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:
Alternatively, for everything else on the planet, simply buy your goods from Amazon via the link below and I get a tiny bit back as an Amazon Associate. No cost to you, easy as pie!
You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.
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Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
1
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.
2
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.
I’ll pay you 2 beers in Brussels if you tell them that a usability expert is not just a cost but really improves their product.
“Really not entirely equal.” Don’t sell yourself short. You are at least as (if not more)”famous” than he is. I didn’t even know the name until I read this post.
Hello Ray,
please ask the ANT+-guys to let users pair at least two HR-transmitters with one watch. Some people may have one transmitter in their sports bag etc. and another one eg. at home.
Thanks
You’ve started just fine: “…Me and Simon…” Simon has done his job well in triathlon, but you are NUMBER ONE on this field! I can hardly wait for your posts and I guess I am not the only one! So it’s just a respect you deserve!
Hi Ray,
I would like to link the new Garmin tempe Wireless Temperature Sensor and get ambient temperature and transmit the data wirelessly to my Forerunner 910XT. This would be great for runners as temperature affects performance as I would attach it to my shoe. So far the 910XT is not listed as a compatible device. I believe the tempe uses the ANT+ protocol, so it should be practical to enable communication between the Forerunner 910XT and the new tempe Wireless Temperature Sensor.
You have touched on this before: I would like to have the ability to have multiple user profiles on my watch.
Thanks for posting last years presentation it was really interesting getting an overview of the people that read your blog,their opinions,concerns and the different requirements for different types of athletes. I look forward to viewing this years presentation!
To add on to above with the temp sensor shouldn’t the baro altimeter have a temp sensor on board to help correct it? wouldn’t it be easy to add that to the data it collects?
Thanks all!
Re the last question – you can get temp without tempe, it’s just that the temp on the watch is bad at best. In my testing thus far, it rarely reflects reality – especially colder temperatures where the skin/body heat radiating out drives it quite a bit.
Hi Ray,
Another area that I believe that fitness companies need to look at is to allow more ANT+ devices to link to fitness equipment. This would bridge the gap between indoor and outdoor fitness activities so you can track and store data from a treadmill run or a spin bike workout.
Presently Garmin has agreements with a very limited number of compatible brands, however not with most of the top-end treadmills. I recently purchased a Precor 9.35 treadmill, however I have to use my Garmin footpod and heart monitor to track my workouts. I cannot link the heart monitor to the treadmill display unless I wear both the Garmin, a Polar heart monitors.
How do you see the temperature from the 910XT? I found it on the diagnostic screen, but I don’t know how to see it for activities.
Oh, sorry, I thought you were asking about/referring to Fenix. Sorry for the confusion!
The biggest problem for me is that the phones mostly don’t support Ant+ only a handful of current phones do and just about all of those are from SonyEricsson. Sony appears to be holding back on Ant+. If Ant+ doesn’t make it into the phones soon I predict Bluetooth 4 will be taking over as the protocol for health and fitness sensors. The phone market is a really strong driver as it does things that watches and head units wont be doing for he forseeable future like music, spoken audio notifications and cell data connections for upload and maps. Protocol separation is bad news for consumers because we will end up replacing our sensors and head units for the wrong reason. They should be replaced for new functionality, not differing protocols. And worse, we risk a protocol war for 5-10 years that severly holds back the segment.
Ray,
I find you to be the perfect spokesperson to represent me in my quest to find the ideal race/training solutions. I loved the 2011 41min ANT+ symposium presentation!
Being a 39yo athlete, techno geek and a workaholic CIO/CTO, I highly value the KISS concept and in turn, tools that syncs my training/race data without data duplication (or use different apps to view and analyse), goes under water (at least 15m), will take the beating of a 12k Spartan race (30th of July 2013) and still be sexy enough to go out on a date with my hot wife (ok… I can ditch the watch for said date, but would prefer not to)
Unfortunately, Garmin 310XT/910XT are far from a sexy training computers, I fear Suunto products will be a pain to link up with 3rd party apps (RunKeeper…), Polar watches and GPS accessories love and hate water (GPS vs HRM pods), Polar tools are also far from having the desired battery life to support a 17h Ironman (yeah… that’s also on my bucket list), TomTom might ship the multi-sport watch before I die of old age (and what about battery life?) and will Timex ever find the right technology to acquire a GPS signal (and then not lose it) within a reasonable time frame and so on…
I value my tools and use/promote them daily. If my race/training tool dies on me or becomes obsolete because a communication protocol is pushed aside, then I’ll just stop using said tools.
I know I wish for perfection, but if they build it, they will come! (at least I will). I’m still looking for a cell phone training computer replacement (I fear my zip lock protected cell phone will not survive the Spartan race).
I’m even taking May and June off to train for Spartan. Heck, I need the break anyway! So I need a water loving cell phone replacement solution to help me attain my race goals.
Thank you for being you and I cannot wait to read your comments and new reviews!
Luc
Hi Luc-
Unfortunately, the watches are somewhat few and far between as it stands now. The underwater requirement and integrated GPS really narrows it down to only a few options: FR310XT/FR910XT, Timex Global Trainer/Run Trainer, Garmin Fenix.
The TGT/310XT/910XT are all too big to wear as day watches. The TRT2 and Fenix though are acceptable day watches, though both slightly big. Check out both those reviews for whether either might work. Enjoy!