LifeBEAM Vi

Before artificially intelligent machines actually take over the world and enslave us all, we predict a wonderful, blissful time when runners finally get our hands – and probably ears – on a real-time, artificially intelligent, adaptive running coach that can guide us skillfully to a 5k, 10k or marathon personal record.

While watches such as the Garmin Forerunner 935 are much smarter than we’ve ever seen, it’s still largely down to us to decode the data these devices provide and to convert those insights into an actionable training plan.

Garmin Connect, Polar Flow and TomTom Sport all offer coaching plans to plug that gap of course, but these off-the-shelf, human-coach-created plans are pretty much one size fits all.

They’re not tailored uniquely to our individual needs and they don’t adapt to how we feel that day in the way a real-life coach would. It’s a big ask but what we want technology to provide is our very own, affordable virtual Alberto Salazar. That’s where LifeBEAM Vi comes in.

Billed by its makers as ‘the world’s first AI personal trainer’, Vi is a ground-breaking fitness wearable that uses aerospace-grade sensor technology to track and provide real-time biometric feedback on heart rate, motion, distance, speed, cadence and elevation, all geared towards helping you run faster, further and better.

The LifeBEAM Vi comes with a competitive $249 price tag (that’s around £200/AU$315 though the UK and Australian prices are yet to be announced), which puts it in mid-range running watch territory. You’d get a Polar M430 or a TomTom Spark 3 Cardio for a similar price.

But where Vi claims to go one step further than a running watch or a pair of heart rate tracking headphones, is that she adapts her training advice as you run, to provide coaching insights based on your real, live biometrics and performance.

Five minutes into a run and cadence down on your usual average? Vi will suggest a metronome drill to get you back on track. Average heart rate sky high in your warm up? Vi can spot you might be fatigued and recommend you take it easier for this session, with all of this advice delivered via voice, into your ears, the way a real coach would.

That’s the theory anyway. But does Vi live up to her billing?

Design

• Sophisticated, subtle design
• Snug fit that stays put
• Micro USB port cover might not last

At first glance, LifeBEAM Vi looks a lot like a normal set of high-end earphones with a unique neckband attached. There’s a pleasing sophistication and subtlety to the design and Vi exudes quality straight out of the box.

There’s style here too. Unlike most neon colored sport headphones, these have been designed to feel as at home paired with a suit as they are a technical t-shirt.

The Running Man of Tech, Gareth Beavis, once said that you should never judge a wearable by its packaging, but it’s very clear from the moment you whip the cellophane off Vi that a lot of thought has gone into this product. 

“As it should!” we hear you say, but sadly that’s not always the case. Think Apple boxes and you get the idea. The details have been considered.

The major design difference between Vi and a standard set of running headphones is the neckband that houses the sensors including a 6-axis accelerometer, gyrometer and barometer. This band makes up most of Vi’s 37g weight and rests around your neck on your shoulders.

Some running purists (if you’re wearing split shorts and a vest right now it’s you we’re talking about) will definitely think this is cumbersome, but we found that while you are aware of it initially, after a while that wears off.

We tried it on a 4-hour marathon and though it’s much heavier than something like the earbud-only Jabra Elite Sport, Vi is as comfortable as any other set of in-ear headphones.

Each end of the neckband and both earbuds have pleasing magnetic clips, so you can attach the buds to the band for easy stowage and, more importantly, you can clip both earbuds together and secure Vi around your neck when you’re not wearing it in your ears.

If you’ve ever decided you no longer want music halfway into a long run and you have no pockets for your headphones, you’ll understand why this is useful.

LifeBEAM knows that Vi will spend a lot of time in gym bags and pockets and the neckband is designed to bend and flex for easy storage and extra durability. We’ve been using Vi for more than 3 months now and we’ve not managed to break it yet so this seems to be a success.

If we have one concern about durability, it’s the cover for the micro USB charging port on the end of the neckband, which feels like it might not last.

In terms of comfort, the earbuds fit snugly, though even by LifeBEAM’s own admission, it can take a few attempts to select the perfect gels and wing tips to keep them firmly in place and ensure the optical heart rate tracks effectively on the run.

Controlling Vi is largely uncomplicated and mainly done via voice, but the band does feature three relatively easy-to-use buttons, including an on/off, a + and a - for managing volume and skipping tracks.

There’s also a touch sensor in the right earbud that initiates Vi’s voice activation controls. We found this to be nicely responsive and easy to do even at pace. Putting a simple tap between you and a chat with Vi also helps to prevent outside noise accidentally firing up Vi (something you get with other devices such as the Oakley Radar Pace).

Vi is also sweat and water resistant and in our tests it survived a few runs in torrential British rain, but this isn’t a device you wear in the shower or the pool.

Set up, sync and sharing

• Slick and simple set up
• Fast and reliable syncing
• Limited third-party sharing

The Vi experience out of the box is impressive, with some really intelligent touches, such as guiding notes on the packaging that lead you through setup and make the experience feel more human and supportive than with most products.

This is entirely deliberate, LifeBEAM wants users to develop a relationship with Vi rather than just see it as another piece of hardware, and it works.

You will need to download the Vi smartphone app and do the usual Bluetooth pairing and connection in order to go through the setup process.

Once you power up the headset, the first thing Vi says to you is a joke. “First contaaaact with a human,” comes the ice breaker from your new coach. 

It’s hard not to think of the first time Joaquin Phoenix’s character meets his AI in Her.

Vi then guides you through a few logistics like a microphone detection test and reminds you how important it is to use the right wing tips and gels for the perfect fit, as well as setting your specifics in the app. 

At this point Vi also asks you to give yourself a nickname that she’ll use to address you while you run.

From within the app you can edit settings including warm up duration and what Vi calls Beacon updates, which are basically time and distance-based readouts for things like calories burned, average heart rate, speed, step rate, and pace.

You can also choose which metrics Vi gives you updates on when you use the "How am I doing?" voice command on a given run. These include heart rate, speed, pace, step rate and power.

And you can turn on the Effort Guide for in-run feedback on how hard to push, choose between metric and imperial and set Vi’s overall chattiness level, choosing from 'Lead the way' (she says what she wants when she wants), 'a little less', or 'short and sweet' (kind of leave me alone).

Some important customization options that we’d expect to see in an advanced coach are missing. For example, you can’t review the heart rate zones Vi has recorded or put in your own zones should you know them.

Syncing Vi with the smartphone app is always fast and reliable with no need to pair the device each time you train. Sadly however, while Vi will sync with Apple Health Kit and Google Fit, there are currently no options to automatically sync your run data to any apps such as Strava, Runkeeper or Garmin Connect, though we did find a promise on the website that Strava is coming.

Likewise, there’s no way to automatically import any data, such as weight, from third parties. This puts Vi a way behind the likes of Polar, Garmin and TomTom.

Personalized coaching and sound quality

• Lacks a lot of essential running watch features
• Badly missing race-led goals and training schedules
• Human sounding voice and good sound quality

LifeBEAM knows if you’re going to spend a lot of time listening to a coach (virtual or real) it’s important you get along. 

The company spent six months searching for the ‘perfect’ human voice to use for Vi’s persona and the result is an AI that feels much more human than other common AIs such as Siri and Alexa, and far more personable than any fitness-specific voice coaches we’ve ever used, such as Lumo Run and Moov Now.

Not only is Vi's voice great, but so is its sound quality, which isn't a huge surprise given that it's powered by Harmon Kardon. So whether you're listening to music or just to Vi's dulcet tones you won't be disappointed.

From the moment you fire her up, Vi’s phraseology, timing and the content of what she says goes a long way to making you feel like you’re dealing with an intuitive coach and not a robot blurting updates from a prescribed menu of responses. For example, Vi asks questions to guide you through the set up and calibrations on your first runs.

This ‘getting to know each other' phase is very impressive and offers a glimpse of how powerful this technology will be in the future. However, Vi has one big problem and it’s cultural.

At the risk of being accused of AI xenophobia, Vi’s strong American tones and turn of phrase didn’t really do it for our UK ears. 

It wasn’t long before the in-run cheerleading started to grate. We’re all for enthusiasm but the over exuberance of some of the comments was a bit too much. You’ll need to like things with a little more fist pump and high five if you’re going to get along with Vi.

The language troubles weren’t a one-way street either. In our tests it was quickly clear that Vi simply doesn’t recognize a British accent, at least not ours. Given that most of Vi’s in-run features are controlled via voice, this is a problem.

During a run you can tap the touch sensor and say things likes “How am I doing?” or “Heart rate” for a read out of your current stats. You can also use voice to switch the Effort Guide on and off mid-run and say “Step to the beat” to launch Vi’s cadence coaching.

Unfortunately, practically the only voice command that worked was a simple "No" and even that was hit and miss. 

But that’s not Vi’s only problem. Perhaps a bigger issue is that the coaching goals are far too limited. You can use the app to select up to six targets including Go Faster, Go Farther, Reduce Stress, Maintain Fitness and Improve Fitness, with one of these set as your primary goal.

The problem here is that most serious runners don’t just run to ‘Go Faster’, they train with a target race and finish time in mind and Vi simply doesn’t offer you the chance to work towards a specific goal, for example, a 3:30 marathon or a Parkrun 5km best. And without this your training feels a bit rudderless.

After you’ve selected your goal, your first few runs with Vi are designed to let the AI learn your fitness levels, but this never feels like a fitness test and any recorded benchmarks aren’t displayed anywhere in the app.

It’s never very clear how Vi is assessing your runs and what data she’s using to support her training advice. It’s immediately hard, therefore, to get a sense of what improvement looks like in terms of any of the already very broad goals.

This gets worse when you realize that Vi doesn’t offer any training schedules or even recommend what kind of session you should do on any given day. You can’t even see how many sessions per week Vi advises in order to ‘Go Faster’ or ‘Go Further’.

It’s entirely up to you to decide when to train and to select your workout from the four modes of Free Run, Distance Run, Time Run or Cycle.

What is impressive is that once you start running Vi will look at things like heart rate, cadence, the weather and location and offer contextual advice, e.g. if your heart rate is up against your norm at a slow pace, she’ll maybe suggest taking this run easy as that can be a sign of fatigue or over-training.

But from a coaching perspective, without training plans and more pre and post-run advice, there’s too much missing for Vi to be considered a serious alternative to a proper coach.

It’s a shame because with Vi there are features that offer a glimpse of what the future of running tech looks like. The Step to the Beat feature is fantastic. If Vi spots that your cadence is down against your average, she’ll ask if you want to do a quick burst of turnover training.

If you say "yes" Vi will play a metronome set to 180BPM giving you a beat to run to as you strive for improved cadence. You can also activate this yourself by saying “Run to the beat.” 

Although, as we’ve mentioned, the voice commands rarely worked.

Vi also has an Effort Guide whereby she uses your past run data including pace and heart rate and compares that to your current mid-run performance to keep you informed about what zone you’re running in. 

Instead of heart rate zones these are set as Recovery pace, Hustle and Beast mode, and Vi will tell you when you move between these zones.

Again, while the feedback is interesting we found there wasn’t enough real-time coaching here to be useful. 

It's all well and good hearing that you've “Moved up to your hustle" – think threshold pace – but what you really need is Vi to tell you when it’s time to hustle, for how long and why doing this will help you achieve your goal. There’s too much respond and not enough lead.

If you’re a fan of indoor running there’s bad news here too. Vi doesn’t log distance via the accelerometer so when you’re on the treadmill you just get music and heart rate. There’s no way to add your distance to a workout post-run either.

Heart rate and GPS tracking

• Reliable heart rate readings
• Uses your phone for GPS

Vi has two optical heart rate sensors, one in each earbud, and it’s important to get the right combination of gels and wing tips to ensure you get a good reading.

LifeBEAM started out making biometric monitoring tech for the aerospace industry, (AKA fighter pilots and astronauts) and so we expected good things from the heart rate tacking and we weren’t disappointed.

Once we’d nailed the perfect fit, we rarely lost heart rate tracking. Though if Vi spots heart rate tracking has dropped in and out during a run, she’ll suggest a change of tips and gels.

In terms of accuracy, we tested our resting heart rate against the wrist-based Polar M430 and a Polar H7 chest strap. We found that Vi tended to read 2-3 beats per minute higher than the Polar M430 and was largely identical to the chest strap.

On the run Vi performed well too versus the chest strap and the Polar M430. Vi was rarely more than 2-3 beats off the chest strap and the average heart rate readings were always within 1-2 beats per minute.

We have to point out here though that the way heart rate data is presented in a tiny graph in the Vi app makes it quite hard to analyze.

There’s no GPS chip on-board Vi, as this is tracked using your paired smartphone so you'll need to have that with you on your run for Vi to work. This also means that GPS accuracy depends entirely on how good your phone’s location-awareness is.

Smartphone app

• No web tools and the app lacks detail
• Slick design

There are no web tools, so we can move directly onto Vi’s partner smartphone app available for iOS and Android. The headline here is that the app really lets Vi down. The design is slick enough but there’s simply just not enough detail for it to compete with the likes of Garmin Connect or Polar Flow.

The home screen lets you select a run for that day from Free Run, Distance Run, Time Run or Cycling.

You can get a resting heart rate reading but it’d be great if this information was stored somewhere so you could track any change over time.

Battery life

• Eight hours of life
• Fast charging in 45 minutes

Vi’s claimed maximum battery life is eight hours and in our test we found this to be generally accurate. 

We were able to do 3-4 sub-1-hour midweek runs and a longer run on Sunday between charges, though if you use Vi to listen to music outside of your runs this will understandably change.

We'd say that's pretty solid, and the good news is that Vi charges using a standard micro USB cable, no crazy docks and connectors here, plus a full charge from empty takes about 45 minutes and you can get enough juice for an hour session in about 15 minutes.

Verdict

The LifeBEAM Vi is a seriously exciting concept but the delivery leaves something to be desired.

Still, there's a lot of potential here and many of the issues could potentially be solved by software updates.

Who's this for?

LifeBEAM Vi should really be a tool for serious runners chasing personal bests, and in the future we’re hopeful that’s exactly what it will be.

However, right now Vi is far more suited to anyone who wants to run, or start running, for general fitness and wants the added security, confidence and motivation that comes with having a trainer but without having to pay the hefty price.

It’s ideal for couch to 5km-ers or anyone who loves music for motivation and wants a little more help and encouragement along the way.

Should you buy it?

There’s a lot to love about Vi and at the very heart of this device is a really good quality set of earphones. If running data is what you really care about then Vi, in her current guise, won’t quite do enough and there are plenty of other options out there offering more bang for your buck.

However, if you want a taste of what the future of fitness feels and sounds like, and your main goal is better general motivation to run, then Vi might just be a worthwhile companion.

Update:  LifeBeam Vi is due to launch in the UK on 24 October with a range of feature updates that we’ve been told will address some of the issues we found when we tested this time around. This will include improvements to voice recognition, more heart rate insights and more notifications outside of those you get while training, and we'll update the review when that arrives.

Not sold on the Vi? Here are three alternatives.

Oakley Radar Pace

A voice-activated coaching system in the shape of a pair of classic Oakley sunglasses with detachable in-ear headphones, Radar Pace provides real-time feedback on your running metrics including distance, pace, climb, average pace, calories and cadence.

But if you want to unlock extra metrics such as heart rate, you have to bring your own third-party Bluetooth or ANT+ sensors. Lack of optical heart rate feels like a missed opportunity but the voice controls are about as responsive as we’ve tested.

Jabra Elite Sport

They’re far from cheap but Jabra Elite Sport's completely wireless headphones can track runs, monitor heart rate, guide you to improve your strength and even push you to the max with indoor high-intensity interval workouts.

There’s no AI coaching but the app has a range of pre-packed sessions, there’s VO2 Max tests for benchmarking fitness and some good quality audio to boot.

• Read our full Jabra Elite Sport review

Lumo Run

The Lumo Run tracker isn’t a pair of headphones so it’s not an option if running headphones is really what you’re after.

It also doesn’t offer AI coaching, but what it will do is give you real-time feedback on your running style during workouts and then recommend form-improving drills post-run, all based on the areas it feels you need to work on most.

If running faster is your main aim then starting with form is smart and Lumo Run is about the best form-focused device you can buy.

First reviewed: September 2017