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:
Sunday: Week in Review–July 30th, 2017
Monday: 5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Tuesday: Wahoo ELEMNT MINI In-Depth Review
Wednesday: In Just 7 Days….
Wednesday: Investor Call Tech Tidbits: Garmin Q2 2017 [Fenix, future products, and activity tracker tidbits]
Wednesday: Investor Call Tech Tidbits: Fitbit Q2 2017 [Upcoming smartwatch, other products insight]
Thursday: Interbike moves to Reno (and Tahoe) in 2018, opens to consumers
Thursday: Investor Call Tech Tidbits: GoPro Q2 2017 [Hero 6, Fusion, and Karma insight]
Well that week turned out busier than I expected. Ironically, most of my time was actually spent on prep of other things as I noted last week. With Eurobike looming, there’s a lot to get tested, photographed, videoed, and written about!
Sports Tech Deals This Week:
Below is the current list of deals in the sports tech realm.
| Product | Sale Price | Amazon | Other site | Sale Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Apple AirPods Pro - $50 off! $249 | $197 | Amazon | ||
 | Apple AirPods with Wireless Charging Case - $50 Off! | $149 | Amazon | ⚡ I use AirPods primarily when I'm travelling just to listen in airports, planes, etc... I don't tend to use these for workouts due to them falling out. Personally, I just use the basic model. | |
 | Apple Airpods (2nd Gen) - $30 off $159 | $119 | Amazon | I use AirPods primarily when I'm travelling just to listen in airports, planes, etc... I don't tend to use these for workouts due to them falling out. | |
 | Apple Watch Series 6 - 40mm RED - $70 off $399/$499 (cellular) | $329 | Amazon | This is a very solid deal on the Apple Watch Series 6. | |
 | Fitbit Charge 4 - $50 off! $149 | $99 | Amazon | REI | Currently the best deal we've seen to date, matching only the Black Friday deal last fall. |
 | Fitbit Versa 3 - $50 off $229 | $179 | Amazon | REI | This is the first time the Versa 3 has been on sale. |
 | Garmin Forerunner 245 - $50 off $299/$349 | $249 | Amazon | REI | Both the Forerunner 245 is on sale for $50 off. While not a huge sale, it's actually the lowest we've seen either product priced to date. |
 | Garmin Forerunner 245 Music - $50 off | $299 | Amazon | REI | Both the Forerunner 245 Music is sale for $50 off. While not a huge sale, it's actually the lowest we've seen either product priced to date. The FR245 Music supports Spotify, Amazon Music, and other streaming platforms. |
 | Garmin Forerunner 45/45S - $50 off $199 | $149 | Amazon | Backcountry | If you're looking for a runners focused watch, this is a pretty good deal, about 25% off. The FR45 basically packs all the features of the previous generation FR235...just now in the FR45 series. |
 | Garmin Forerunner 935 $499 | $269 | Amazon | ⚡ Sure, it's not the latest edition, but the FR935 is the staple of many triathletes and runners, and it still an incredibly solid watch. We saw this a bit lower last summer on Amazon Prime Day ($239) - but beyond that, this is pretty darn low. Also, I say $100-$200 off, because the 'base' price fluctuates a bit these days. Sometimes retail is $399 sometimes $499. | |
 | Garmin Forerunner 945 - $50-$80 off $599/599EUR | $519 | Amazon | Backcountry | Not a bad deal, the price seems to fluctuate between $50 off (official Garmin sale price currently), and $75-$80 off (unofficial sale price). |
 | Garmin Instinct - $80 off $299 | $169 | Amazon | This is a pretty strong price, though over time the pricing norms have as slowly dipped further and further. | |
 | Garmin Vivoactive 4/4S - $80 off $299 | $269 | Amazon | This is Garmin's current offering to compete with the Apple Watch series (alongside the Garmin Venu), and this is a good price, though, it does go lower from time to time (not since Black Friday 2020). | |
 | Garmin Vivofit Jr. 2 - Incl Disney/Avengers/Star Wars variants ($20 off) $79 | $49 | Amazon | These are Garmin's kids activity trackers, and what both of my two oldest daughters wear daily (princess and Disney edition variants). | |
 | GoPro Hero 9 Black - $50 off | $399 | Amazon | REI | ⚡ This is the camera I use for all my daily shooting during sports. Actually, I've bought a few of them. Note that if you're a GoPro Plus Subscriber, then it's a bit cheaper at $349 from GoPro directly, but otherwise, it's $449. |
 | Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 - 43% off | $238 | Amazon | This is the lowest price I've seen on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3, which typically is 'only' on sale for about 30% off. | |
 | Suunto 7 Wear OS Watch - $60 off $399 | $339 | Amazon | The Suunto 7 floats on and off sale occasionally, but usually not more than 20% off. |
Not a lot this week, and I don’t expect much more till we get to September.
YouTube Videos I Published:
Here’s some YouTube goodness that I published this past week, don’t forget to subscribe!
YouTube & Podcast Cameos:
With the Tour de France in town last week I had a small gaggle of visitors to the cave. For example, Cycling Maven and Hannah came through and we had a chat at a café as well (the full interview will be published a bit later), but there’s a short tidbit in here in the meantime:
And then the folks from the Zwift Podcast also stopped by as well. We chatted about trainers and what to expect at Eurobike. A second and longer section is coming up soon as well:
Here’s the full Zwiftcast notes about the episode as well.
Stuff that I found interesting around the interwebs:
Here’s a not-so-small smattering of all the random things that I stumbled on while doing my civic duty to find the end of the Internet.
1) Another motor found in competitors bike: And just imagine how many bikes aren’t being tested out there… (via Slowtwitch)
2) Why UCI’s detection method isn’t all encompassing: This is a pretty cool video and highlights some of the challenges. Note that I don’t believe however some that say using heat is the answer either. There’s just too much radiant heat on a hot summer day in many places that it likely won’t show up (all thermal images I’ve seen of bikes with motors are taken on cooler fall/spring days). But, happy to be proven wrong there as I do have a thermal imaging camera but lack a motorized bike. Maybe at Eurobike I can find one to demo on a hot summer day. In unrelated news, the YouTube channel this video is from is geek heaven. Not totally sports-tech geek, but like 10GB Ethernet adapters geek. Never seen it before, but definitely subscribed now!
3) SportTracks is now integrated with Polar: Well then, that took a long time (through no fault of SportTracks). Really hoping this will enable Polar to move faster in adding in 3rd party sync partnerships…like the Nike+ Run Club integration they also announced.
4) Man swims to work each day: And the kicker? He’s not living in a warm place either! And he even takes his laptop along. (via Matt)
5) Las Vegas-Reno/Tahoe now wants the Olympics: Not content with just getting Interbike in 2018, they want the Winter Olympics in 2030. Yes, I said Winter. Btw – they’re almost 500 Miles/700 KM miles apart. If there’s anything I hate more in any Olympic games bid is where venues are spread on the other side of the country. It’s a *city bid*, and thus events should be roughly in that city. Drove me nuts at London 2012 that you had to take a train more than 2 hours away out of the city to see a football match. Or that in Beijing 2008, some events (equestrian) was held in Hong Kong – 2,000 KM away. Grr…
6) Wanna be a Quarq product manager? There’s now an opening for you. This position wears a lot of hats. It’s the person that actually works with me to get me products, hear my feedback (which is really your feedback), as well as deal with other media too. It’s a pretty cool job. The previous person moved out of state, opening this position. (Note: I often include interesting/unique sports tech job positions in the Week in Review, if you have one, send it along.)
7) Deliveroo using GoPro’s due to acid attacks: First of all, WTF!?!, who is acid attacking bicycle delivery people? Don’t f with my Phad Thai delivery girl please. But second, GoPro cameras to catch the people (hopefully). Interesting.
8) US Army issues order to immediately cease DJI drone usage: Due to concerns around how the location and photo/video data is being streamed back to DJI (live or delayed). This is actually totally understandable, and perhaps this action will lead to DJI offering more options to consumers in the same vein. I think DJI would be mistaken to take this action lightly, as this is something that could quickly spiral out of control for them from a PR standpoint. A few national newscasts about it, then every local TV station is mentioning it (because they love to talk about fear of drones), and before you know it other governments are issuing the same thing. (via Sunny)
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.
DJI Spark Firmware Update: Adds new gesture video recording modes, a few other new features.
Garmin FR230/235/630 Firmware Update: Handful of bug fixes.
Garmin Fenix 3/3HR BETA Firmware Update: Single bug fix for apps/widgets.
Garmin Fenix 5/5S/5X/Chronos BETA firmware Update: Whole pile of bug fixes, plus some new minor features, and support for latest version of Connect IQ.
Garmin FR935 BETA firmware update: Umm…balls that’s a massive firmware update. It more or less matches what the Fenix series has had over a while, just in one gigantic drop. Seriously, just go read the list.
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Thanks for reading!
Ray – there was also a Garmin Forerunner 935 BETA firmware update on August 4th – link to www8.garmin.com
Many thanks.
Ahh, nice catch. I had written the post on Friday (and then realized it didn’t actually publish Saturday evening), so didn’t catch that one. Thanks!
A long list of updates but nothing particularly exciting. I’m hoping they add the 24×7 stress tracking mentioned in Ray’s Vivosmart 3 review soon.
Great stuff again Hi Ray, lot’s of rumours around the upcoming Garmin Edge 1030 release. Any chance that we’ll get news/insights from you on this anytime soon?
I don’t think Ray has ever taken the bait on this type of question 😉
Correct
Ray – Don’t get too cross but for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm five months earlier…
I rest my case.
Test to pay my $20!
Looks like you have 2 items labeled as #2 in the “Stuff that I found interesting around the interwebs” section.
Sweet! Now I’ve got more items in my list!
You’re going to ‘love’ the 2022 winter Olympics. In Beijing …
Indeed. Crazy reading about the average depth of snow (5cm) in that region the ski areas are going to be made. link to businessinsider.fr
Still, I see this more of an IOC issue than a Beijing issue, as odd as that may sound. The fact that there were only two bidding cities is core to it – the entire ‘thing’ that is the Olympics has become too big, primarily due to commercialization – not necessarily athlete/spectator aspects (especially the winter games).
And I think IOC sees that too. With them doing the dual-awarding of Paris 2024 and locking in LA for 2028 – that’s them saying ‘Please someone take 2028, else we’re hosed’.
Having been to a number of Olympic games now (2002/2006/2010/2012) – you see just how much waste and overhead goes into the entire sponsor aspect. Both in terms of money, but also just space. All of these supposed sponsor events take up space, which in turn require more housing/hotels and more people to support it. It’s an endless cycle. All of which then requires bigger and bigger cities. The number of athletes in the summer games actually hasn’t much changed in 20+ years (roughly 10,000).
It looks like Power2Max has sales in both Europe and North America right now.
On the man swimming to work, the interesting point would be to find out if he got fined or anything after the news article, since there was a sign stating that swimming was not allowed.
It’s a shame you couldn’t make it for last year Rio Games (for obvious reasons). All events were inside the city, even rowing and sailing which usually are held far away from Olympic city. Everything in my backyard was just perfect.
On the other hand, if you stay in Paris until 2024 it will be in your backyard. 😀
At Beijing the equestrian events were in Hong Kong for quarantine reasons.
All Olympics have events outside the city when you look at the football competition, although you would have thought with the number of stadia in London they could have managed to keep that event just in London. For London’s case, I think taking the football tournament around the country was a sweetener for the UK tax payer who had to foot the bill….
Football in the Olympics though? That’s a whole other argument….
I wonder wether there are any other sports which have mechanical doping issues.
I’m watching the London 2017 Worldcup atletics especially the Javilin Trow (I’m dutch and we call it speer-trouwring thaught it was the same in english) . I noticed how the speer was not floating nicely. I’m not technical or so but can imagine a weight which can move and stabilize the whole thing…
@Bogdan: In F1 racing Renault used a “mass damper” which was basicly a weight suspended by two springs. It was tuned so that it prevented the car moving/vibrating the car in vertical direction. With a little bit of ingenuity one could build a miniature version of that in a javelin, keeping the total weight the same of course. It was later banned.
link to formula1-dictionary.net
I hear good things about its features.