Big Sports Tech Deals Right Now! The Garmin Epix Gen2 is on sale right now for a staggering $549USD, roughly $300 off, and the Titanium edition just $50 more! And, it also got a big slate of new features this past week. Alongside that, there’s big discounts on the Apple Watch Series 9, Polar, Samsung Galaxy Watch6, and a pile of other Garmin watches including the Forerunner 255, 955, and Instinct 2 series. Full updated list 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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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 and Equipment 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! 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.
The bright green LED on the Bike Spike either tells the thief that different bike might be better to steal or, alternatively, notifies him to disable the unit. I wonder whether a stealth unit, hidden somewhere, might be better.
I was wondering if $129 can just get you really good insurance? (even with a GPS tracker your bike can be stolen….) as far as route monitoring, there is a website the reviews GPS units (that all include recording) for bikes and othersports, its called dcrainmaker or something like that
One option would be to use special screws that require a proprietary screwdriver to extract. Something along the lines of the special lug nut on alloy wheels.
As a side note, even if you can track down your bike there isn’t a police department in N. Cal that will go out and retrieve it for you. So, add the cost of some beer and BBQ to that $129, for your friends who are willing to help you take the law into your own hands.
Nice enough bike to steal, nice enough bike to drill the screws out. Even if you mess the threads, a helicoil makes everything good. Not much force on screws holding a water bottle. If the thief knows the purpose of the device…it’s a goner. Probably best used as a deterrent to get the perp to steal someone else’s bike…
Hi there, the last product you mention (the new iBike); you mentioned right at the end that this could be interesting given you have other PM’s installed and that got me thinking. Could this be used in conjunction with a direct force PM to act in the same way as the track based aerodynamics people (the name escapes me) or is the device not accurate enough? Obviously there would need to be some way of sync’ing the data but if I were one of the bods at iBike, I’d certainly be looking into this. A couple of hundred dollars one off vs paying for time in the wind tunnel, it’s a no brainer!
Ray, with regards the FR620 my comment and I suspect others was for a completely black FR620. The ‘look at me’ blue just doesn’t look professional for the times you need to wear it at work especially when your in senior management. Also it adds nothing to the functionality.
Yep I agree, an all black version would be better
maybe you shouldn’t wear that watch to work
“you’re”
Wow, that’s sad. Senior management cares what color watch band you wear??
I agree with Scott.
Part of the utility of having a low-profile, professional looking, gps-off-or-on watch is that we can wear it to work, casually, and while running, without having another piece of running/biking/swimming kit to deal with.
We don’t all need conversation pieces.
Many of us would prefer color choices that are a little more discrete and incognito.
All black would fit the bill, or with lighter grey tones.
I liked the 405 and 610, but a little bulky for daily wear.
The smaller (women’s) 10 is a nice color, but doesn’t look right on a guy, imo.
In this age of 3d printing and mass production, it takes very little to mock up additional color choices, and produce what’s popular.
It’s a sad world we live in when you think you’re going to be judged by a tiny color accent on your watch. Your actions and skills should speak above any accessory you wear. I agree with the other comment, just don’t wear it to work. Shoot, I’m a C level and wear a string bracelet my daughter made me for over a year now, I could care less if it matches my outfit or what other people think.
The main point is this watch seems great and looks to be going in the right direction. Lighter, more functional, quicker to start. I just hope the battery has the ability to last longer and take more charge cycles (there is better battery technology available). After 1.5 years, my 610 barley holds a 6 hour charge for running, so if you are running multiple days without charging, mine won’t last.
I’m a fan of the white/orange 620, myself.
Any word from the Tacx boys on whether or not they will be making their new iPad mount compatible with aerobars?
Hi Ray, apart from ‘loop’ no further Polar announcements? What kind of venues are typically used by Polar for announcements? Any idea when Polar will gear-up towards competition?
Nope. I’d expect new stuff for the spring.
As someone who owns a software development company that has submitted a lot of Apple apps and updates, let me adjust your TACX iPad estimate. iPad apps take longer for them to process than iPhone apps, on a good day, you are looking at a week, however I have experienced delays up to 3 months (no request for changes, just after 3 months, I finally got the certificate (which turned out to be wrong and took another 2 weeks to resolve)). I wish TACX the best of luck, it is really a crapshoot with Apple, I know they made it cheap so anyone could be a developer, but I wish they had priority queue you could pay to get in.
Re Newton+:
“I don’t have a timeframe for the review, and as I noted above I bought the unit to toy with on my own terms over the winter. ”
First I’d test the accuracy of the wind measurement if you can. If the results will be great you will definitely get an acceptable power measurement, since grade and acceleration measurement should be OK, I conclude it relying on the experience with my Gen3 iAero. Accuracy of Crr estimation and mechanical losses should not change the picture
Have you already started the test of Newton? Evidently no post was about any in-depth test, but maybe some part of playing has happened.
No, not yet, still slammed with other devices.
Me still curious. You still slammed?
No, not yet. I’ve started to focus on bike devices this past week (switching from running/etc…). I have a few weeks at home starting in a week, so I may start diving into it then.
Last “bump” for any eventual iBike Newton test.
I have a Gen3 iAero, thus curious about the 4th generation without investing more.
Someone just did a review here:
link to jarredscycling.com
i think the tacx app is available now… just plugged in my wahoo ant+ key for the first time and the ipad said i needed some apps that weren’t already installed on the ipad. once it opened up the app store, one of the available apps was “tacx cycling”. downloading now (its 300mbs so will take a while where i am) but looks promising
So? Have you been able to get it to work?
And still waiting on the Bikespike :-p I’m thinking it may not ever come
Whatever happened to Bike Spike? I threw down $ and was looking forward to getting one but it looks like they just up and disappeared…
I believe they folded. 🙁