Heads up! The big Garmin annual spring sale has started, with $200 off the Fenix 8 (first sale to date!), $100 off the Edge 1050, Forerunner 965 at $499, the Forerunner 265, the new Instinct 3, and countless other Garmin products including inReach Mini 2. Plus the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium is on sale, and some Suunto & Wahoo product deals too. Full list & thoughts here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
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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Smart Trainers Buyers Guide: Looking at a smart trainer this winter? I cover all the units to buy (and avoid) for indoor training. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
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In Depth Product Reviews
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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!
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.
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!
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 2024 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.
Cool
Kool, but not cool. Also, “And in fact, the unit didn’t really anything.” is missing a word – “do”?
It seems like they should take a bit more time to get it all together, collect their wits, and put forward something worthy of their work and not half-a** it, or present it as a prototype, etc.
Seems like they are trying to stay relevant, but lacking on the actual progress compared to the events they want to join.
That’s an odd position as a brand. I’d rather be late to the party, but fully dressed compared to showing up in my undies.
Been a while since we have had a DCR-style smackdown on companies trying to pull one over, glad the axe is still sharp :)
Exactly, making assurances by giving the FedEx tracking number only to show up with vapor ware is disengenuous at best. They are lucky the full force of D’Rain didn’t let loose on them.
I got the very distinct feeling that the local folks here were surprised by what arrived… I could use a lot of other words for ‘surprised’, but I’ll just go with ‘surprised’ for now. :)
I have to say the small wheel on unit interests me – very unobtrusive one the bike is off. I look forward to seeing the shakedown of all these.
Bkool Smart Bike, now that’s the trainer, if it has the resistance feature working, that will be in my workout room ASAP. Thanks for the heads up. I look forward to your review once they’ve provided you with a fully functional unit!
Into thin air? Just like Bkool’s service and support and equipment reliability. Steer clear.
Not that I’m a fan of them or anything, and in fact I’m considering upgrading to a Direto…
But my experience in one year with the Bkool pro has been pretty good.
Support called me when I got it to remotely check the firmware and calibration upon my request and since then I had a solid year of more than 100 trainerroad workouts and a few months in zwift without problems…
I’m super lucky or is your comment a hyperbole at the very least?
I am tending to agree. Three days to address a support ticket for initial setup is outrageous. I didn’t buy the Smart Pro 2 to sit in the corner whilst my “dumb” TravelTrac connects to Zwift like a champ. Not being able to initialize w/o their software is just plain nuts
Really disappointed to discover that the “Smart Air” is vaporware.
Doesn’t look like it’s going to be what their promised and vaporware is one of the worst ideas for a company… but let’s see, if they come out with something just CLOSE to ehat they claim in terms of noise and just screwed up with a late-stage prototype it’s going to be worth it. I subscribed to their mailing list to see how this ends up (and of course will see when Ray gets the final piece of hardware)
Wow. Great start to a company that has essentially provided a lot of fluff . Stick to the known
They would have been better off just sticking with the “it’s lost” line.
The Bkool Pro 2 looks functionally the same as the old one expect for the yellow cover.
All the “strange” marketing aside I can’t complain about my Bkool Pro – I picked one up second hand very lightly used for 350AUD – haven’t had any issues other than some flaky updates with their software connections dropping out
I have a Bkool pro and yes it supports ANY FEC and Bluetooth, but is not controllable over Bluetooth by anything but their Bkool simulator app (see link to zwiftblog.com). So as it stands you can’t use any bkool trainer with Zwift IOS or Zwift on apple TV which limits their use.
I notice they don’t state a power accuracy percentage range in the specs for the Pro 2. Bit crazy when the competition at this price is down to +/- 3%.
new to the website and loving it
any review updates on the bkool pro2
thanks
Vg
Bought the BKool Smart Pro 2 and haven’t been able to access the trainer yet because BKool’s Simulation software refuses to run. Tried on two Win 10 Pro laptops — one top of the line. Stuck at “Logging In” screen. My support ticket to Spain is going on three days old and my “smart” trainer is a brick in the corner. I think it’s pretty ridiculous to offer advanced technology solutions with 1990s tech support.
Did you get it going?
Yes and no. Needed to give pass through permission to the simulator program. Once riding I found the power output alarmingly low. Session with BKool staff via remote diagnostics indicates faulty circuit board. Replacement via warranty — from USA at least — so I may have a working trainer soon
Update #2
The BKool Tech basically disabled the trainer, despite the fact I asked him to leave it for use while I wait for the replacement unit. The motherboard resets itself, making for some interesting riding…but still usable. I can use BKool, but because the ANT+ FE-C protocol is now missing, I’m locked out of Zwift.
I like the trainer, the company has a lot to learn about customer relations and tech support. Perhaps some North America presence for individual consumers (they have it for dealers) would help.
Guessing you have not seen a BKool Air unit yet for testing?
Hello, Is the Bkool smart bike compatible with Zwift? how to synchronize the bike in ANT FCE? how to modify the resistance?
Hi DC.
Will you be reviewing the smart bike in the near future?
Road cc have just reviewed the unit but I’m really looking forward to a more in depth review particularly regarding how effective it tracks power in ergo sessions
Thanks
Kev
+1 – very interested to see a DC detailed review. Remember not everyone uses Zwift.
Comment regarding BKool Smart Pro 2:
I’ve owned the BKool Smart Pro 2 for 9 months and I am on my third head unit. First had a faulty circuit board, the second started reporting power outputs ranging from the incredible (I don’t average 3.8 WKG) to the abysmal….the fact was that the unit was not consistent. The fact that I also received a unit with noticeable manufacturing defects (power connection point shifted behind outer shell…LED light not aligned), has me skeptical on overall QC. This third one is running true so far, but I only have a couple of hundred miles on it.
The bike mount system is cumbersome and not clearly illustrated in the rather scant owner’s materials available.The BKool support system is….well pretty awful if you’re not in Europe. Support requests take 2-3 days of generic back and forth before any real dialog occurs. Support tends to spit out stock answers that MAY have some relevance. I liken it to the frustration of going through tech support from page 1 of the binder instead of looking at what’s really happening. I lucked out when the USA Marketing lead contacted me and helped get my issues addressed. Accent on addressed, but not solved.
BKool Simulation is really cool but finding available routes in-game is painful to say the least. One needs to log into your account on the BK website to best search for desired route types. Graphics and video are top notch. The real time effect is pretty cool. The ability to upload a route via Strava and other apps is also quite unique. This latter capability was a big factor in choosing the trainer….I wanted to be able to train on routes I road in real life.
When it works the Smart Pro 2 is smooth and fairly quiet. However my experience with the product has been pretty rocky, so I’d be hard pressed to recommend it over established brands like Wahoo, Elite, TacX, etc. My next trainer will definitely be a direct drive — worth the price differential IMHO
Now that the bkool air trainer has been released, can we expect a review?