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!
5
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.
Billy Yang, who did the Mont Blanc documentary is pretty cool! Saw some of his other documentaries (Sally McRae’s Western States 100 or 15 minutes with Anton Krupicka) and they are all very well done and pretty awesome subject matters.
Ah tipping. One of the reasons things look cheap in America. We’ve written a price on it, but that’s not how much it costs, you need to add tax and tips to that. It’s like a game of shopping roulette.
As a Brit, this blows my mind, and makes Americans hate me. You write a number down; I’ll pay you that number. Simples. I’ll even do it in your currency despite it looking like monopoly money if you insist. You want better wages? Speak to your boss.
Yes, the British are mean. We don’t even nod when we run, let alone smile or wave. We are proud to be miserable Bastards :)
As a German, I feel you. And I’ve done the same because it’s ridiculous. I give tips for outstanding service, not “because that’s how it’s done”. That’s not what a tip is supposed to be for.
That said, in doing so nothing will change, you (and me) are not making a political statement, we’re jsut hurting the individual that has worked for us. It sucks, really.
” I give tips for outstanding service, not “because that’s how it’s done”. That’s not what a tip is supposed to be for. ”
Totally agree with this statement. If we should tip everything then why don’t we give something to the pilot of the plane, bus driver, postman, policeman etc? This tipping habit is so annoying. Right, I feel your service was beyond expectation or BAU, ok, I can leave something but from this to being mandatory to leave 10-20-30% of the value? WTH?
I’m an American living in America and also find this tipping business in the US (New York, anyway) loony and out of control. I’ve never tipped on a bike repair. When necessary I take my bike in and pay the associated fee. End of story. Luckily for me there is often no charge for simple items (maybe because I’ve purchased many bikes and accessories from the shop).
My wife insists on tipping for many things and I find it infuriating. At Christmas time tipping the mail lady, the garbage men, the kids’ school bus driver – plus end of school year “gift”. And why do so many retail places have a tip jar? Not everything deserves a tip – it’s called doing your job.
Ray,
Any news about when Garmin will add Ant+ FE-C to the Edge 1000?
It’s still planned, but it’s unclear what the timelines are. I suspect the release this past week for the Edge 1000 was basically branched at the last moment to go ahead and get the Varia Vision support out the door so that when those units starts shipping next week, they’d actually have something to work with.
Meaning, my bet is that they temporarily pulled the FE-C stuff that was in there, just to get this done. My guess is that it’s not far behind.
What about Tempo power meter in kickstarter?
An initial thoughts?
link to blog.zitasport.com
Was mentioned last week in Ray’s ‘Week in Review’
The exact initial thoughts: quote “Hmm.”
I think extended version of the thoughts could be: “Hmm, here we go again”
agghhh!!!
ok, ok… i´m sorry
Pretty accurate.
Thanks for the firmware update notes!
Re: the 6.00 update for the Edge 1000. I was dismayed to see this was a major release, but doesn’t have ConnectIQ support.
Any idea when this will become real?
i feel the same… they promised to support CIQ in 1000 and 520 but it seems they will expect us to buy their future 1010 or 530 if we want CIQ… not cool at all Garmin
Just as a casual reminder- I believe it was promised for Q1, right?
Garmin’s official position on ConnectIQ for the Edge 520 and Edge 1000 remains “Coming Soon”:
link to developer.garmin.com
The results on the effects of measuring progress on the casual athlete are not at all surprising. For a lot of people just taking up a sport (be it running, cycling, triathlon or whatever) monitoring progress can really help them through their first even, first year, or even first few years. But I’ve noticed over the last 6-8 years that a lot of the new runners who get into technology the most also drop out.
Achieving personal goals is important, but non-professionals older than college age run for health/fitness and for enjoyment. Taking a break from tracking on your slower paced runs and during your off-season can help make fitness a lifetime habit by keeping it enjoyable. Much like taking a break from your cell phone or computer I think this is an important part of using fitness tch.
From 3 minutes in Candide Thovex’s video is nothing special. It’s just like skiing in Scotland ;)
Ray,
do you expect Garmin to update the FR620 as well?
No, I would not. I think the ship has sailed on that at this time.
Any chance you’re pushing forward your fitbit blaze review since they seem to be shipping early? A few deals have been popping up but I want to see your hr graphs before buying.
Yup, I’ll publish a Blaze review likely either Tues night or Weds morning. HR graphs aren’t looking terribly awesome.
Looking forward to the review and I suppose I’m glad I didn’t pull the trigger yet. That’s a shame about the HR though. I just don’t love the look of the Garmin Vivoactive HR quite as much and the Fenix3 HR is way outside of my price range. I think I saw you had mentioned somewhere that the Vivoactive HR should be the same HR performance as the Fenix3 so I’ll probably go for that as it should be good for me as a daily tracker/smartwatch for nonformal settings. Looking forward to that review as well whenever they start shipping that.
Actually, is there anything else you would recommend looking at? I basically want reasonably accurate heart rate monitoring during workouts in a wearable with standard fitness tracking and basic smart notification features. I don’t need GPS and would rather save money. As far as I can tell the options are the Fitbit Blaze, Fitbit Surge, and Garmin Vivoactive HR but I’m not sure if I missed anything.
Seems like watteam is shipping. US at least.
Yup! A unit was sent to be on Wednesday. Looking forward to it upon my return.
And the 920xt as well… I agree it would be great for triathlon.
Is anyone else having issues getting the 6.30 update on their FR920xt? I’ve tried multiple times but can’t get it to update – the device and Garmin Connect say I’ve still got 6.10, but Garmin Express says it’s 6.30. It’s driving me nuts because I can’t look at my stats on my phone, I have to wait to use a computer.
Any resources on the subject would be appreciated as well – I haven’t been able to find any yet.
As a former bike mechanic I find that tipping article silly. I’ll note that in the 6 years I spent working in shops I never received a tip from a paying customer. On occasion a customer needing a last minute repair would bring in a 6-pack for the inconvenience, though the service manager would take those jobs. Not to mention in those days I couldn’t legally drink the beer even if I wanted to. I never expected anyone to give me a tip.
I did manage to get tips from non-paying customers. I loved getting sent to go work charity bike rides. The shop payed me my hourly rate to sit outside and fix riders bikes. Enjoying the outdoors in a fun environment was awesome enough. Amazingly as this was a free service for the ride I received lots of tips, which made those days even more fantastic.
I should mention that when I worked in shops the pay was horrible. I did it because I loved bikes, and I preferred to work on bikes instead of taking an equally horrible paying job doing something I hated. The shop discount also stretched my money a lot further. I never felt like the customers should be paying me more on top of what the shop charged. In fact I couldn’t believe how much people were willing to pay for the simplest tasks. Knowing my hourly rate and what the shop charged for my service I did often think I deserved a larger portion of that money, but that is a different topic.
I’m a Brit living in the USA and despite also not liking the whole lets tip everyone thing, on two occasions
I’ve given gift cards for service that I’ve received that was way beyond what I would’ve expected from my Local Bike Shop.
Can the Garmin FR 630 be used for swim training at all? In the pool or open water?
Thanks
It won’t track swimming distance/pace/etc in either condition.
Hi Folks !
Is there any luck that Garmin adds support for the Varia Vision HUD on the Fenix 3. Would be great for triathlon !
Thanks
I think we’ll eventually see it. Only because the Vivoactive HR got support for it – so it’d be a bit odd for a watch 1/3rd the price to get it.
And Epix as usual forgotten…
Im still living with hope, that when Beta program for F3 will end, all features will be added to Epix…
Have you heard about them before: link to rpm2.com
Looks like an interesting concept… but not so sure really…
Yup, just waiting for their next shipment to come in. As of earlier this week, it’s still about three weeks out.
Sounds good, I will keep an eye out. I am always interested in power meters, which are less than 50% of my bikes value. :)
Off topic. But is there any way to stop or at least the slideshow at the top of your blog page w/o diving into one of the stories? I find I never have enough time to read the sample text before i’m whisked away to the next slide.
thanks,
Dan
Unfortunately not. However, the quicker way is to just go to dcrainmaker.com/blog – which gives you all of the posts. Or, you can click the big ‘Blog’ button up top from just dcrainmaker.com. Still gives you the little snippets of text too.
Ahhh. That did it. Thanks Ray.
Hi Ray, Any thoughts on the launch of RPM^2 footbed based power meter for run/ cycle? Interesting concept if it works well.
Link
link to rpm2.com
Ignore all above. Just spotted someone else’s comments.