Is the GE Vivid iq the Best Portable Cardiovascular Ultrasound Machine?
To date, there have been quite a few good advanced cardiovascular ultrasound machines on the market. Specifically, the market leaders and most popular systems have been the GE Vivid i, Vivid q, Philips CX50, and (to a certain extent) the Mindray M9.
Well, it’s pretty much time for those to move over, as GE has released the Vivid iq, the best cardiovascular machine on the market. In my video review, you’ll see what’s so great about the Vivid iq… and also what’s not so great. More about the Vivid iq after the video.
Vivid iq Feature Review
The first thing you’ll notice is that the Vivid iq does not have a keyboard. To be honest, this one thing seems to get the biggest reaction out of ultrasound users. Instead of having a physical keyboard, you’re stuck with a touchscreen keyboard and a limited amount of hard key controls.
As mentioned in the video, I found this pretty annoying at first. Nearly everyone felt this way. But there are worse things that can happen. As it turns out, GE has done a lot to help with this by offering many technologies, such as Scan Assistant, that eliminate many uses for the keyboard.
Additionally, you can’t deny that the lack of a keyboard makes the whole machine lighter, smaller, and overall less cluttered. It’s clean and after a short adaptation period, it’s not that bad.
The Vivid iq is loaded with features, including touchscreen gestures and many things that can’t be accomplished with the other systems on the market. Many of these things are a solid advance in the user’s interaction with the machine and can actually make you more efficient.
Once you’ve booted the system and start looking around, you’ll find a whole slew of features and technologies that are ahead of the game here. Advanced features like ICE, Scan Assistant, HL7 compliance, diagnostic codes, and 4D TEE (among many others) make the Vivid iq much more like a console machine than a lightweight laptop.
GE Vivid iq Image Quality
The main item about the Vivid iq is its image quality and efficiency. In addition to the testing I performed, I talked to customers and did our own independent evaluations from top cardiologists and technicians. In a word, they thought it was amazing.
The Vivid iq’s image quality and speed are its strengths. The images are more crisp and clear than the Vivid q, and its speed and efficiency are at a new level. Only the Chison SonoBook 9 compares in its speed in saving images and general use. There’s no lag time or waiting when moving around the system. This is a huge improvement over previous cardiovascular machines.
Shared Service Performance
We didn’t do extensive tests in areas beyond cardiovascular tests. In general, the price for the Vivid iq generally places it in the cardiovascular price range. However, the MSK, abdominal and other imaging modes were very impressive.
Overall, the Vivid iq is a home run, and our users agree. It sets a new standard for image quality and efficiency. Although most would prefer a physical keyboard, the many benefits and technologies available outweigh the relatively small annoyances of relying on the keyboard and a few knobs.
About the Author
Brian Gill is Probo Medical’s Vice President of Marketing. He has more than 20 years of experience in the ultrasound industry. From sales to service to customer support, he has done everything from circuit board repair and on-site service to networking and PACS, to training clinicians on ultrasound equipment. Through the years, Brian has trained more than 500 clinicians on over 100 different ultrasound machines. Currently, Brian is known as the industry expert in evaluating ultrasounds and training users on all makes and models of ultrasound equipment, this includes consulting with manufacturers with equipment evaluations during all stages of product development.
