Anker Roav Viva experiences

What has been your experience with this device?

This has been my experience so far… would you return or wait for updates, any solutions out there to stop bluetooth disconnecting?

I had high hopes of having Alexa integration in the car but this device, unfortunately, falls short on most of them. Maybe I received a lemon but somehow I doubt it. The Road Viva is a device intended to bring Amazon Alexa functionality to cars but it falls short in many aspects. Its a well made fairly ergonomic device but carefully look if it will be able to integrate with your car cigarette lighter as it did not work well with my other car. The device allows you to charge two devices at once which is a plus but you can get this without the 50$ price tag. Set up was a breeze, plug the device into the cigarette lighter and download the Roav application. Once I received the device I upgraded the firmware which took about 15 minutes. Unlike the Amazon ECHO this device will require a bit of a pause after saying Alexa to allow the listening to start, often times if you briskly state Alexa followed by the command the device does not recognize what is being stated. The speakers can be made a bit more sensitive and oftentimes if music is playing, commands do not get recognized. As for connectivity, the connection is very finicky - at times the device connects via the Bluetooth stereo almost instantaneously but at other times it takes quite a while for a connection to lock and oftentimes you are driving and receiving notifications and music playing through the phone speaker instead of the car stereo. My device often disconnects from the car stereo requiring it to be unplugged and placed into the adapter to connect again. The Roav uses the Alexa App to navigate the preset home and work addresses but unfortunately if you ask to navigate to a particular address … it never recognizes the command. The music functionality works well when asking Alexa to play something if the connection to the car Bluetooth is actually established and does not disconnect. Another downside is the inability to send or read a message. Another drawback is that you have to have the Roav app open and the phone has to be unlocked in order to control anything. It is frustrating to ask something and have the device respond with “another application is using the audio on this device and to return to the Roav app to continue” - this defies the point of a smart device and the ability to actually keep your hands on the wheel when you have to constantly go back and forth to the Roav app. On the positive side, the device controls smart home devices, as well as an ECHO, does. Overall it’s a great concept but for 50$ I expected a more solid performance.

Hmm, it’s odd that you say you have to have and keep the Roav app open as others have reported you do not have to have it open. I wonder what the difference is between their setup and yours. Also you said it didn’t fit your cigarette outlet in your other car? In all honesty how is that a fault if the device when it says what kind of outlets it will fit and what is required space wise around the socket.

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I never said it doesnt fit, It just does not fit well