4iiii Innovations V100 viiiiva Heart Rate Monitor V100

I found out about the Viiiiva from DC Rainmakers site as many others likely did. Upon receiving my Viiiiva I synced it up to an iPhone and then paired it up with my Garmin ANT+ footpod without any problem at all. Then I unlinked the bluetooth connection between the 4iiii app and the Viiiiva. I tested it on the iOS (6.1 iPhone 4S) versions of Runtastic, Runkeeper and Runtastic Road Bike apps. All worked just fine in reading the HRM and the ANT+ footpod information. I then tested the same apps on an Android phone (HTC One) and they worked fine as well. I did have a little trouble figuring out how to pair up the HRM with my Garmin 910XT but eventually it worked fine as well. Now it auto-detects it each time. (I found I had to raise my heart rate to get the HRM to be detected by the 910XT the first time)Everything was great. My 910XT had data, my Runstatic app was live tracking more data than before and I was a happy data geek. At this point it's a 5 star rating, or maybe 4 if I get grumpy about the lack of an Android app to configure the device for pairing. Keep this in mind if you're buying one of these. If you do not have access to an iPhone (4S or newer) you will not be able to configure this to pair up with any ANT+ devices. You only need to do it once so you can borrow someone's iPhone to do it, but keep it in mind. Once the Viiiiva is paired with your ANT+ devices you won't need to do it again. (Unless you get new ANT+ devices)Unfortunately for me the next time I went to pair up my Garmin speed/cadence ANT+ sensor, the 4iiii app informed me there was a firmware update available (1.07). I did the firmware update and it seemed to complete successfully (albeit very, very slowly). After resetting, the 4iiii app told me there was now a required feature update needed for my Viiiiva. The only option you have here is to press OK. Once doing so however the screen greyed out and then did nothing. No matter how long I let it sit, or how many times I tried it wouldn't work. Tried on another iPhone with iOS 7 and still no go. Contacted 4iiii on the phone and once I got ahold of the support guy he was very polite, but seemed somewhat puzzled at what was happening. I'd read on DC Rainmakers page this happened to someone else (last year) so I'm not the only one who experienced this unfortunately. However, according to the support person I spoke with the 'feature update' was/is part of the 1.4 firmware so I was likely on 1.2. Most units shipping or being purchased now *should* be 1.4 or later and as such people shouldn't be encountering this particular issue. (The feature stuff is already on-board the newer units) The bad thing however is now I need to wait for 4iiii to ship me a replacement since there apparently isn't anything they or I can do to fix the one I have. The HRM still works, but I can't get into the iOS app to configure ANT+ pairings.. That being said, the support guy was very polite and made the offer to send me a replacement.Would I buy this again or recommend it to others? Definitely. If you want ANT+/Bluetooth at the same time there really isn't another choice yet, and when it's working the Viiiiva works great. Now if I don't hear back from 4iiii in a reasonable amount of time about a replacement I may change my opinion, but right now all is good.+ Very simple to configure with ANT++ Very simply to get my 910XT to detect the Viiiiva HRM+ Easy and generic battery replacement when necessary+ Comfortable strap (* if it fits you)- If I purchased or received a replacement that said it needed to update to 1.07 I'd likely be concerned and pull out my receipt or find the RMA process before actually doing it. And I'd make sure all my ANT+ devices were paired up first, just in case it went belly up like mine did.- *The strap could be a bit larger for the larger crowd. 48"+ may not be comfy- I'd prefer the strap style be more like Garmin where the connectors are mid-strap and weren't the actual strap connection points. I haven't had any problems myself, but would seem an easy thing to redesign. I actually tried attaching the Viiiiva to the HRM strap I received with my Garmin 910XT and while it fits, the BPM kept going up and down by a range over 20-30 bpm while sitting still. I'm guessing something in the sensors is different. Too bad, the Garmin strap is super comfy.* Edited to give information on results of contacting 4iiii support. Will revise again once replacement is received.

SUMMARY: Skip this device:* Get the TICKR for dual-band HRM, and use the Polar strap.* Get a dual-band speed/cadence sensor.* If you use a power meter, it will be dual-band also.PROS:* Dual band HRM (BTLE and ANT+* Standard strap connectorsCONS:* Uncommon protocol usage unsupported by most major apps* As of firmware 2.0 and Strava 4.7, interferes with power meters even if not bridging.* Less reliable strap styleDESCRIPTION:This works great as a Bluetooth and ANT+ heart rate monitor. I've used it with a Garmin Edge 500, a Fenix 2, an iPhone 5S, and an iPhone 6.BTLE is 2.45GHz, same as microwaves. Because of this, it cannot transmit through your body. Your phone needs to have a direct line of sight to the HRM to pick up a signal. Mount your phone to your handle bars, or put it in a front-thigh pocket. If you cannot do that, change your HRM battery regularly, and you may find the left jersey pocket to be acceptable.-1 POINT FOR LIIIINK PROBLEMS (2014)##############################Liiiink, the ANT+ to BTLE bridge, is iffy. Originally, there was an option to have it alternate at long intervals between what signal was transmitted over BTLE. With this, every second would be a different sensor, but it would work with unsupporting apps. Not really viable, so that option is not available anymore.Now, it presents each device, the HRM plus all bridged devices, as different endpoints on the same device ID. Most apps do not support this, so what happens in Strava or MapMyRide is whatever packet type is sent first is the only type of sensor data picked up. All other packet types are discarded as invalid.The 4iiii app supports this, and shows all of the data perfectly. You can connect this to Strava from the 4iiii app for segment challenges, but it's not really general ride mapping / stats.Ideally, I'd have liked to see this create multiple phantom BLTE devices so that all of the bridged devices could be transmitted at the same time to simplex-BTLE applications.-1 POINT FOR STRAP (2014)###################The strap is very similar to the current Garmin strap. It is secured by the electrode snappers. I've had issues with these in the past, especially with spradic readings. Instead, I use the Polar strap - best thing ever, even if I sometimes have to remove a little bit of the rubber border from the snappers.-1 POINT FOR 2015 POWER METER INTERFERENCE###############################################When I moved to an iPhone 6, iOS 8.1, and Strava 4.6, this started interfering with my power meter. I have both a Precision (from 4iiii) and a Stages. Both have the same problem. MapMyRide hangs and crashes if the Viiiiva is awake and I connect a power meter. Strava will connect to both, but the power meter shows zero for everything. The only fix is to pull the battery from the Viiiiva. No other BTLE, ANT+, or dual-band HRMs cause this problem. This happens even when not bridging ANT+ to BTLE. I have support questions out to Strava and 4iiii, but it was easier to just go with a Wahoo TIKR, which is dual band, and does not interfere.UPDATE: 2015-11-10* Reworded most of the review, and added summary, and reasons for missing stars* Subtracted an additional star due to power meter problems caused by this HRM starting mid-2015.

Read about this item a couple of years ago. It fills a definite gap in connecting Bike Trainers with Zwift. Ant+ is the method of transmitting data from Power Tap wheels to your Garmin. If you want to use your very expensive Power Tap with Zwift running on your iPhone or other Apple device, you're SOOL.This product allegedly fills that gap by converting the Ant+ broadcast to Bluetooth, which Apple devices understand.However...this product became unavailable for the last few years. I guess it had something to do with the Pandemic. Now that it's back, I purchased one and as soon as I have time I will set up my Partner's Ant+ based trainer to run in Zwift.