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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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FAQ’s
I have built an extensive list of my most frequently asked questions. Below are the most popular.
- Do you have a privacy policy posted?
- Why haven’t you yet released a review for XYZ product you mentioned months ago?
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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.
Hi Ray, I’m one of those who pre-ordered the Elemnt back in September and have been very frustrated with the constant delays and lack of updates from Wahoo on when it will be finally shipped – I would not be surprised at all if the ‘early March’ shipping is pushed to the summer at this point. Any idea on what the particular software bug is?
That Elemnt is chunky.
Ray – the strap on your fenix 3 – looks different than mine. Less Holes.
It’s a Fenix3 HR, so a touch bit different strap style I believe.
other than looks is the fit better w/ the new strap?
The Elemnt’s display looks crisp & sharp! really looking forward to your review (want to replace my edge 800)!
Question: Lezyne Computer Super GPS? has anybody some experience with it?? seems to be like a modern edge_500 (ANT+ & BT_smart). link to lezyne.com
Agree with you – my Edge 800 is starting to be old… lets see if the Elemnt could be the one to replace it. Or hopefully Garmin announces something new soon.
Ray–your elemnt seems to be picking up sensors, wonder if that is true and if so what is the problem that wahoo is seeing? maybe they should give customers the option of receiving the product in its current state..r
I was just using ANT+ sensors.
Perhaps the problem with “receiving the product in its current state” is that it’s hard to reflash/update the firmware, depending on the bug.
Looking forward to the review and the ELEMNT. Hoping Ray measures battery life compared to the 520/1000.
Ray, do you run without any case on the GoPro? Is it ok with sweat without the case, or do you keep it somewhere dry?
No case. Sometimes I’ll use a frame case in warmer weather with more sweat. But otherwise, it’s more protected than most give it credit for.
How are you carrying the GoPro? In your hand, on a body mount (which isn’t pictured), or in the Spibelt? I wouldn’t think any of those three would really subject it to a lot of sweat. I’ve seen handheld gimbals but wish someone would make one for the Chesty. Never realized how much my trunk moves vertically until trying to watch video afterwards.
I carry it in my hand. Sometimes I’ll put it in a frame case (just the outer black edge), but most of the time not.
As for gimbals, hang tight. I have a post virtually done that just needs me to insert in 4 photos and three videos uploaded and I’ll dive well into that. :)
Really excited to hear about the Brim Brothers pedals. I ride Speedplay anyway which for the price made picking up the left-side-only option a no-brainer. I’ll probably upgrade down the road if they behave as advertised. Fingers crossed :)
I use Speedplay Zero pedals although not sure like the idea of something attached to my shoes. Bit like a foot pod – use it on a treadmill but would rather not. More worrying, since it only works with one make of pedal, that they don’t seem to have tested it with the newish Aero Walkable Cleats which seem to the obvious ones to buy when you need a new set.
Whoaa, while that elmnt does seem to have great features and a crips screen it really is BIG og rather clunky looking.
great one as always
Ray, I’d actually love to hear your thoughts on the Edge 1000. I don’t think I have ever seen you take a product to task like that one. Do you feel like it has finally grown into its skin a little? I see you using it on almost every product test…
Yes, I think they did do a good job of cleaning up bugs over that summer and into fall. I used it very often with Edge 810’s as well for testing.
Now I’ve mostly converted over to Edge 520’s (simply because they’re smaller). But in this case I only have four Edge 520’s, and I needed more to record additional data points, so the Edge 1000 got to go for a ride. :)
Cool – I ride long distances and need mapping so comparing 1000 vs 520 vs ELEMNT
Hi Ray,
Almost totally unrelated to this post, but the pods on your cycling shoes reminded me of an question I had for some time now.
Polar M400/V800 recently got a firmware update that show running cadence without the need for a footpod. I am curious if this is as good as using the footpod, or if there are any limitations to using the internal accelerometer of the watch?
/Stefan
Stefan, it works spot on for me, I actually did my first metronome free run yesterday after three months of listening to tap tap tap….. At 180bpm and it showed an average of 89, times that by 2 and its 178. On longer runs it may show a few seconds dip if it’s worn on the arm you take a drink from. I don’t know if it works out pace as I never used that feature much on the sensor despite calibrating it at the track, I never run on a treadmill so just leave everything to current lap pace. Which is far smoother than instant pace, even when used with the stride sensor.
It works pretty well on my M400, but will only give current/avg/max/lap cadence and no stride length and those other foot pod metrics. You can also (ab)use all the other running profiles (“Jogging” or “Ultra Running” and so forth) to get “cadence” data for various other sports. It works for real well for cross-country skiing, also tried air-boxing and air-kaying ;)
Thanks for the replies, for me its fine just to see the current cadence. If i want to measure stride length I can always get on the track and calculate – its not rocket science! ;)
What I might miss out on because of this is how far i run on a treadmill, but I usually stay away form those if i can so its no big deal.
Hey Ray, if you could, would you mind testing out the rowing features on the Vivosmart HR. I know it’s not a widely needed feature but I use the erg at my gym as cross training in the winter and I’m kind of excited as to see what the feature set would be from the device and what exact metrics it tracks. Thanks
How are the headphones? Think of the Kanoas so curious of your experience with the Bragi.
I hope your Dash hasn’t had the problems that many of the Kickstarter backers are having. My left Dash arrived dead on arrival (along with what seems to be quite a lot of others). Bragi’s customer service has been non-existent for the most part. Very disappointing and frustrating for us. I’ve now had my unit for three weeks and have no update on a possible fix or replacement. Chalk some of it up to learning experiance for a new company putting a new product to market and another part to How Not to Rollout a Product 101
Sorry to hear there have been problems. Mine have a few quirks (wearing a wooly hat when running interferes with the user interface which can be a little temperamental although appears better on latest firmware) and there are clearly areas where firmware upgrades could enhance useability (shuffle music play on internal player) but I am generally pleased with them. My major disatisfaction is the limited range of the bluetooth for phone connection outdoors which is sub optimal for me as I do not like an arm holder and generally have my phone at my waist or on my back but otherwise I have been impressed with them as headphones, the best fitting and most comfortable bluetooth headphones I have tried and the internal music player comes in handy. I have not yet made much use of the additional performance monitoring functionality as I am more of an ant+ and Garmin guy. I hope you get sorted.
quote The route was great; along the ocean unquote. The Med is technically not an ocean :-)
Will utilize ‘Body of salty water’ next time. ;)
For future trips to Barcelona you can borrow one of my bikes (or two if you come with The Girl). ;-) Also any support for anything, I’m at less than 5 minutes from your “coastal route” that I also often run.
Yeah Ray, you’re spoiled with the velib system from Paris. ;) I loved it when I was there. Riding a bike for a year for 40€ without the need to take too much care for the rides! :)
Can you please make a hyperlapse video of running through Barcelona? I think that would be awesome!
Plus, I’m very curious what the best way of making running hyperlapse videos is. So far, I’ve just seen the one you did on a bike.
It’s interesting that Wahoo are delaying the ELEMNT because of a bug. As long as it’s patchable in the future, I would have thought it would be best to release it now and just be up front with their plans to fix it. The RFLCT+ had a major bug – whereby the app would randomly crash on long rides – for a long time. This made it an incredibly frustrating device that was almost unusable for any real training.
I wish they’d acknowledged the bug up-front so that I knew what I was getting myself into, but given many users probably don’t ride far enough to trigger the issue it still made sense to have it available for purchase. It sounds like it might be a similar situation with the ELEMNT.
I say this partly for selfish reasons though. Despite my frustrations with the RFLCT+ I still really like Wahoo as a company and I think I will look at getting the ELEMNT at some point prior to the summer.
I assume your random crashes were on Android? That was always a pain with the RFLKT.
Note when Wahoo says they are delaying it due to a bug, not all firmware is user-flashable. And even if it is, they may not want to take the risk of bricking the device and having a huge number of returns.
This was iPhone, so it might have been an issue on both? The app itself would usually crash somewhere between 65-90Km. When I reported it to Wahoo, they told me it was a known issue and I think they eventually managed to get it fixed in the fall.
The good thing was that it would save the data, so if I was riding on my own I could stop, pull out my phone and then start a new ride. Afterwards I could stitch them together. When I was riding in groups or in an occasional race it was a huge pain though.
I guess the difference was that the issue I just described was related to the app, so what you said makes a lot of sense!
Yeah, because of the heavy battery usage and occasional crashes, I started running with a Garmin also- and then I wrote some Python to stitch the files together. That way I had the Garmin as base time/speed/GPS but could add my sensors and such from Wahoo.
Good times.
Forget the spibelt, you should run with the rolling pin to mount multipe watches. Handy for twacking people out of the way too.
Hi! What do you think of the RPM2 as a product? Is it mature enough as a product to be taken on board by a pro cycling team (Cylance)?
thanks
I’m waiting for a shipment from them, so we’ll see.
I am wondering if Wahoo RPM sensor that is for sale at Amazon (via your site on the items recommended for 2016) and through Wahoo is the RPMv2 – it says merely RPM? If it is not, what are the changes going to the v2, I may have mistakenly ordered the wrong item?
Thanks for the help.
Regards.
Haha… totally different products.
Wahoo RPM & RPM2 = Small little cadence sensor that you attach to crank arm (sub-$100)
RPM2 = Footbed from a totally different company that does power meter measurements (like $600 or something).
:) Yes, I could see how that conversation would probably be confusing without context and company names.
Thanks for the support!
Ray – thanks for the response. Appreciate all that you do. As you said once, your responses go to a broad range of readers – it has been a sharp learning curve for me, but I am gradually learning as I read more. Regards.
Ray- Huge fan of you and this website. I find it incredibly useful and eye-opening in so many areas…Thanks again for your time! When can we expect your final PowerPod review?
Next week. I had wanted to get it out this week, but MWC slid things. I have all data/photos done. Just have to write text and dig deeper into some analysis on it.
Hey Ray,
due to your first look on Wahoo Elemnt, the presence of Wahoo employees answering all questions and my positive experience with Wahoo products so far I was really looking forward to its release.
But it feels like it takes forever to be released.
Also I am a little bit shocked because on your bar it looks a little bit oversized in comparison to the Garmin units.
I own an Edge 25 and I am very happy with it. But since a powermeter buy seems inevitable I have to upgrade. Or do you think or can ask them if there is a chance that Garmin will add power data to the Edge?
Thanks, Orci
It is bigger, no doubt about that.
As for the Edge 25 and power, no, I don’t think we’ll see it (despite me pleading with them on it). I think it’d be an awesome time-trial type unit.
Hi, i just love reading all blogs, technical or personal adventure, i read them all. But one question:
Wouldn’t it be time to switch to metrical system outings in your communications (in short: dump the miles and feet in your blogs), since it’s a World-wide web and not an US-wide web? And on top of that, you live in Paris for so long, would you consider?
please?
I often do include both, especially in posts where there’s more distances used. Often times, if I only use it once or twice I know that the vast majority of runners can quickly convert to/from one of the two systems in their head (multiply by 2/3rds or 1.3).
As for readership, roughly half is in the US, and the other half international. However, of the other half, a fair chunk of that is in the UK, which use both – so technically it’s more than half that use the Statute system.
touché, thanks. I keep calculating then, no prob
Are going to do a new review of the ELEMNT?
Also do you know if they have something like the Garmin Power Course? I would really need it as I’m planning to use BestBikeSplit for pacing in my IM races this year.
Thx
Simone
Yup – it’ll be after/once they start shipping out units with a final firmware version. But I’ll be working on it until that point.
Thx, looking forward to it!
Wow, the Wahoo Elmnt is MASSIVE! Who on earth would buy that over a Gaarmin Edge?
Ray, I love your site and in depth reviews.
Are you having issues using the Bragi Dash for phone calls? I have a pre-order pair. It works great for audio playback and fitness tracking but is unusable for phone calls.
People can hardly hear me and say it’s like I’m in a tunnel very far away. Do you think this is something they can fix with a software update, is my pair defective, or do they just not work for me? I’ve tried all the fit sleeves.