipad or even get the official Apple cable to connect to monitor?
Or this:
http://www.titaniumgeek.com/gear-re...t-to-bluetooth-smart-bridge-zwift-gear-tests/
Bkool uses a closed or proprietary bluetooth so you wont be able to connect over bt.
 

cedlevesque

New Member
@karlkras. Finally, did you get answer from Wahoo. I've the ANT+ dungle, but I can't say that my connexion is very stable so I would like to see if it works better with the bluetooth. With the Bkool Indoor app on Win10, it doesn't reconize that I've bluetooth installed.
 
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