Heads up!!! Here’s your massive holiday sports tech deals list! This includes the Garmin Epix for just $419, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for just $699, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $249, (or the brand new Hero 13 or $299!) and plenty more! Go check out the full list of 100+ deals here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
Here’s how to save!
Wanna save some cash and support the site? These companies help support the site! With Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with either the coupon code DCRAINMAKER for first time users saving 15% on applicable products.
You can also pick-up tons of gear at REI via these links, which is a long-time supporter as well:
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You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
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In Depth Product Reviews
You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you’re trying to decide which unit to buy – check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.
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Read My Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
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Have some fun in the travel section.
I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.
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My Photography Gear: The Cameras/Drones/Action Cams I Use Daily
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
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The Swim/Bike/Run Gear I Use List
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2023 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
2012 will be the year of Power to the People. When companies with a sub $1000 powermeter come to the market, another consumergroup (other than pros and tech-nerdies like us) will use powermeter. How are companies thinking about transfering the data, metrics, graphs and information to these people?
These amateur sporters aren’t probably interested in reading an 100 page book to understand everything about powermeters. They want simple, clean and easy understandable data which give them information how to train better.
An example in history of a company which understand that is how Polar opened the heartratemonitor market in the 90’s.
I’m interested in real-time monitoring of data over 3g/4g networks. Can a doctor monitor my Gampa on the treadmill from home? Can my coach monitor my ride while I am on it? Can I track Macca at a race or training ride?
-John
Making smart decisions with data, what is the next stage in the evolution process?
In a world heading fast into obesity, how do you make data digestible for those who need help the most?
Price points – adoption is driven by price (sometimes), what other ways are there to drive uptake of health tools?
At Sportsense, we are growing more and more interested in moving from a “descriptive” model to a “prescriptive” model. This means moving beyond using biometrics data to tell a user what he/she did to what he/she ought to do. You will begin to see some early stage development in this area very very shortly. What do users think about this? Do users want dynamically generated and adaptive training guidance (well beyond static training plans)? Are users willing to provide information in the development of such a service that goes beyond data captured from biometric devices such as goals, nutrition, secondary activities, etc.
When will we see machine learning? A device that gathers and analyzes my data, and provides intelligent feedback w/r/t training, pacing, recovery, etc. In theory an intelligent device could pace me through an optimized race, especially if the course could be loaded before hand. More down to earth, I’d love a simple wrist based heart monitor I could wear all day that didn’t require a chest strap.
What data format/repository will persist over a human lifetime? Eventually, we will want to compare today’s data to some earlier point to identify if what we see today is normal FOR YOU, or something changed relative to your data from 5, 10, 30 or 50 years ago. How will we store/access that data? 10 Tb SD card? In the cloud?
OK, so not to hog the bandwidth or anything, but how to integrate multiple data sources – consumer data (Polar, Garmin, Zeo, etc.) and professional/medical? Any single measure might be useful for assessment right now, or in comparison with itself from a past time. But the most sophisticated measure will be the integration of multiple measures, analyzed as an ensemble. How to interrogate multiple sources and unse bioinformatics to seek sophisticated assessments?
Assuming that the future is to help the users make fitness decisions based off of their stats, how will the best path be determined? Will it be based off of a cookie-cutter model, or will it be an ever changing standard based off of other users of the product?
Not a question for CES, but a look into the future in my eyes: What about this product (link to engadget.com) with ANT+ support? Just for under $200 and fully customizable through all sorts of Android apps?
I think Garmin finally gets some serious competition in the GPS sports market.
how about accompanying the ant+ wireless protocol with a .ant data file system. That way it would be possible to make all ant+ devices spew out at least a .ant file, besides the file extension that companies would like to use in the software for their devices. As is now the case with .csv files.
In short let’s make .ant for ant+, what .gpx is to gps.
as a sidenote i would like to add that bluetooth low energy should also be in on this data filetype. As only then endusers will be able to easily gather their data in one place.
I somewhat agree with Bob. I would like to see our downloaded data being utilized possibly as per a predifined paramater set up by the user to help us gain in our fittness training or warn of overtraining (by perhaps heartrate data) just to name a few. I, like many, have few spare hours in the day to devote to figuring out how and what to analyze when it comes to all the data I compile from my exercises.
Automatic analizing would be helpful. In agree with madison805, Bob and giorgitd I think, best feature in future would be an automatic service to figure out the top values of my life.
I am able to hold all my data at home. I am not able to analyze/compare them all. But if I become able to put all of them online and a software will help it becomes possible to compare all of them with actual delivered values.
And only than I am able to point out that my actual heart rate could be a problem…
Bigger Picture Thinking … there were 2 death during the Philadelphia Marathon last month. Norman Stadler discovered by chance that he escaped death 2 times by pure luck, before he discovered heard issues?
We are running/biking/whatever with high-tech devices , what are the issues to overcome that Companies take the challenge implement in their devices to warnings on those potential lethal conditions during training and racing?
I know that is maybe 3-5 years down, but I am not asking for world peace.
We consumer need to start at some time to race those concerns, I had the feeling Polar once was on this track with R-R etc., but I do see that people look in power and pace to train to improve performance, but HR can help us to train and race more healthy.
Most of the devices I have been seeing focus on results – Heart Rate, Power, Weight, Blood Pressure, etc…
I would like to see focus on cost effective individual prescriptive devices, like testing resting metabolic rate for daily caloric needs and creating a plan for the data being captured. New Leaf or other testing gets expensive. VO2 max tests to see the best zones to train in for the average person. It would be great to have devices that detect and prevent sudden death, but how about the millions of injuries from repetitive movements, incorrect fittings, over-training, lack of or improper form, overdeveloped or underdeveloped muscles, weak core etc… How about putting R&D dollars into devices that help detect, correct and strengthen before injury or worse?
Hello Ray,
I am a fellow DC resident and physician in local health care system Kaiser Permanente, and was directed to your post by a colleague at Kaiser Permanente Georgia who’s also a competitive athlete.
Given our work we’re always interested in how all communities stay healthy using technology, with the assistance of proactive/prepared health system.
So my question is this – in a world where data isn’t islanded and you can make sense of it as a consumer, what would your expectations be of your doctor? How involved would you want them to be in understanding what the data means for you – a lot or not as much? Let’s assume the ability existed in the future for them to access the data you generate with your permission, would you take advantage?
What would the advice of the panelists with regard to the bigger health system picture – more involvement, less involvement, does anyone in this group regularly bring in their physicians into their athletic journey?
Thanks again for putting this out there, looking forward to the outcome, and feel free to contact me to discuss further.
Hooray DC,
Ted Eytan, MD
Kaiser Permanente
twitter: tedeytan
Would be interested to hear Dr. John Mandrola’s take on Dr. Eytans’s post. He has a great blog at, link to drjohnm.org , and is a “cardiac electrophysiologist …a cardiologist who specializes in heart rhythm disorders.” as well as a competitive cyclist. I found his blog when I was trying to figure out my exercise induced atrial fibrillation or SVT. Would be great to have a device that captures the random events when I have them during training. By the time I get the EKG or wear the halter strap etc, I have no symptoms. There are a lot of us out there. I’ll see if I can direct him to this post.
The Basis Health Monitor touts being able to track your heart rate accurately and in real time without the need for a chest strap. The devices does this through a unique camera and lights system and the camera in the middle takes several pictures a second as green lights flanked on both sides reflect light off your capillaries, Generic Levitra. Those ‘light pulse’ pictures are then interpreted by the basis watch and a readout is given. But the band doesn’t stop there, as it is designed to be a complete activity tracker with the addition of an accelerometer, thermometer, and perspiration sensor.
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This means moving beyond using biometrics data to tell a user what he/she did to what he/she ought to do. You will begin to see some early stage development in this area very very shortly.Erectile Disfuntion