JohnJ80

Try it with the phone on the front of your body so there is an unobstructed line of sight view from phone to device. If that works, then try the phone in your jersey pocket, one of the side pockets.

My HRM (MIO wrist version) won't work well unless I have the phone in the left jersey pocket. I believe that is because the MIO unit has a crummy BT antenna. All other BT devices are rock solid with my phone, so I'm sure the phone is solid. Typcially I get the full 30' line of sight range with BT accessories and my phone.

That all said, if it is both the RFLKT and the HRM that don't work well, then it's probably the phone. Try a different phone and see how that behaves. Often rebooting/restarting the phone can improve the BT performance too.


J.

bassplyr

Thanks for the suggestions John, I sill give this a try.

John_V 

I've had an RFLKT+ since last September and did the firmware upgrade the day I purchased it. I also ran into the short battery life issue, having to replace batteries about once a month. However, I did not have any issues with dropping connections. After repeated email exchanges with Wahoo, over the battery life issue, they sent me a new unit with the latest firmware installed. The unit has worked flawlessly connecting my Garmin Ant+ HRM and speed/cadence sensor and battery life appeared to last for at least 3 months. It's not ideal, but better than before.

I ride daily, up to 3-4 hours, and honestly don't think these units are made for people that ride as much as I do. On Saturday's ride, somewhere around mile 40, the unit shut down and wouldn't turn back on. The battery was recently replaced so I knew that wasn't the problem. It had lost its pairing with the phone and dropped connection with the sensors. At the next stop, I cleared all the devices and paired the RFLKT+ with the phone and it connected without a problem. However, none of the Ant+ devices would connect. And yes, the switch was turned on in Cyclemeter.

At home, after removing and reinserting the battery, removing all devices and turning off my iPhone, I was able to get everything reconnect and working again. Until yesterday! That's when I had a repeat of Saturday's shut down in the middle of my ride. Repeated what I did Saturday and appeared to have everything working again.

This morning, I decided to use my wife's BT HRM instead of my Ant+ device. Got ready to start my ride and the RFLKT+ wouldn't turn on. Removed and reinstalled the battery, repaired with the phone and got the sensors working. Ten miles into the ride and it turns off again. Got to a stopping point and deleted the device from Cyclemeter and the RFLKT immediately powered up. Connected the HRM via BT but could not pair the speed/cadence sensor. Finished the rest of the ride without a problem. Conclusion: Ant+ bridge is shot on a device that is 6 months old.

I really like the product and it's intension is great. However, I really think that Wahoo seriously needs to do more R&D testing on the RFLKT+ before allowing the claims they do in their advertising. These devices should not be having these issues so soon after purchase.

bassplyr

John,

My results continue to be very sporadic. Mine are solely related to the HRM. I don't have the + version so I am using BT 4.0. The sensors connect pretty reliably but usually between 40 and 60 minutes into the ride, the HRM connection craps out. I believe it is a connectivity issue between the phone and the HRM. I keep my phone in the under seat bag. I have just ordered a Scocse HRM that is worn on the arm or under the leg of your shorts. Hopefully, that will improve the reliability of the connection.

I agree that RFLKT is a great idea, but probably isn't quite ready for prime time. I will keep messing with it though.

Roger

JohnJ80

FWIW, my MIO wrist HRM is a problem. It's got the crappiest BT I've seen. I'd not be surprised if any HRM is not great - it's got to to be mounted right up against your skin which is going to screw with the RF transmission (doesn't do well through water which is what you are essentially). So the closer you get it to the receiver, probably the better it will do.

With respect to the reliabiliity of the RFLKT+, I've had good luck with mine. I generally ride 1-2 hours per day every day not the 3-4 hours above. There is a lot of vibration in bike mounted electronics and I could believe that the battery holder thing is going to be a common failure point. A soldered in batttery that was rechargable would be more reliable but more expensive.

J.

Seattle Forrest

I use my Mio Fuse under water, I've done it too many times to count. I have it transmitting about 1 to 1.5 inches through water to my new Garmin watch every time I swim. The Garmin counts strokes, acquires a sat fix every time my arm leaves the water to give me a map, and measures calories and training effect thanks to the HR data.

bassplyr

Seattle, what model Garmin watch do you have? I have been trying to find a good solution to get some Hr data while I swim.

Thanks,
Roger

JohnJ80

Mio must have spotty QC then. My Mio watch won't talk to my phone or my Garmin unit unless I'm not between them. My other BT peripherals all are good at connecting from 30' away.

J.

John_V 

Well, I think what I'm going to do here is to use the original RFLKT+ until I can replace my Ant+ HRM and speed/cadence senors with BT sensors. I can use my wife's Wahoo HRM for now since she is still recovering from a fractured femur and won't be using it. A good friend of mine has both the Wahoo HRM and speed/cadence sensors that he no longer uses and I'm trying to see if he will sell them to me so I can replace the Garmin sensors and connect directly to the iPhone. Since the newer RFLKT+'s battery seems to last longer than the original unit, I'll start using that one without the Ant+ bridge, since that seems to be gone at this point. I'm sending Wahoo an email this afternoon to report the problem.

Seattle Forrest

Must? No. We haven't even ruled out user error yet. How are you between the HRM on your wrist and the Garmin on your handlebars? Maybe it's interference of some kind. Etc.

JohnJ80

I wasn't clear. The Garmin unit has the same issue with my Mio wrist unit. I had to contrive a circumstance to test that since typically one has the Edge out in front of the stem and one's hand with the MIO HRM on the wrist on the bars. I'm pretty sure it's the MIO unit.

That said, the MIO does ANT+ which is a different data path, antenna etc... But that also seems to be weak. Also saw same problem with the MIO unit to another phone. The only saving grace is that both the Edge and the MIO are in close proximity due to the mounting of both.

J.

John_V 

I sent a letter to Wahoo last night explaining the issue that I have been having with the newer of the two units that I have. I received a very quick response from their tech support and I was advised that they are now aware of the low battery life issue that is being reported by multiple users and that they are in the process of fixing the issue. In the meantime, they have a beta firmware that is available but I am reluctant to try it because it is beta. I asked if they have a method of reloading the current firmware if the beta version has issues but have not yet heard from them.

On the issue of the RFLKT shutting down during a ride, she also admitted that there is a software issue with the Wahoo app that causes the device to shut down during long rides and they are also working on that. However, I advised them that I don't use the Wahoo app and she never addressed the issue of my device shutting down or not allowing the Ant+ sensors to connect. I'm still working on that but from the sound of her email, it appears as if they are not admitting that the issue is with the Ant+ bridge shutting the device down.

This morning, I used the oldest of the two units (the one with battery issues) along with my Garmin HRM and speed/cadence sensor. Everything paired and connected and everything worked fine without a shutdown on my 36 mile ride.

We'll see what type of respond I get today from the reply I sent them last night.

ericy

The major issue I have is that when I have my phone in my back pocket the Tickr loses the connection. The RFLKT+ is fine - the connection there is good, and the BlueSC also seems to be good. It is just the HRM that gives me fits. If I stop for a drink or something and get out the phone, then it announces that the HRM has reconnected. And I put it back in the jersey pocket and it loses the connection. I am thinking of getting a handlebar bag of some sort that will hold a wallet, phone and keys, as that would likely solve this issue (and a couple of other unrelated issues).

Regarding the altimiter, I had noted that the barometric altimeter in the RFLKT+ apparently only calibrates once when you first turn the thing on. Which means that if a pressure front is going through while you are riding that there will be an error that is introduced. I verified that this is the behavior with someone from Wahoo. Thus if you are riding a loop, the altitude for the starting and ending points might appear to be different even though they are the same spot. I had also noted cases where the grade that the RFLKT+ reports is sometimes a bit wrong - there was a time where I saw it report that I was climbing when I know with certainty that I was descending.

I was having a conversation with someone I know who has a Garmin, and he was saying that the Garmin recalibrates during the ride from time to time - I don't know what specifically it does with this information, but I gather it is to help deal with the problem where on a long ride you can get a steady errors like this. I don't know whether it attempts to go back and correct previously collected data or not.

bassplyr

[QUOTE=ericy;17972620]The major issue I have is that when I have my phone in my back pocket the Tickr loses the connection. The RFLKT+ is fine - the connection there is good, and the BlueSC also seems to be good. It is just the HRM that gives me fits. If I stop for a drink or something and get out the phone, then it announces that the HRM has reconnected. And I put it back in the jersey pocket and it loses the connection. I am thinking of getting a handlebar bag of some sort that will hold a wallet, phone and keys, as that would likely solve this issue (and a couple of other unrelated issues).

I think I have solved this problem with the Scocshe Rhythm+ HRM. It is an optical HRM. I have used it now on 4 rides and it has been rock solid. Better yet, rather than use it on the forearm band, I just put the sensor under the leg of my bike shorts and it works great. Didn't realize how much I disliked the chest strap until I rode without it. nice.

Roger

Seattle Forrest

Hi, Chuck Smith;

Which sensors are "best in market?"

You absolutely cannot calculate power reliably from speed, cadence, and heart rate. There are just too many variables. You'll have enough data to know whether you're going up a hill or down, or on the flat, and that obviously makes a big difference. But air resistance is the #1 thing slowing cyclists down on the flat, and your data has no idea whether you're sitting upright, down in an aerodynamic position, or drafting another rider. Nor does it know how much your tires are flexing or how much you might be losing to other forces, if your wheel gets knocked out of true and starts rubbing, it would look like your calculated power dropped off massively. On the other hand, a power sensor lets you find the most aero position if you want to, because you can hold other factors constant for enough time to run a test. (Power * all opposing forces = speed.)

I suggest you get sensors that will broadcast over Bluetooth as well as ANT+ while you sort things out, because that will keep your options open in the future.

ericy

For the most part I agree with you. My understanding is that for really good numbers, you essentially need the kind of power meter that is built into either the pedals, the hub, or the crank - this makes it possible to directly measure the amount of power that you are applying on the pedals. And while such power meters exist, the problem is that they are hugely expensive -for many of us more than we spent on the bike to begin with.

The only part I disagree with is that using heart rate tries to take into account how hard you are working. If you are going uphill, your heart rate will increase. If you are fighting a headwind, your heart rate will increase. Clearly this will be less accurate than a true power meter, but it does sort of attempt to take into account all of the other factors.

Seattle Forrest

Your heart rate is a pretty good proxy for how hard you're working. A lot of roadies (who've invested in power meters, mostly) will disagree, but it's true. People say things like "caffeine raises your heart rate, so HR is unreliable" but I have an espresso every morning, my HR today is as affected as it was yesterday and the day before. I think HR makes great sense for training and I think a good computer is about as accurate with HR as it is with power for how many calories you burn. It's not fine-tuned enough to use for aerodynamic positioning though.

I just got a pedal-based power meter recently. What I'm seeing is that if you make a graph of your power and heart rate, you'll basically get two parallel lines, but when something happens to disrupt things (like going up a small hill), the two lines still have the same shape, but the HR disruption "happens" after the power one. I find that weird.

Athens80

Exactly. Heart rate changes lag power changes. For a long, steady effort, heart rate reflects effort about as well as power does. For immediate readings, changes in effort show up in power long before in heart rate. Hit a hill hard, and power races up, while heart rate gradually rises. Coast downhill and power goes to zero but heart rate goes down gradually.

John_V 

So, my resolve with Wahoo is to continue using the original RFLKT+ and update the firmware with the beta version to see if that improves the battery life of the device. The original device works perfectly but went through batteries about once a month. If flashing the firmware improves the battery life of the original device, we will close the case and I will just use the replacement RFLKT+ as an RFLKT, with BT only sensors, as a backup or give it to my wife. Since we are going on a cruise next week, I won't be able to really test how the firmware update works until we get back. I'll post and let you know how that goes after doing some testing.

JohnJ80

Remember, with the RFKLT+ you also get a barometric sensor and a temp sensor. The barometric sensor will improve the altitude measurements significantly and the temp sensor is useful as well.

I recently got a newer RFKT+ and it works well. Same battery all season so far. I don't think the new firmware is going to be an issue. Re-flashing a device should be fine as long as you don't interrupt the process (general caution for all devices).

J.

John_V 

No need to worry about the altimeter since I live in Florida. I've already flashed the EPROM with the new, beta firmware but won't really be able to tell if it will solve the battery issue until I get back from vacation.

I also flashed the EPROM of the device that has the Ant+ bridge issue and to my surprise, my Ant+ sensors are now connecting to it and not dropping connection. I will test that device after vacation, as well.

JohnJ80

Looking forward to see how this works out for you. I'm betting that it fixes your battery problem.

J.

demoncyclist

I have also been having battery issues with my RFLKT+. Getting about 3 weeks of light use. Wahoo sent me the instructions for the hidden beta firmware. It has been a weeks o far, and the battery seems fine, but I have had intermittent issues connecting to the Wahoo ANT+ speed cadence sensor and my Garmin ANT+ HR strap. We'll see how it goes...

Schneideris

Would be interested to know if anyone is still experiencing these issues or found them to be corrected. I have two of the RFLKT+ and am in the process of converting to ANT+ sensors only to find out that either the bridge mode or the app are a complete failure. There is nothing consistent and today it took an hour to get anything working and even then it was partial. Strange partial too as the speed and cadence sensor would only show the cadence. Support from Wahoo has been a complete joke.

So frustrated and pi$$3d off that I wasted my money on Wahoo. Glad I caught it now though before buying a couple of trainers.

dr_lha

I assume you've tried updating the firmware using the Wahoo Fitness app?

Funny you should say that Wahoo's support is a joke, they've been utterly brilliant in all my dealings with them. Sorry you're having issues.