Behind the scenes: The DCRainmaker Gadget Cave

January 27, 2012 by |Product Reviews|Comments (33)

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Back a while ago I had shown a photo of the heart rate strap collection I have, where I stash the massive number of heart rate straps that I seem to have obtained (usually just because they came with various products).  During that post, some folks asked to see what the full sports gadget collection looks like.

It used to be that the collection all fit into a single Rubbermaid container.  Well, mostly.  As you saw in my post on ‘Behind the scenes in product reviews’, it was overflowing at the time.  So this spring I decided to upgrade it.  And by ‘upgrade’, I mean I went to Ikea and bought the cheapest shelving system they had.

Now, I should point out an important item because I’m not sure if everyone realizes it.  After I’m done reviewing a product, I almost always end up returning the product to the vendor – no matter if the item costs $2,000 or $200.  About the only items I don’t send back are ones that I’ve consumed (i.e…food), which is fairly rare.  In some cases, the companies don’t want them back – so I give them away (a hint at what might be coming up soon…).

After the product has gone back though, I end up re-purchasing almost all of them.  I do this to be able to answer your questions as companies add new features, or to be able to add them as comparisons in product reviews.  Obviously, this costs real hard cold cash, hence why I’m super thankful for all of you who use the Amazon links.

With that – let me introduce the portable side of the sports gadget collection.  Note this does not include trainers, or anything else that doesn’t fit in the closet.

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Above, the closet.  You’ll notice Mr. Shark is hanging out there, guarding the goods.  He sits behind the pull-up bar (an artifact as part of the Men’s Health partnership).  The pull up bar keeps him in the room, like one of those children’s fences.

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Once you’re inside and navigated him out of the way, I’ve organized everything into levels.  Starting at the very top is basically a place where I can stash boxes that don’t really fit anywhere else – these are mostly just scales and the like.

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Then from there we go into swim stuff (you’ll notice the pattern: Swim, Bike, Run…).  Because Swim doesn’t really need as much room as the others, I also stash some health and fitness stuff in here – like Zeo.

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Moving down a layer we’ve got ‘Bike’.  Now in general these are products that I’ve already reviewed, but there are some others in there that I just haven’t gotten around to.  In some cases, the product may never be reviewed (simply due to lack of time), and in others, it’s still on my radar.  For items that are triathlon and could swing both bike or run, I stash it wherever seems to have the most space that day.

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Moving on we’re onto the run!  This is without question the biggest category, as it’s the one where I write the most product reviews for.  Lots of stuff in here.  Sometimes I have two of an item, either because The Girl has one, or because I’ve had multiples for some random reason (i.e. there are two Nike+ GPS watches there, one of them is shattered).

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Below the run, we’ve got the ‘To Review’ pile.  This serves as a handy reminder of things I’m working on.  Some items are higher priority than others, usually determined by your demand.  Occasionally determined by public release.  Virtually never determined by what a company wants (I recently reminded a company of that, subsequently sending back their products without review after they got pushy).  I aim to deliver what I believe you’ll find interesting, not what some PR person wants.  Of course, if I find something interesting, then you’ll never know what you’ll get (hence the Shark and blender things).

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Finally, there’s that good ole Rubbermaid bin!  Yup, he lives on.  Currently he’s the miscellaneous parts box, with random stuff that I scrounge from.  I’ve got enough zip ties in there to easily take care of any WTO event.  And of course, off to the side is my trusty roller wheel for measuring courses, hanging out next to my underwater photography case for underwater review items.

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I’ve also got two more little piles out of view (gotta have surprises!).  The first being unreleased/unannounced products, and the second being a very good chunk of stuff that I’ll be giving away shortly.  It’s a fairly substantial pile – sorta like ‘The mother of all DC Rainmaker giveaways’.  And, more fun to keep that a surprise.  When have you ever been disappointed by one of my giveaways?

With that – hope you enjoyed the little tour, and hope you have an enjoyable weekend!

Thanks for reading!

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33 Comments

  1. Tristan
    January 27, 2012 at 7:35 am #1

    You do realize you have a problem? ^^
    Love your stuff, keep up the good work!

    Reply
  2. Patrick Silva
    January 27, 2012 at 8:46 am #2

    I always disappointed, because I have never won one, lol. Interesting post, lots of great stuff.

    Reply
  3. Running Willi
    January 27, 2012 at 9:01 am #3

    Wow! Do you work in the garmin firm? ;-)

    Run ON!
    Willi

    Reply
  4. coach dion
    January 27, 2012 at 9:30 am #4

    OMG wish I had that sort of stuff, my wife would kill me if I had so much stuff… as it is I can’t throw away my old 30 lap casio and 2 other brocken watches…

    Reply
  5. Zoltan
    January 27, 2012 at 10:38 am #5

    This is borderline pornography…

    Reply
  6. Ohio Triathlete
    January 27, 2012 at 12:22 pm #6

    Ray,
    I have been reading for a while and I just wanted to say thanks for all the great posts/articles. You really have a talent for giving your audience informative, yet, entertaining material.
    I wish you continued success.
    If you are ever in Ohio for a race let me (and the readers) know. I’d like to do a tri with you some day.

    Reply
  7. Flyboy
    January 27, 2012 at 12:56 pm #7

    I used to have lots of “stuff”, but found it very liberating to de-clutter.
    Unfortunately, now my heart rate monitor has died and base training has become a bit hit and miss.
    Keep up the good posts.

    Reply
  8. bmatt
    January 27, 2012 at 1:33 pm #8

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    Reply
  9. bmatt
    January 27, 2012 at 1:37 pm #9

    My wife would kill me as well if I had all that cool stuff. You may want to return the rolling pin/watch display to the kitchen so Bertie’s Bakery can work more efficiently.LOL.

    Reply
  10. Jacob
    January 27, 2012 at 2:33 pm #10

    Um. A rolling pin? How can you not address something so obviously strange in the commentary for that photo?

    Reply
  11. Kim
    January 27, 2012 at 2:37 pm #11

    ray, would you ever consider selling any of your older electronics – like a garmin 310xt for example?! :)

    Reply
  12. Anonymous
    January 27, 2012 at 3:44 pm #12

    Hello,
    I love your work, I follow daily and it is very useful and inspirational…how you fit work and training and blogging.
    One question: how do you deal with the cables and keeping everything charged and ready to go.
    That is the side that is driving me nuts!!!
    Keep up the good work.
    Giovanni

    Reply
  13. Rob Smith
    January 27, 2012 at 3:49 pm #13

    you’re better stocked than any tri store i’ve ever seen…

    Reply
  14. Ray Maker
    January 27, 2012 at 5:07 pm #14

    Awww Jacob…you mean you never read my product reviews? :(

    Reply
  15. Chris @ Polar
    January 27, 2012 at 5:44 pm #15

    Yes, I’m the geek that actually looked for your rubber duck like this was some sort of Where’s Waldo post. =)

    Reply
  16. Ray Maker
    January 27, 2012 at 5:46 pm #16

    Unlike the rolling pins, the rubber ducks hang out with me in the bathroom on a daily basis. I leave no duck behind.

    Reply
  17. Danielle in Iowa in Seattle
    January 27, 2012 at 7:27 pm #17

    I look forward to the rolling pin review, for sure!

    Reply
  18. Ravi Kant Yadav
    January 27, 2012 at 7:29 pm #18

    You are one of reasons that i’ll do half ironman one day.

    Reply
  19. kadydid_2@yahoo.com
    January 27, 2012 at 8:43 pm #19

    I need a drool towel. Amazing! I want to hang out in the toy closet for a few hours or days. The correct number of HR monitors is how many you have plus one. The same calculation also works for bikes. You are the first place to go for how something works and if its really worth having.

    Reply
  20. Stuart
    January 27, 2012 at 8:53 pm #20

    I am assuming the shark is really a guard…somethink akin to a nany cam!

    Reply
  21. dpmb
    January 27, 2012 at 10:05 pm #21

    Let me know when you have a garage sale!

    Can’t wait to see the hidden stash.

    Reply
  22. Anonymous
    January 27, 2012 at 10:30 pm #22

    Let us know when you’re having a yard sale :)

    Reply
  23. Bertie
    January 27, 2012 at 11:16 pm #23

    DUUUUDE! I’ve been looking for my Pink Garmin for like 3 months!!!

    *Tristan, yes he has a problem!
    *Flyboy, PLEASE tell him just how liberating it would be for him to DE-CLUTTER!
    *bmatt, after months of asking for the rolling pin back, I decided customers might appreciate me buying a new/clean rolling pin!
    *dpmb, one day… one day!

    :) Love your Wife

    Reply
  24. Anonymous
    January 28, 2012 at 9:13 am #24

    It would hurt your independency from suppliers by keeping the items. No need from my side that you re-buy them. This is very correct, but your credibility is undoubted.

    Reply
  25. Anonymous
    January 28, 2012 at 8:46 pm #25

    Great post! Hope the Suunto Ambit is not too deep in the pile of items to be reviewed. Keen to know what you think about it!
    Keep up the great work!

    Reply
  26. Paul Molnar
    January 28, 2012 at 11:43 pm #26

    Wow, just wow. Ray. Wow.

    Reply
  27. Anonymous
    January 29, 2012 at 8:23 am #27

    Sorry, misspelled. Wanted to say “would NOT hurt”

    It would not hurt your independency from suppliers by keeping the items. No need from my side that you re-buy them. This is very correct, but your credibility is undoubted.

    Reply
  28. Harrison_Z
    January 29, 2012 at 6:28 pm #28

    What a great collection. I wish I had one of those gps ANT+ compatible watches and you have a dozen or so! Too bad they don’t make these things with a college kids budget in mind….

    Thanks for the great reviews!

    HZ

    Reply
  29. Mike Brock
    January 31, 2012 at 2:52 am #29

    I like that the rolling pin lives with the “to review” devices. It’s sitting there poised and ready to offer a size comparison at a moments notice.

    Reply
  30. Mike The Harrier
    February 3, 2012 at 8:40 pm #30

    I had a question and I’m sure you’ve encountered it before. But have you ever given thought to farming out some of the product reviews to people you trust who can emulate your style and thoroughness. I understand that your name is on the website so you want to keep some element of control over the product reviews and it’s easy to do that by yourself.

    This might be for the stuff that wouldn’t get timely reviewed or would be put off until well after their introduction. Then you to focus on the heavy hitters.

    Reply
  31. Ray Maker
    February 4, 2012 at 4:41 am #31

    Hi Mike the Harrier-

    It’s definitely something I’ve looked at, and am trying to find the right mix. My challenge is that I need someone(s) who can:

    A) Photograph well (with DSLR camera)
    B) Write well
    C) Understand the details of the product and competitive offerings
    D) Be semi-funny

    Of course, I’m rarely all of the above – but (if) whomever I go with has to be able to accomplish those so that in theory one wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between my post and theirs (of course, they’d get credit) – but it’s a challenge.

    There are a few people I have in mind – but haven’t quite figured out the method yet.

    Enjoy!

    Reply
  32. Lea
    February 22, 2013 at 11:27 am #32

    I am regular visitor, how are you everybody? This post posted at this web page
    is really pleasant.

    Reply
  33. abryl
    September 27, 2017 at 3:59 am #33

    Wow wow!! Gadget Cave, aka Heaven, at least to me.

    Reply