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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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
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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.
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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.
Any idea if it has vibrating silent alarms? I keep killing Fitbit Ones with water. Would love a waterproof strapless alternative.
So it has less features then the vivofit 1 and a worse battery life. Sounds like a winner.
While this device records too little info for my usage (no HR, no GPS, no detailed swim metrics, …) I do really like the automatic activity detection (walk, run, sleep, swim) applied by Withings in their devices. My Android smartphone also does this trough Google Fit , very reliably and precisely in fact (walk, run, cycling).
I do not understand why most of the big brands do not implement this (such as f.e.Garmin). It seems so obvious to me. Why should you push start and stop buttons when the correct sensors and algorithms are perfectly capable today to monitor your movements and identify precisely what you are doing. For me this is the future, a device you wear 24/24 registering your activities automatically, storing and forwarding this information to wherever you want.
It’s particular to see all bits and pieces of the ideal sportswatch exist but are spread out over different devices. Who will be the first to integrate all of this? My bet is on smartwatches containing the necessary hardware, combined with powerful apps.
Randy — I usually love your stuff, but parts of this read like they are straight from a press release. In particular, this line: “the Go does offer great all-condition readability thanks to its touch screen E Ink technology.” Did you try it in many conditions? If so, you need to be clear about that fact. If not, this comes across as the kind of fluff I expect from Runners World and its ilk, not from this website.
Who’s this Randy chap anyway?
Ray introduced Randy at last years ces. Been around a while
Right. My mistake, I thought that it was “Anonymouse” who had confused Ray and Randy, but it was me!
Anyway, keep up the good work, R&R!
Anonymouse, I used that wording (my own, not from their press release) because E Ink technology does work well for readability, even under low light and bright sunlight, as in most e-readers such as Kindles.
Fair enough, and my apologies. (I continue to think making the basis for your comment clear in the post would have been better, but recognize my comments were unduly harsh in light of your clarification.) This said, you should write PR — that sentence is PR gold!
This is the first company to even consider capturing Fitbit One users that prefer waist/pocket devices instead of wrist based devices for all day use. My phone doesn’t fit into the pockets of my lady pants and I really disliked adding a wrist based tracker with my watch. Bonus I bet this guy wouldn’t get destroyed in the washing machine or on a really sweaty bike ride like 3 of my Fitbit Ones did…
Mrs Gingerneil is a nurse, and therefore not able to wear wrist based devices for infection control purposes. There doesn’t seem to be very many good activity trackers that can be worn on the waist, or somewhere other than the wrist. I’m keen to hear what you think of this device in a little more detail. It could finally be the device I’m looking for (not that she knows she’s needs an activity tracker yet… But that’s like 99% of the population, right?)
Have you seen the Bellabeat Leaf? They’re advertising pretty heavily to women types. Surprised DCR hasn’t reviewed. YAAT, but a non traditional form factor.
I’ve looked at some of the ‘prettier’ activity trackers. Slowly amassing a large pile of them for some sort of combo post (relying heavily on The Girl’s input).
Very glad to see a vendor that’s trying to simplify their devices in a market that’s trying to integrate every sensor under the sun in their devices. Price point makes it an impulse buy, which is right where you want to be if you’re an activity tracker. Any word when will these be available, Ray?
Hello, did you see the anouncement of suunto with the ambit 3 vertical ? Is it the replacement of the ambit 3 peak or do you think suunto will release a ambit 4 in 2016 ? Thanks Ray
I did. They sent me some stuff last night (docs), but didn’t have a unit here at CES (just at Outdoor Retailer in SLC). They’ll get me a unit next week they said.
I don’t know if it’s an Ambit4 replacement. But I do know it’s seen as something that sits closer to Ambit3 Peak.
Imagine it as an Ambit3.5.
It sits right between the sport and the peak. It has altimeter as the peak, but not it’s battery.
If Ray does not talk about it it’s not because he didn’t see it. It’s because he did not have hands-on time.
It’s got vibrations. Nice.
On the other hand the GPS now supports GLONASS, so it would mean they changed chipset. Hope they didn’t do it Garmin-way.
What do you mean by Garmin-way?
Thanks for your answer Ray ! I’ll wait for your review before to do a choice ! Many thanks for al’ your awesome review and job
I’d take a guess at media-tek chips. However the chip is only as good as the firmware and visi-versa
@Turn The Damn Cranks Garmin switched chipsets from SirfStar to MediaTek starting with FR620 and Fenix2. This led to all kind of problems with GPS track quality/distance/pace. It took about a year to resolve these to “acceptable level”. FR920 and Fenix3 were equipped with “new antenna design” but still some people complain about Fenix3 accuracy, especially when trail running. You’ll find more info on Garmin forums.
It should be also noted that Ray’s always been happy with his FR620 and it’s accuracy.
Ambit3 hardware supports GLONASS, it’s just not enabled.
link to answers.suunto.com
@Grzeg1 — Thanks for the explanation!
I wonder if it would tie to my shoe laces and ‘just work’ so I could have one on each pair of shoes :-)
My question is whether you can associate this with the Withings app at the same time as a watch. It would be great to have this in addition to a watch, for those of us who would like to wear something other than an Activite, but don’t want to use our phone to track our steps in its place.
wow there is a lot of blah products at CES.
I’m glad youre doing all hard work picking out the less crappy products.
Speaking of which would you share the worst fitness products of CES 2016 later? that would be fun.
Hi Ray,
When can I expect a in depth review of the Vivosmart HR?
Is the optical hr any good, is it both accurate for resting and workout HR?
I used the waist clipped Withings Pulse for a year and switched recently to the Activite Pop.
I like the waist clip Pulse because I can wear my watches. I like the Pop because it doesn’t need to be charged every few days and I can wear it at night to capture sleep metrics – but I can’t wear it with my other watches.
The Go, because it comes with a belt clip and a wrist holder, let’s me clip during the day and not worry about charging and put it into it’s wrist holder at night for sleep.
As Paul from Kirkland said above, I would rather Withings let me switch on the same day from my Pulse to my Activite but they don’t. I also like the 360 degree view of activity (steps) on the GO. I find on the Activite the activity step view (12 o’clock to 9 o’clock) counterintuitive. Also, if you go over your daily target, 10,000 steps, on the Activite there is nothing on the display to let you know. From what I read, the GO will have a star or some indication you have already gone over your initial 10,000 steps.
Thus, I am looking forward to the GO.
I can not to feel sorry about ampstrip…Any new about similar product?
What are your thoughts on Nokia’s proposed acquisition of Withings?