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.
Hey Ray,
Can you tell when we can aspect your review of the Dual PM of 4iiii?
I’m really considering buying one for my Shimano 9000 crankset, but (ofcourse) i’m waiting for your review :)
I don’t know exactly, as most of my riding has actually been on the road bike this last week (the 4iiii unit is on my tri bike).
The video of the guy biking with a fridge is impressive. Too bad nobody made a video of the swimming leg, that would have been something.
The new update of the GoPro Hero 5 is a big scandal. It makes all 3rd party batteries stop working.
No warning of GoPro!
It’s actually interesting, as they stated (albeit via a AMA on Reddit) that they were going to block 3rd party batteries. At the time, there were none for it.
That said, I agree that’s it’s both stupid and poor form to block, and do so without even updating the release notes.
Perhaps one of these days they’ll fix the darn WiFi uploading to GoPro Plus to actually work. Out of my three Hero5 cameras, only one works and only does so about half the time. The rest of the time it keeps telling me to factory reset. Sigh…
Ray, maybe it’s worth mentioning, looks like Trainerroad rolled out BTLE control support for Tacx trainers this weekend. No more dongles :)
Funny, I actually took a screenshot of that on my phone, but failed to remember to consolidate it in to the post.
Wow, that’s great news! I can’t believe they didn’t send out a mail for this. THey should know more or less who’s using a tacx and a dongle right?
Companies sometimes don’t publicize an update at initial release to make sure there are no major bugs as that can look really bad
Ray, do you see GoPro in any trouble after the lackluster hero 5, karma disappointment and recall?
Yup, I think so. To the average consumer that walks into Best Buy, it won’t matter much. But it’s more than the average consumer.
It’s the fact that people can’t buy or pre-order units (all sorts of things) on GoPro’s own site. Or it’s the fact that none of the Karma stuff is going international anytime soon (even though today they started (finally) selling the gimbal stand-alone. Or that many things are backordered. Or that they pissed off more people with the app now requiring online activation/validation, and blocking 3rd party batteries.
Or that competitors are legitimately catching up. As I noted in my keynote, eventually DJI’s going to come out with their own action cam. They’ve done the drone, the stabilizers, the final frontier is the action cam. They’ve built a great brand on the drone side, and people will likely flock to DJI. They’ll be able to dominate GoPro when it comes to manufacturing, since GoPro seems to just stumble and stumble there. All while DJI is pushing the limits on resolutions.
None of which even speak to Karma the drone. It’ll be really interesting to see what they do there. I’m hedging towards them throwing in the towel on Gen1, and going out with a Gen2 next spring. But the other hand says that even with a sucky Gen1, they’re still building market share. Either way, investors aren’t happy – which further hurts them since they’re no longer private. That increases pressures, and likely had indirectly led to these sorts of slips.
typo: “sad”
5) GoPro cuts 200 employees: Always said to see any
Thanks.
Wow always knew Bluetooth was a pain, as a mechanic having to tell customers that there bt on phone is not compatible with car is a pain!
Ray – two questions:
1) Renewed interest in the Stryd Power Meter? Any plans for a review?
2) You previously tweeted you were planning to post the Mavic review this past Friday. Did that get pushed back or still planning to post soon?
1) Yes, much renewed now that I don’t have to wear a chest strap.
2) Mavic is on the plate for publishing tomorrow. Text/photos are done, just wrapping up the video portions. I always underestimate just how much time video editing takes.
I put together one video that’s more of a ‘pretty’ video of shots I took, which took a while to color grade (my first attempt at such). And then other videos I have are more how-to’s (one around sport tracking, and the other around performance in extreme winds). The challenge for both of these is that I got over-ambitious with how many cameras I used to shoot them. So getting all the footage in sync has been…slow.
Great – looking forward to the Mavic post. Mine’s been on order for a few weeks now and was hoping to get a chance to read it beforehand. Though, I’d honestly wish I already had it in hands.
Also, I’ve gone back and forth on the Stryd device. I a sucker for data but have been really hesitant on pulling the trigger. Really interested to hear (or read) your thoughts on the device.
Any plans for a review of the DJI 4Pro? I’d love to see a head-to-head vs. the Mavic. I’m torn between the two of them.
Maybe. Haven’t quite decided how much cash I want to splurge there. To be honest it’ll depend a little bit on reaction/etc over the next few weeks on the DJI Mavic review.
Note: First video is up here: link to youtube.com
Others are processing/exporting on my Mac…
Saw the first clip yesterday. Footage looks great… Impatiently standing by for the write up… I think my unit is delivering end of week and I’m eager to get my hands on it.
Hi Ray,
that video of Jamie Lee reminds me of this other one that I found as crazy: link to redbull.com
Enjoy your civic duty! And thanks for helping with mine!
On the Strava KOMs (vs EPO). Can’t we just report that dude, and have him kicked off Strava???
And what about folks cheating on Zwift?? With wrong weight I suppose. Just tonight, I got overtaken by a guy doing 6w/kg, steady for several minutes. Can’t be right, but still gives KOM on Wattopia…..
It is very easy to write software that will take power from one ANT+ sensor/ANT FE-C trainer, multiply it by some factor and then relay it either as another ANT+ sensor or ANT FE-C trainer. This way one can become a king on Zwift/Strava/Whatever other platform. Well that is until everybody else will have started to do the same.
So no need for real dope on computer based platform. Digital one will do just fine.
Hello,
Where is the Apple Watch nike review?
I will run Corrida d’Issy.Maybe i can meet you.
Working on it, combining it with the Apple Watch Nike+ Edition.
Hope to see you at either the DCR Open House, or Corrida d’Issy! Or both!
GPLama posted a Basics of ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart video recently with a pretty good demo showing how pairing a Bluetooth smart trainer with an iPad makes it unavailable to an iPhone, etc.
Thanks for reading my question regarding the 920xt and lap swimming. This is the response from Garmin…
We are currently aware of an issue when uploading activities where the elapsed, moving, and overall time is the same. We are currently working on resolving this issue, however we do not have an estimated time frame when this issue will be resolved. I apologize about any inconveniences this may cause, and we appreciate your patience.
Thanks anyway ?
Said differently: Garmin Connect, sigh. ;)
Cheers!
SportTracks handles swim rest time, and has a bundle of swim analytics options beyond Garmin Connect. /shamelessPlug
Hey Ray – Thanks as always for the useful information. Is there a chance that Suunto will roll out an Ambit Vertical update soon that is similar to this one for the Peak? At least it looks to me like this one is only for the Peak…
Nevermind. They just released it for the Ambit 3 Vertical.
Do you think Polar will add ant+ to the next generation of devices? Having seen the proposed h7i on the FCC ID site. It certainly has a logo space that could be ant+ shaded out. Fingers and toes well and truly crossed on this one
Hi Ray, Does that seem right that you are pushing 300 watts of the Stryd while talking and filming a video? If so, I’m extremely impressed (as I am anyways by most of your exploits). But there is a point where you even say you are not breathing so hard and the watch is showing 300+ watts. I’ve got to to wonder if the Stryd is over reporting watts, at least compared to cycling.
It’s hard to say. I think it’s overreporting slightly at Z2, but about right at higher wattages. At least compared to the HR strap model.
Though ultimately, there’s no true direct correlation to bike power. The Stryd folks sent over a more detailed study that I’ll dive into over time.
Fitbit buys pebble but not the hardware. So I guess they’ve asset stripped the best people and the ip, the rest will fade away to oblivion
Yes, it appears the Pebble Core is canceled. The first thing from them I found truly interesting. Certainly leaves the door open for someone else to provide a similar gadget, though.
I recently re-read your Ambit3 review and… more than two years ago DC Rainmaker said Ambit 3 needed an step counter… When in the path to obsolense, they add it (and the replacement uses touch screen Really? For a unit intended to be use largely sub zero?)
Have you used the step counter? I’m getting some wildly large numbers of steps compared to what is expected
Me too, step counter on my phone approx 4k, Ambit 3 says around 6k. it seems to be consistently 150% of what I would expect.
BLE sucks because the BLE model of “advertising” isn’t appropriate for sensors. The ANT+ broadcast model makes more sense for sensors.
Hey Ray,
Love the sight and the podcast! Is there a review of Quarq’s DZero power meters forthcoming? Would love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks!
Dan
My understanding is that a unit is likely arriving next week here.