Heads-up: Huge Sports Tech Sale Underway – 20% Off All Smart Trainers!
There’s a massive sales on smart cycling trainers right now, plus plenty other sports tech. There’s 20% off the Wahoo KICKR, KICKR CORE, CLIMB, Headwind, 20% off the Tacx NEO 2T, Flux 2, and Flux S, 20% off Saris Hammer 3 trainer and Saris MP1 Motion Platform. Plus also 20% off the Elite Direto X and Suito too, even the new Sterzo. Plus even steeper deals including with the Kinetic trainers at 30% off.
The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter and Facebook, this is a better forum for sending it on to y’all. Most times these different streams don’t overlap, so be on the lookout at all these places for good stuff!
So with that, let’s get into the action!
DCRainmaker.com posts in the past week:
Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page of DCRainmaker.com this past week:
Here’s a handful of the topics discussed in this past week’s podcast:
– It’s a 43-minute long episode! – Posting schedules and posting regularity – Upcoming products I’m unboxing and how I do photos/videos of them – Fashion models mid-podcast – The whole (business) world of unboxing videos online – The Apple Watch Review – Getting back someone’s stolen HR strap – Power meters for single chainrings – The DCR Analyzer is out! – We end with about 10 minutes of hilarity from a conversation of ours recorded pre-podcast
Listen to the full podcast here on the Podcast player, or just download the audio file from the same spot.
February Sports Tech Sale Continue:
In case ya missed it a week or so ago (details here), here’s the list of active sports tech deals going on over the next week or so. One new one found this week is the Polar M450 GPS cycling unit for $129. That’s a sweet deal! Apparently, it had flirted sub-$110 a bit over the last few days too. Just some random Amazon.com thing.
⚡ There's some great deals in here. The base GoPro Hero 8 Black is down to $349, but many retailers for $10-$20 more are adding in a crapton of accessories you'll buy anyway like extra batteries, the shorty stick, etc... I've linked to a collection of them, my personal fav is linked in the second link, and has two extra GoPro battires, a 64GB microSD card, and then a USB card reader.
Now, if you don't mind a bit of noise, and a bit of inaccuracy in the power data - then this is a steal for this trainer . Definitely the lowest price we've seen it to date. But, read the review first.
REI & Clever Training 20% sale till supplies last (likely not long). REI use code MEMPERKS2020, Clever Training use code MARCH20. NOTE: Clever Training has NEO 2T in stock, whereas REI is backordered.
Note, you still have to pay full price, but then on April 30th you can submit in you rebate form. Honestly, the least favorite type of sale out there. But hey, if you were going to buy one anyway - then woot! Just remember to put in a calendar reminder to submit the form!
2) Outdoor Retailer set to leave Salt Lake City: While OR has historically flirted with such temptations in order to get better deals, this seems like a much more permanent thing – in large part because it’s more the key exhibitors rather than the organizer itself.
3) Bike computer meets action cam meets lights: Basically, everything but the kitchen sink. DCR reader Gunnar asks ‘What do you think?’: So…while their main site is a dearth of information, I did find one YouTube video they shot which actually shows some promise in terms of being more functional than their site lets on. So that’s good. It’s an interesting concept for city bikes, though would be too beastly for most race/road bikes. However, their use of Indiegogo instead of Kickstarter is a huge red flag.
4) The SHEcret Pro: On Australia’s Summer of Cycling. For those not familiar, this is the women’s version of the famed ‘The Secret Pro’ series. Always interesting.
6) Garmin Connect ‘Import’ Option Missing? At first, you might think so. But in reality it was just moved to the big “+” icon in the upper right corner. Hard to know if it was UI cleanup, or designed to break 3rd party apps leveraging it for various uploads. Either way…at least it’s still there thankfully. Almost had to pull out my ‘Watch what happens when DCR gets really pissed off!’ card late last week over it. It’s a feature I often use, because I don’t necessarily link all of my Garmin devices to Garmin Connect automatically (mostly because I hit the max allowable), so this allows me to manually upload files to share on occasion.
7) I’ve got no more items. My ‘Notepad’ list of items for the week was wiped out last night when my computer decided to restart. And no, I didn’t press save. Sorry!
Sports Technology Software/Firmware Updates This Week:
Each week I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website service updates that I see go out. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one liners are perfect, or Tweet it at me is even better) and I’ll make mention of it here. If I don’t know about it, I won’t be able to post about it. Sound good? Oh – and if you want to get a head start on things, this page is a great resource for watching Garmin firmware updates.
CycleOps/PowerTap Virtual Training App: While I don’t normally include apps here, this is specifically notable because of the changes to displaying PowerTap P1 advanced metrics.
I noticed on the bike computer video they never showed the screen other than a lock bike screen. So I would say its safe to assume at this point all they have is a box with two lights and a horn.
I was going crazy trying to figure out how to manually upload a file… I was checking the GC Status page, forums, etc… Took a while but eventually found it in the giant “+” button.
WRT Garmin, the most frustrating thing is trying to load a course onto a device. The only way I’ve found is to import this as an activity, then save as a course (and then delete the activity, hopefully before it syncs to Strava).
They could’ve added intention actions on Android/iOS to open them in Garmin Connect and then sync to a device, instead – a huge mess.
It’s funny that when the Fenix series first came out (what, like 4+ years ago?), I noted at the time that the whole route/course creation process was far too dependent on a desktop computer, you couldn’t just create a Garmin Connect route on the mobile app and push it to the watch.
Ironically, then they had/released a standalone app to do roughly just that, except…not in Garmin Connect. That app eventually died as opposed to integrating it in.
And now here we are in 2017 with the new Fenix5 and mind-bogglingly still no way to quickly create a route via mobile phone in Garmin Connect and then transfer it easily to the watch.
When making a course I usually create it on an iPad using the Garmin connect webpage (saving often), then go to the garmin connect app on my phone just to send it to my phone. It’s not hard but a little weird. Also that there is no garmin app for the iPad.
I had an update come through on Saturday for my Wahoo Elemnt. From what I can see the fonts have changed on the screen with the addition of a symbol above the speed indicating whether the current speed is above or below the average for the ride (not that useful really). Not sure if much else has changed.
The triangle symbol used to act as a decimal point in the speed field, as part of the data itself. Take a look at some of the marketing screenshots, and you’ll see it in the data field itself. Now it’s moved to the label. IMO, it’s less useful there, I look at data when I’m riding, not labels.
Also, the full width 4th data field is now gone, with the addition of the 11th data field. Some liked the full width 4th data field, some didn’t. I guess the “didn’t” were more vocal to Wahoo. I think that it was something that made the ELEMNT distinctive, at least visually. Now, it looks more like the others.
If you want to be different, you have to be different.
Is Garmin’s import of Fitbit data working for anyone? It accepts my files (after some editing, ie removing the “body” or “activity” line from the CSV), but the data does not show in the Connect dashboard.
With Tapiriik I’m not able to synch activities anymore from strava to Garmin Connect… in tapiriik dashboard it says is synched but it’s not in my GC activity page. is it so also for someone else? 🙁
Yeah, it’s likely due to the Garmin re-positioning of that button that’s killing those apps. They’re likely using that behind the scenes up fake an upload of data to your account. Garmin *really* hates it, but I have zero sympathy for them there. They’ve had years to implement an API for uploading files from other platforms, and keep stalling at every turn for reasons that defy any logic. It’s all about the platform.
What’s funny about it is that someone thinks it’s bad to allow other devices to upload to their platform. In reality, it’s the best marketing thing ever. Just think about it: What company wouldn’t love to have a ready-made database of all of their competitors customers? In this scenario, when a Wahoo customer (for example) uploads an ELEMNT file to Garmin Connect, it’s telling Garmin that the customer is on the ELEMNT. So why not display subtlety targeted ads about how your product is better than the competition (if it is)? It may also tell Garmin that the customer is on the ELEMTN for cycling, but uses three other Garmin products for running, action cams, and hiking. Maybe there’s a reason for that? Maybe they’d trend the data and see that the customer is spending more or less time with the Garmin product vs their competitor, and maybe they’d proactively try to understand if it’s a meaningful trend.
The ‘cost’ of hosting those files is laughable, because the numbers are just so small. It’s likely a few bucks in storage costs at most at the end of the month (in total). But heck, let’s for fun pretend it was something totally fake and unreal like $30K a month for all customers (it’s not, really, it’s not). That’s nothing for a company of Garmin’s size to spend on marketing or an ad buy. By enabling data uploads for competitors, they not only get to ensure the right audience sees the ‘ads’ (or promos or whatever you want to call them), but heck, they know all sorts of useful information about that customer.
Sigh…it’s an argument I have every time I chat with them in person.
There’s zero checks and balances – and overwhelmingly the sketchier projects end up these days on Indiegogo. Not to say everything is perfect on KS (at all), but it’s getting better.
Is there somewhere that Garmin announces these kinds of changes, or do they just leave us to figure it out? It is interesting how much new information I get about exercise tech from DCR rather than the companies that produce the product.
No announcement method I’m aware of. They have a Garmin blog, but it’s rarely used for stuff like this. More just random PR announcements and occasional Garmin Connect IQ stuff.
I found out the hard way when it disappeared. Then I got increda-angry. Then I did some digging on the Garmin Forums and found said solution. Then I was happy again.
I wasn’t angry, just confused. I found it by accident before reading your blog, but find it interesting how much better you are at distribution of news of their changes than they are.
Overall, it’s a nice little unit. Though basically it’s just a Spark 1 with a few minor tweaks, so if you generally like the look of that review, then this will likely check the boxes. Since that initial review though there has been changes/adds like the daily RHR readings.
There was a firmware update for the KICKR released on 3rd Feb 2017 which I can’t see listed anywhere in your week in review posts.
I applied it to my Gen 1 KICKR and found that it no longer broadcast power/cadence information on ANT+ or BLE. I had to roll the firmware back to 1.4.26 to get it working again. Not sure if you know anything about what happened there? Should this only be applied to Gen 2?
It should definitely be Gen1. I haven’t heard anyone else note that issue. Maybe try applying it again – and then fully restart the unit if you didn’t (power off)?
Good catch on missing that one. I had some of the Wahoo firmware alerts end up in the wrong e-mail folder, so missed them unfortunately.
Interesting. I certainly did restart it (pulled power out). And then tried to find it again using the Wahoo utility app on my phone and then ANT+ on my laptop with TrainerRoad.
I guess I’ll try it again at some point and see if I have better luck!
As for deals, I’m seeing the Powertap GS hub at $299 on their site. Is that a fire sale or what? Being discontinued, or nobody wants straight pull spokes?
A) You’ve got the cost to thread it onto a wheel, which will cost you at least $100-$150 at most LBS B) It doesn’t support the new G3 BLE or dual ANT+/BLE caps, so also a bit limiting there.
Still, ignoring those issues – if you can get it threaded cheaply, it’s a fantastic deal if you’re on ANT+ (i.e. Garmin).
yeah, I seen now that it’s been a few months. The specs say it is dual ANT+ & BT smart and I figured it would be good-to-go for connecting w/ my Polar V800, so I assumed it would work. Am I wrong/ in for a nasty surprise? no better way to pass the time when the snow flies than to lace up some wheels!
New trainer on kickstart? link to kickstarter.com (or maybe I missed your post) But something seems wrong with the design as the flywheel is tiny and other things seem off
You should give Onenote a try for your notepad docs. It syncs to OneDrive and can be used across all your devices (Windows/Android/Apple), so that no matter where you are you can add something to it.
Oh – I love Onenote (after all I worked for Microsoft for more than a dozen years). For me, I like Notepad as it’s the great equalizer of things like fonts/text size/etc… It’s also instant.
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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FAQ’s
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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.
Here’s my most recent gadget recommendations guide (Winter 2019-2020 edition) and trainers here (Winter 2019-2020 edition) – covering 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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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! It’s a nice break from the day to day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
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 2019 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 2018 Gear Guide too.
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![WeekInReview_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb[1]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2017/02/WeekInReview_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb11.jpg "WeekInReview_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb[1]")
Still using windows I see 😉
Yup. Though, I blend. I use a Mac for video editing, but a Windows box for everything else. And an iPhone.
Ray, use Notepad++, you won’t have problems like this.
> when my computer decided to restart.
Sounds like the lovely new Windows update policies. ?
I noticed on the bike computer video they never showed the screen other than a lock bike screen. So I would say its safe to assume at this point all they have is a box with two lights and a horn.
I was going crazy trying to figure out how to manually upload a file… I was checking the GC Status page, forums, etc… Took a while but eventually found it in the giant “+” button.
Also, where’s the gimbal review?
Google Sheets/Docs/Slides/Keep!
Never click save again!
WRT Garmin, the most frustrating thing is trying to load a course onto a device. The only way I’ve found is to import this as an activity, then save as a course (and then delete the activity, hopefully before it syncs to Strava).
They could’ve added intention actions on Android/iOS to open them in Garmin Connect and then sync to a device, instead – a huge mess.
Yup, 110% agree.
It’s funny that when the Fenix series first came out (what, like 4+ years ago?), I noted at the time that the whole route/course creation process was far too dependent on a desktop computer, you couldn’t just create a Garmin Connect route on the mobile app and push it to the watch.
Ironically, then they had/released a standalone app to do roughly just that, except…not in Garmin Connect. That app eventually died as opposed to integrating it in.
And now here we are in 2017 with the new Fenix5 and mind-bogglingly still no way to quickly create a route via mobile phone in Garmin Connect and then transfer it easily to the watch.
You could use dwatch, – though it’s 3rd party
When making a course I usually create it on an iPad using the Garmin connect webpage (saving often), then go to the garmin connect app on my phone just to send it to my phone.
It’s not hard but a little weird. Also that there is no garmin app for the iPad.
I had an update come through on Saturday for my Wahoo Elemnt. From what I can see the fonts have changed on the screen with the addition of a symbol above the speed indicating whether the current speed is above or below the average for the ride (not that useful really). Not sure if much else has changed.
Ahh, good catch. Looks like the update notification went into my ‘Clutter’ folder. Grrr…
Details here: link to support.wahoofitness.com
The triangle symbol used to act as a decimal point in the speed field, as part of the data itself. Take a look at some of the marketing screenshots, and you’ll see it in the data field itself. Now it’s moved to the label. IMO, it’s less useful there, I look at data when I’m riding, not labels.
Also, the full width 4th data field is now gone, with the addition of the 11th data field. Some liked the full width 4th data field, some didn’t. I guess the “didn’t” were more vocal to Wahoo. I think that it was something that made the ELEMNT distinctive, at least visually. Now, it looks more like the others.
If you want to be different, you have to be different.
I honestly just wish I could have a static layout, period.
Is Garmin’s import of Fitbit data working for anyone? It accepts my files (after some editing, ie removing the “body” or “activity” line from the CSV), but the data does not show in the Connect dashboard.
Hi Ray, there’s also a Bepro firmware update:
link to bepro-favero.com
Nice catch – I’ll roll a note into next week’s update!
Adidas killing miCoach to focus on Runtastic?
With Tapiriik I’m not able to synch activities anymore from strava to Garmin Connect… in tapiriik dashboard it says is synched but it’s not in my GC activity page.
is it so also for someone else? 🙁
thanks
Same here. Stuck on TrainerRoad workout, and now the server is offline. Just reupped my yearly subscription. Bummer
Yeah, it’s likely due to the Garmin re-positioning of that button that’s killing those apps. They’re likely using that behind the scenes up fake an upload of data to your account. Garmin *really* hates it, but I have zero sympathy for them there. They’ve had years to implement an API for uploading files from other platforms, and keep stalling at every turn for reasons that defy any logic. It’s all about the platform.
What’s funny about it is that someone thinks it’s bad to allow other devices to upload to their platform. In reality, it’s the best marketing thing ever. Just think about it: What company wouldn’t love to have a ready-made database of all of their competitors customers? In this scenario, when a Wahoo customer (for example) uploads an ELEMNT file to Garmin Connect, it’s telling Garmin that the customer is on the ELEMNT. So why not display subtlety targeted ads about how your product is better than the competition (if it is)? It may also tell Garmin that the customer is on the ELEMTN for cycling, but uses three other Garmin products for running, action cams, and hiking. Maybe there’s a reason for that? Maybe they’d trend the data and see that the customer is spending more or less time with the Garmin product vs their competitor, and maybe they’d proactively try to understand if it’s a meaningful trend.
The ‘cost’ of hosting those files is laughable, because the numbers are just so small. It’s likely a few bucks in storage costs at most at the end of the month (in total). But heck, let’s for fun pretend it was something totally fake and unreal like $30K a month for all customers (it’s not, really, it’s not). That’s nothing for a company of Garmin’s size to spend on marketing or an ad buy. By enabling data uploads for competitors, they not only get to ensure the right audience sees the ‘ads’ (or promos or whatever you want to call them), but heck, they know all sorts of useful information about that customer.
Sigh…it’s an argument I have every time I chat with them in person.
Seems like there isn’t much effort in general to use the data or everyone uploading to figure things out besides some of the stuff strava does.
Thinking the algorithms that golden cheetah, training peaks, etc use the figure out fatigue from wattage
I am curious why you think that the use of indiegogo is a red flag?
Kickstarter requires the company to have an actual functioning product of some form, whereas indiegogo happily accepts vapourwear.
I see…and you WOULD get money even if its total bogus and fails to meet its goal.
Exactly as Ian noted.
There’s zero checks and balances – and overwhelmingly the sketchier projects end up these days on Indiegogo. Not to say everything is perfect on KS (at all), but it’s getting better.
Just in case people would think only scammers would use indigogo it does have the advantage that they take less of a cut.
I also noticed that the Garmin Import had moved.
Is there somewhere that Garmin announces these kinds of changes, or do they just leave us to figure it out? It is interesting how much new information I get about exercise tech from DCR rather than the companies that produce the product.
No announcement method I’m aware of. They have a Garmin blog, but it’s rarely used for stuff like this. More just random PR announcements and occasional Garmin Connect IQ stuff.
I found out the hard way when it disappeared. Then I got increda-angry. Then I did some digging on the Garmin Forums and found said solution. Then I was happy again.
I wasn’t angry, just confused. I found it by accident before reading your blog, but find it interesting how much better you are at distribution of news of their changes than they are.
Big thanks for the hint…. I nearly got crazy finding the Upload-Button !!!
Hi ray. When is the definitive review of the tom tom runner 3 coming out. Waiting on your review befor I take the plunge and buy one
Working on it!
Overall, it’s a nice little unit. Though basically it’s just a Spark 1 with a few minor tweaks, so if you generally like the look of that review, then this will likely check the boxes. Since that initial review though there has been changes/adds like the daily RHR readings.
There was a firmware update for the KICKR released on 3rd Feb 2017 which I can’t see listed anywhere in your week in review posts.
I applied it to my Gen 1 KICKR and found that it no longer broadcast power/cadence information on ANT+ or BLE. I had to roll the firmware back to 1.4.26 to get it working again. Not sure if you know anything about what happened there? Should this only be applied to Gen 2?
This one? link to support.wahoofitness.com
It should definitely be Gen1. I haven’t heard anyone else note that issue. Maybe try applying it again – and then fully restart the unit if you didn’t (power off)?
Good catch on missing that one. I had some of the Wahoo firmware alerts end up in the wrong e-mail folder, so missed them unfortunately.
Yes. That’s the one.
Interesting. I certainly did restart it (pulled power out). And then tried to find it again using the Wahoo utility app on my phone and then ANT+ on my laptop with TrainerRoad.
I guess I’ll try it again at some point and see if I have better luck!
As for deals, I’m seeing the Powertap GS hub at $299 on their site. Is that a fire sale or what? Being discontinued, or nobody wants straight pull spokes?
It’s been that way quite some time.
Basically there’s a few reasons:
A) You’ve got the cost to thread it onto a wheel, which will cost you at least $100-$150 at most LBS
B) It doesn’t support the new G3 BLE or dual ANT+/BLE caps, so also a bit limiting there.
Still, ignoring those issues – if you can get it threaded cheaply, it’s a fantastic deal if you’re on ANT+ (i.e. Garmin).
yeah, I seen now that it’s been a few months. The specs say it is dual ANT+ & BT smart and I figured it would be good-to-go for connecting w/ my Polar V800, so I assumed it would work. Am I wrong/ in for a nasty surprise?
no better way to pass the time when the snow flies than to lace up some wheels!
Huh. Weird, I wasn’t aware of them making a dual capable GS. I’d want to double-check that with them.
New trainer on kickstart? link to kickstarter.com
(or maybe I missed your post)
But something seems wrong with the design as the flywheel is tiny and other things seem off
Yeah. Looks to be a classic case of mismatching target market demographic with their product.
You should give Onenote a try for your notepad docs. It syncs to OneDrive and can be used across all your devices (Windows/Android/Apple), so that no matter where you are you can add something to it.
Oh – I love Onenote (after all I worked for Microsoft for more than a dozen years). For me, I like Notepad as it’s the great equalizer of things like fonts/text size/etc… It’s also instant.