Best Practices for Connecting Sensors to Your Garmin Device

Many newer generation Garmin devices can be used with wireless ANT+‍ or BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) sensors. Garmin recommends using the ANT+ connection on a sensor if it is available with your Garmin device. ANT+ connection technology is more mature, often has more features, and there are no customer-facing benefits to using the BLE connection unless that is the only option for the sensor to be connected. We are continuing to make improvements to prioritize ANT+ connections in the sensor search user interface to better support customers in making this choice.

What Protocol Should I Use When Pairing My Sensor With My Fitness Device?

If the sensor you have only supports ANT+ or BLE and not both, no need to read any further.

If I Have a Dual-Protocol (ANT+/BLE) Sensor, How Should I Decide Which Protocol to Use?

When deciding on which protocol to use, consider the following:

Concurrent Connectivity of the Sensor to Multiple Devices or Apps

If you think you might want the sensor to be paired to more than one device/app, then pair using ANT+ on the fitness device to leave the BLE channel open for use.

• The ANT+ protocol allows a single sensor to be connected to multiple devices at the same time (e.g. an Edge, a Forerunner, and Zwift with an ANT+ dongle).

• BLE sensors are limited in how many devices/apps they can be connected to at once. Most sensors on the market only support a single connection so if they are connected to your fitness device over BLE you cannot also connect them to Zwift over BLE.

• All Garmin dual sensors are unique in that they support 2 concurrent BLE connections:

  • Cadence Sensor 2

  • HRM-Dual

  • HRM-Pro

  • HRM-Pro Plus

  • Speed Sensor 2

  • Rally pedals

  • Vector 3 pedals

NOTE: Not all Garmin fitness watches have the ability to connect to all sensor types. For example, the Venu series and the vivoactive series are not compatible with power meters. Check your owner's manual to determine if your device is compatible with power meters.

Concurrent Sensor Connectivity From the Edge to Your Sensors

If you will be using a lot of concurrent sensors, then go with ANT+ as you have support for a greater number of concurrent connections.

• The Edge 530, 830, 1030/1030 Plus, 1040/1040 Solar, and Explore 2 support a sensor pool of 30 sensors, from that pool it can support up to 12 concurrently connect sensors. This is made up of 9 ANT+ and 3 BLE sensors.

• The Edge 130 supports a sensor pool of 20 sensors, from that pool it can support up to 8 concurrently connect sensors. This is made up of 6 ANT+ and 2 BLE sensors.

Richness of Data

The ANT+ protocol on several sensors is more mature than that of the BLE version. This allows the ANT+ version to send more data than the BLE version.

A good example of this is the ANT+ power meter protocol. This supports Cycling Dynamics, Pedal Smoothness, and Torque Effectiveness. None of this data is currently supported over BLE.