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!
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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:
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You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.
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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.
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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.
LIMITs power meter looks interesting… and looks as a good solution if you own more bikes…
Hi Ray, did Polar fall off your radar screen? Last week there was massive FW update and Flow update as well.
Ever since the Flow update the website has been really sluggish and everything takes ages on it. Other websites are just fine. Anyone else has this problem?
Yes but I’d rather that than it be down. I’m really pleased with the watch but if the web sites down and your in a hurry your hosed. For that reason I update my favourites a week in advance.
I love my M400, but the website is atrocious. I mainly just want to export my data to Endomondo, but last night it took me 10 minutes to do it. Numerous refreshes and log out/ins.
The website has definitely gotten worse, but on the plus side they fixed the app! (for iOS).
Ray, brilliant! Had a good laugh going through your stuff found in the web. Reading about the money professional Triathletes made I reckon “pro” is more related to your attitude towards the sport. How can you make a living out of that?
Hey Ray
The Bike mode update for the FitBit Surge dropped this week as well :)
So…..I looked in the “Queue” section and no where could I find either the Polar V650 nor the SRM PC8…………?
The SRM PC8 is not currently in the queue (they haven’t sent out any units yet to non-pro riders, best I can tell).
The V650 is in the queue, though I won’t start until they add in power meter support (since I don’t really want to do the whole thing twice).
Ok. Thanks. The PC8 is particularly interesting, as is the entire SRM concept. How long before the market forces their hands? Right now, there are still many rabid fans that will keep the economics “inelastic”. As well, the PC8 is eagerly anticipated and defended on some forums………no matter the price, and the feature “claw back” …….BT and Wifi in hardware but not implemented, early reports of sketchy gps functionality, pictures of pros with black electrical tape holding it on……….
Hey Ray, in your upcoming review of the Apple Watch, can you possibly test if it can successfully pair with BLE GPS receivers such as the Garmin GLO or the XGPS 150?
link to buy.garmin.com
link to amazon.com
Both of them already work with modem-less iPad and iPod Touch so I would imagine they would work with the Watch too. Apparently you can already pair the Wahoo Tickr (as shown at the official Watch videos) so I could only dream of running with the Wahoo Watch App, Tracking running dynamics and precision HR over BLE using their sensor and a BT GPS sensor attached on my hat (for reception) while I listen to audio feedback through my headphones.
The future is finally here! :-)
I don’t believe the Apple Watch pairs with any sensors directly – rather, only via the phone. So it’d be a case of a given phone app supporting those sensors, and then also support an Apple Watch app.
Ray, the following official video by Apple shows how to pair a Wahoo Tickr with the Apple Watch.
link to youtube.com
For your convenience I seeked the video to the Tips section where they talk about calibration of the accelerometer and chest strap pairing.
Hope that helps.
BTW I have an Apple Watch and I can verify the BT chest strap pairing. Unfortunately I don’t have a Garmin GLO to test though.
Also whenever you get a chance, take a look at the Runmeter App for the Watch. It’s simply incredible!
link to abvio.com
(My Apple Watch awaits me when I return from this trip, so I can’t verify)
Can you go out of range of the phone though? Meaning, is the pairing between the Watch and the strap, or the Watch and the Phone and the watch just display it?
Well the strap goes through a different pairing process on the Watch vs the iPhone. Also you can go for a run without an iPhone and have the watch record distance based on the internal accelerometer assuming that the watch was used with the iPhone enough times first so that it can auto calibrate. All this, as far as I can tell, is only supported with Apple’s Workout app and I have no idea if it works with Runmeter.
For me the main problem is the screen which although beautiful indoors is pretty much unusable outdoors, especially in direct sunlight.
Lastly I found no way to upload to Strava and even worse, all my Strava runs (which are automatically saved on Apple Health regardless where they originated from, Forerunner, Strava App, Suunto) do not get read by the Watch Activity app. As a result, unless I wear the darn watch, it doesn’t know I exercised. Apple Health is a great fitness “Hub” which is currently ignored by the Watch.
All of that of course can change on the next Watch OS but it could also be one more of Apple’s “walled gardens” and never change (like Fitbit). Only time will tell but for now I am pretty pessimistic that the watch can find a place in my workout routine.
Ps sorry for hijacking this thread and talking about the Watch. I didn’t see any other relevant post and I thought you would appreciate some early impressions from the fitness perspective.
No need to be sorry – definitely interesting stuff. Certainly appreciate others tests/etc, gives me fodder for things for me to try myself.