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!
3
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.
4
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.
Hi Ray…
One more for your Week in Review please!!!
The article is written with the hope of sharing in internet . We are a modest Spanish blog, but this time we decided to publish in English because we know that there is nothing like the internet .
Greetings and congratulations for your excellent website. you are our inspiration on many occasions.
Allow me to include the link in the comment:
link to blog.zitasport.com
Hi Gabriel-
You’ve done good work in collecting that data. But the reason I haven’t included it in my week in review posts is that I truly don’t believe people should be basing purchasing decisions on a GPS chipset – when it’s been well established that GPS chipsets are actually the least important aspect of a unit’s GPS accuracy. Things like antenna position, GPS chipset firmware, and watch firmware have time and again proven far more important.
Cheers.
Hi Ray
thanks for replying
I totally agree, but we found curious that did not exist, at least , a list of GPS chipsets.
Now the list exists!!!
Thx
Wow VSN have really taken a leaf out of the book of stupid.
I’m surprised to see that you didn’t mention that Bia is shutting down. Will there be a separate post on this? I was a backer on Kickstarter and had been hopeful that they would be successful, though I honestly hadn’t been particularly happy with the product I received and sold it to someone else a while ago. I am interested into seeing your insights into what went wrong.
Yeah, I’ve got a separate post coming on it.
Hi, for dog “encounters”, in countries where it’s legal, I find is realty helpful (and also armless to the dog) to use some (many) very small firecrackers.
They make enough noise to scare away even a pack of dogs and are safe to operate since the explosive potential is extremely limited, usually they are safe also if the dog eats them (or if they explode in your hands).
I like you Fabrizio, but you’re crazy.
Maybe I am :)
Anyway here in Italy there are some firecrackers that are available even for children (13+), these are really harmless, since you can let them explode in your hand… but the noise is enough to scare away some dogs. In southern Italy there are many stray dogs and making some noise is a good way to have fun :)
Is there any way to pull nike+ data (history) on to other sites, or even mass download the files? Your post on nike+ made me realize that I still had an account there from when I first started running many years ago. Apparently I have 259 runs orphaned on that platform which I’d love to bring over to Garmin or trainingpeaks.
This works great: link to mattstuehler.com
You can download and then manually upload to Garmin Connect, or push direct to some other services, incl Strava.
Thanks! Tried it but it didn’t work since it was the Ipod/Footpod system (so no GPS data). link to nikeplusexporter.rhysmccaig.com Seemed to work. I managed to get a download of all my runs in tcx format.
Very nice write-ups Randy, well done.
Still, the other forum doesn’t allow you to express sentiments like, “…rainbow color pony farts..”, which is permissible here at DCR.
Always fun to catch Ray’s articles when he is void of sleep.
Thanks Scott E,
Actually The Real Starky’s podcast interviews with the pros (including one with Ray) push the envelope to the point where discussions about farts of any color are mild by any comparison. TRS is known as the ‘the Howard Stern of Triathlon’, so I just kind of keep him balanced.
hi Randy
Just read your Asia Pacific recap. Excellent work. Really enjoyed your coverage.
please use that phrase in a sentence, “rainbow color pony farts.” I think I need to work it into regular conversation.
I have an official work documentation package with “rainbow colored unicorn poop” right smack dab in the middle, with a picture… And yes it got sent to the client… They laughed almost as much as I did… Technology CAN be fun!
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on runscribe. They have shipped to early backers – I should get mine tomorrow. Maybe a little presumptuous, but I’m assuming you’ll be getting one to play with!?
Ordered a Scoche Rhythm+ on your code! Thanks for years of awesome reviews and insight!
Thanks for the support – and enjoy!
Thank you, as always. The dog question is a major one where I ride on the weekends: do you try accelerate and try to outrun them; or, do you use a water bottle or horn or other device to deter them? The other day I was given a really ration piece of advice that I intend to try out, slow your bike to a complete stop and put your hand out just like you would to any new dog you are meeting for the first time. After all, in my case, I am far more fearful of the damage from a dog induced crash than from the dog itself (then again I am a big dog owner).
Not being an authority, and not yet bit, common among dogs is position of hand placement. Holding a hand/fist above the head – bad, holding it at or below eye level – good. Has to do with dominance and threat to the position on the dogs neck.
Grew up on a ranch with working dogs and the hold your ground model over the chase model generally works better. Your Country and dog breed mileage will vary.
Old school frame pump works great for charging canines. Works well for pumping up tires too….
Re: Apple Fitness Lab & data sets: quantity vs. quality matters. In the clip, you see participants wearing extra gear for some specific instrumentation. I doubt if even Firstbeat has similar volume of data behind their algorithms. (That’s assuming that the lab doesn’t just sit idle when the cameras aren’t rolling.)
Nah, that gear is pretty common actually. Firstbeat and others have the same stuff, these are merely portable units, whereas most labs will go with less-portable units to save money. Ultimately, when it comes to calorie burn, there’s only so many ways to slice that pie – and those metrics are generally well understood already by what is effectively a small community of researches. There’s minor variations in each implementation, but it’s pretty close. I’d argue most of what you saw is for show.
What’s for more challenging is mapping the optical sensor readout vs actual HR, and ensuring those two align. Additionally, I suspect they may be including HRV data. It’s expected that Valencell will roll it out later this year, and they’ve been testing it for a long time (I got some demo’s of it already).
Climate chambers are also semi-common, for example Adidas has them (much bigger ones actually) that I saw while there. Some day I’ll likely build a DIY variant for testing (not anytime soon though).
my experience with dogs is a stern and confident “no, no” is usually sufficient to keep them at bay. Probably wouldn’t work with packs or feral dogs but most domesticated dogs will respond. Having the water bottle handy is definitely a good idea if they are being particularly aggressive. Fear and panic is the worst response as they pick up on it, although sometimes beyond your control.
Not sure if anyone has commented about the Nike/Garmin/etc. partnership, but I linked up my Nike+ account with Garmin connect and the results have been TERRIBLE. It seems to be more of an issue with longish runs, but I ran 13 miles last weekend and Nike+ interpreted the Garmin file to be 31.1 miles, and today I ran 8 miles and Nike interpreted that to be 26. o_O
I’ve since un-synced the accounts….not worth it.
I’m suprised you didn’t mention this big news:
link to lezyne.com
Yeah, noticed it this weekend, just forgot to include it. Will probably add in for next week. Undecided on whether it’ll be meaningful though. There’s been a lot of attempts to make an Edge 500-like product, and the area most companies fail is the software side of it (both uploading/connectivity), as well as the user interface and the options. Many companies dismiss how much functionality is really packed into the Edge 500, and to a large degree that’s why it’s so loved.
Still, always good to see some additional competition. The features certainly look promising.
I find the form factor of the mini interesting – could be perfect for my wife to track her rides and stroller walks with our son :)
The power seems to be a sweet spot for me too… depending on the interface – Coming from a Tomtom/iphone setup i have all BT LE accessories, so finding an “Edge 500” that could use those has been a challenge.
Price point seems reasonable for all three two.
Thanks Alex – I totally missed this one!
Actually, the vid about Austria is a bit endurance sports related. The lighthouse, that you can see in the video is the starting point for Austria’s oldest long distance triathlon in Podersdorf :)