Heads up!!! Here’s your massive Cyber Monday sports tech deals list! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $429, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for just $619, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, (or Hero 13 bundle for $339!) and plenty more! Go check out the full list of 100+ deals here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
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You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.Want to compare the features of each product, down to the nitty-gritty? No problem, the product comparison data is constantly updated with new products and new features added to old products!
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Think my written reviews are deep? You should check out my videos. I take things to a whole new level of interactive depth!
Smart Trainers Buyers Guide: Looking at a smart trainer this winter? I cover all the units to buy (and avoid) for indoor training. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
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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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I have built an extensive list of my most frequently asked questions. Below are the most popular.
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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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
Do you think there is a market for power meters that still have the “5% problem”, but are a lot cheaper? Now one of the cheapest on the market I think is the Power2max, for “only” €1.000. Quarq and SRM are a lot more expensive at €3-4.000!!!
So say there would be a power meter at give or take 3-400 euros (price of a decent sportswatch/mobile phone) with occasional spikes/dropouts and maybe the possibility to smooth this out manually afterwards in the software, would people buy it? Seeing it is still less than half the price of a “(really) good one”
It depends on where the 5% is. If it’s a problem with data and random drops, then no, I think such a product is limited. If the 5% issue is related to breakage, then no. If however, the 5% problem is related to questionable accuracy, then potentially. And if the 5% is related to a product being fiddly, then the answer is yes.
We see that for example with the iBike units. Some of these units are priced considerably lower than other power meters, but have quirks that keep most buyers away (be it accuracy or implementation).
That said, I think we’ll start seeing a turn in the market starting either later this year, or next spring – from a pricing standpoint. Quite simply, there’s just going to be too many companies in the market with similar (accurate) products that the only way to differentiate will realistically be price (assuming customer service/etc… are equal). This is because there’s a number of non-public companies that are working on PM’s today, no less than five off to the top of my head.
Do you allready have any real life experience with the iBike? I found a couple of blogposts about it, but not an in depth like with the other power meters nor can I find it in the PMoverview.
Yes, I tried one of the units about 2 years ago. I found it finicky. I know lots of folks have good experiences with them, but I also hear about a number of folks that have similar experiences to me. They’ve offered units for review, but at the moment I’m pretty backlogged.
Hi, I’m the guy with the ‘BudgetTrainer’ build log. Thanks for the link – had quite a shock when I saw the jump in site visits today ;)
Am finding it a fascinating build, was surprisingly easy (and cheap!) to get to a point where basic computer control worked well enough for me to use it for all my trainer workouts. But as you point out, it is an ongoing process of refinements, my end goal is to make something that can be relatively easily built and adapted to different trainers.
Jon, I’ve just caught up on the development on the erg trainer front (resistance controlled trainer).
As a former avionics techno-geek I thought I’d raise a potential issue I see with the use of a strong electromagnet due to hysteresis and remanance (Information link: link to electronics-tutorials.ws).
I haven’t had to use electromagnet theory in over a decade so can’t offer any development advice, but hopefully you have already taken this into consideration or are able to make use of this info.
Thanks Thor, that’s a really useful link.
The thought had already crossed my mind, just due to observing some residual magnetism left in the core after removing the current in my early experiments. I have no idea what measurable impact it will have yet.
You’ve also prompted me to enable comments on the build blog. I had been meaning to for a while, as I’m sure there are loads of things I could learn from readers.
Regards,
Jon
Awesome post! This blog just keeps getting better and better – my inner geek thanks you!
+1 from Thor R! I really enjoyed reading this post. Great blog.
Thanks Ray – that was a very interesting read. I’m off to check out the links.
I read this article. I think you put lot of efforts in this article. thanks for sharing with us.electronics devices
The world of sports is full of small companies that are trying to solve big problems. They’re trying to invent new ways to improve performance or invent new tools for coaches and athletes. It’s a tough business because it’s hard to build a business on ideas that don’t work yet, especially when you don’t have any money.