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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.
apparently apple and velocomp worked quite closely together in the past. tut tut apple. I’ve been doing some digging on this.
I think the shft has new innards
adidas or Adidas-not sure they even know.
adidas: “She says the goal will be to make fitness EXPERIENCES that are tailored for each individual,” personalisation is a great idea. I think they are talking more than just about a tailored plan. but you’re probably right about the end-game scenario.
Yeah, there was definitely some early-on collaboration between the two.
But I got the feeling that has since fallen apart like a couple breaking up. Either way, definitely interesting. In many ways, what Apple is doing reminds me slightly of Arofly in terms of potential target market.
It’s too bad on Adidas. They’ve got some smart folks, but as Under Armour has said – if the end goal is to sell clothes, then it’s not the same end goal as a tech-focused company.
The Apple thing is still an application at this point. Would be interesting to see how they deal with the prior art that’s out there.
News on Arofly? You had indicated that you received a unit, and expressed much doubt about it given the shady marketing. Did you try it out?
It’s broke.
Or, they say it is. It doesn’t produce cadence or power, but does produce speed. So they’re sending me another one. They had sent a note prior to me receiving it that it could happen.
Either way, I just don’t see this as anywhere near viable. For example:
A) You *MUST* keep the app open the entire ride. You cannot lock the screen, it’ll stop recording.
B) You can’t export the data in any way, it’s just a number on a screen.
C) And of course, it’s not a BLE standard/ANT+ standard power meter, it only works with their app.
I don’t get it.
Nonetheless, I’ve got another unit coming to me. It arrived in my US forwarding box last Friday, and I’ll be sending stuff over again this week to arrive by this Friday in Paris.
Speaking of patents (and patent trolls), Adidas has been going after everyone (UA, Asics, etc.) the past couple of years for infringements on 10 patents that pre date all the gps running cycling apps. UA settled and is now paying royalties, Asics probably has to settle too.
Article: link to worldipreview.com
You can look up each patent on Google’s patent finder. These are generally pretty obvious “inventions”. Just another datapoint proving the patent system is broken when it comes to software.
Haha can’t wait for an in-depth review of the Arofly. TBH, I am surprised that product shows even speed.
On the Lily question. Unsecured creditors are right at the back of the line when a company is in bankruptcy so unless the assets can be sold for at least as much as the total debt, secured and unsecured, the unsecured creditors will only get cents on the dollar, if anything.
Just signed up for the DCR VIP program at Clever Training and am just waiting for your full review of the Fenix 5 before pulling the trigger! I almost want to just buy it straight away since I know I’m already behind a long line that’s already growing bigger…
Also as a relatively new time follower thank you so much for your super detailed reviews – the size comparisons and weights have been super helpful in helping decide on my first fitness watch. I actually used several caps (from milk caps to cumin) filled with quarters and screwdrivers strapped to an old safety-goggle velcro band. I slept with it and took it to the gym a couple times as well. As a first time buyer and somebody who NEVER used to wear watches, that gave me a LOT of ease of mind. It’s pretty scary to be spending that much money without even knowing if you’ll hate it during actual exercise.
Lastly thanks a ton for your race reports – I just started reading through them this past week. For a year now I had been telling myself my goal was to be an Ironman someday, but it was slowly turning more and more into “someday.” You inspired me to sign up for my first half-iron this fall, and I plan to sign up for a full Ironman next year.
Thank you so much for your hard work and helpful reviews, tips, and race reports. You rock! :)
For some reason my wonderful milk cap didn’t load. Also just realized that the questions I’d left on previous articles didn’t have the “notify me of followup comments” checked… still figuring this thing out. Anyways thanks again!
Awesome – appreciate the note, as well as the support through Clever Training.
And fear not, more down to earth size comparisons are on the way shortly! I spent an excessive amount of time in the cookie and candy aisle last night. And bought an excessive amount of things I shouldn’t eat.
Anybody know it the chronos fw will work on a Fenix3 HR? Or be made to work.
And maybe even on the straight Fenix 3.
They are more or less the same hardware, AFAIK…
The chronos has a much more powerful cpu, not the same hardware at all
I have to assume Fenix 3 firmware support is finished from now on? Not that I miss things at this moment.
Excellent question.
Good question indeed. I think the buck of ‘introducing new stuff’ stops here for the Fenix 3. But we will likely see minor tweaks for a little while longer. It’s obviously a best-selling watch and I’m sure folks won’t be amused if all support would end now.
I think Patrick is about spot on.
If only they’d release a fix so that it would stay connected to my pixel phone. I have to restart the watch and phone every day if I want it to stay connected.
Am increasingly noticing that Garmin are highlighting the 735xt over the FR630 in adverts/promotions. Is this the end of the line for the top-end Forerunner?
end-of-line?
I strongly suspect not.
It is due for an upgrade, maybe.
It’s nearly Spring. Perhaps there will be an upgrade/replacement soon :-)
Who knows?
Cycleops is promoting a “trade in your trainer” event where you get 20% off a magnus or hammer trainer if you bring in your old trainer to one of their dealers. More info here: link to cycleops.com
Probably not ideal for someone who bought a trainer in the last year or two, but definitely worth it for someone like me whose trainer is worth less than $200. The deal ends March 27th.
So could even buy a trainer for less then $100 right now from performance and then trade it in and still save money
I though the sub 2 hour test run was interesting. I got caught up on the Nike plan to beak the two hour mark. Not sure I’m on board with the pacer strategy though.
link to runnersworld.com
Speaking of cratered kickstarters whatever happened to Limits powermeter?
They actually sent out an update today. They’re still ever-so-slowly shipping. But the general consensus (backed by lots of people sending me test results, plus my own results) is the units they’re shipping are better used as paperweights.