Sort of. You leave your wheel on, but it doesn’t use roller contact for resistance. Rather it uses magnetic eddy currents from the rim passing through a magnetic field. I like my STAC version so far, but it has it’s own unique quirks like every other one.
The caveat is you have to have the right rim to make it work properly. You need an alloy rim with no steel pin, it has to be all alloy (welded or pinned). Any magnetic material will cause the magnets to clamp to the rim.
Right, what ZeroGravity said. It’s a “wheel on” trainer, but depending on your reasons for wanting a “wheel off” trainer (noise? tire wear? imprecise power control?) it doesn’t have any of the issues associated with a tire pressing against a roller to produce resistance. If your concern is the exposed wheel spinning behind you (for small fingers to reach out to?), then yes it still has that problem.
If you ride on aluminum rims, it has the notable advantage that it leaves your bike in a “ready to ride” state on the trainer. That’s one thing I miss with the older model, the STAC Halcyon.
looks super interesting and unique. My fear with any new rollout is the issues that will undoubtedly pop up
The 4iiii version is a repackaging and cleaning up of the existing STAC design that they got in the acquisition of STAC
Agreed that the new 4iiii looks very interesting from an engineering and design perspective. However, for me it’s a total non starter. The trainer only works with wheels that have metal on them (pretty much any rim brake and most disc). My Giant Defy has full carbon disc wheels, so there’s no aluminum to trigger the magnets on the 4iiii, and therefore, it won’t work at all. Probably not an issue for 97% of bikes out there, but something to keep in mind.
It’s partly that, but also that they completely revised the implementation of the adjustment (now more automated) and removed the additional flywheel weights via implementation of a virtual flywheel.
So, it’s similar, but there are some notable changes (improvements?) that may lead to some issues on early release (that’s the cynical view based on the apparent trend with new trainers this season).
I hope it takes off (Fliiiight 
) well for them with no issues.
Yes, I forgot about the virtual flywheel thingy.
I think we are splitting hairs at this point. The noise from your drivetrain will most likely negate any benefit you get from going completely silent. As for vibration, I don’t think this is an issue with the KICKR, NEO or Fliiiight. And yes, I demoed all three here (you can skip to 4:57 for the demo):
That’s an awesome video, kudos! I guess the latest iterations have really come quite close to the STAC / Fliiiight, and it’s a much more interesting set of tradeoffs to choose between now.