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Week in Review – December 4th, 2017

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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–Nov 26th, 2017
Monday: 5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Thursday: Garmin Vector 3 Power Meter In-Depth Review

Sports Tech Deals of Note:

Despite what you might think – the sports tech deals are cruisin’ on!  In fact, especially for Europe, which has seen the lowest prices ever for many items, much of which is still matching Black Friday sales.  All of these are detailed on the massive deals post that I still keep updating.

Still, here’s the rundown of major deals still cookin’:

Wearables:

ProductSale PriceAmazonSale Notes
AmazFit T-Rex 3 - $80 off$199This is a solid deal, especially for a watch that has offline mapping.
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Gen with USB-C) - $100 off$149⚡ Both myself and my wife have been using these since last fall, after years of using the Beats Studio Buds...man, these things rock. Sure, they're good for sports, but frankly, I use them on planes, editing, and such more than anything else. In fact, I've been listening to them now for 8 hours as I type away on my flight across the ocean. Only briefly putting them in the case to top-up.
Apple Watch Series 10 - $120 off
$399/$499 (cellular)
$279⚡ This is by far the lowest price we've seen to date for the Apple Watch Series 10. Of course, we're probably only 60 days away from an Apple Watch Series 11, but Apple has alreay announced WatchOS 26 last month, which the Series 10 gets all the new features from.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium - $150 off$649⚡ This is the lowest price on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 we've seen to date. It's likely we'll see an Apple Watch Ultra 3 this September, but like the Apple Watch Series 10 above, WatchOS26 has already been announced and all the new features there go to the Ultra 2.
Fitbit Ace LTE Kids Activity Smartwatch - $100 off$129This is (by far) the lowest price we've seen on this watch to date. This is their first full smartwatch focused on kids activity tracking and gamification.
Fitbit Charge 6 - 38% off!
$159
$99⚡ This is the go-to sale price for the Fitbit Charge 6. It happens often, but it still doesn't take away from the fast that it's argueably the best bang for your buck fitness tracker out there.
Garmin Epix Pro Series - $200 off!
$899/$999
$609I believe this is the lowest price we've seen for the Epix Pro series (which has an ECG-capable HR sensor). Note that while some sites might tout $500+ off, in reality, this watch has been floating around $800 recently.
Garmin Epix Sapphire/Titanium (Gen 2) - $400+ off!$469⚡ This continues to be one of the best deals out there. While this watch won't be getting much in the way of big ticket new features, it does continue to get minor software updates - and for the money, has far more software features than any of Garmin's competitors (or for that matter, products like the Instinct 3 AMOLED lineup).
Garmin Fenix 7X Pro Solar - $100-$200 off
$799+
$499
Garmin Fenix 8 Series - $100 Off!
$999-$1,199
$899While not as good as last month's $200 off, that annual spring sale price won't likely be seen again till Black Friday-ish type sales. Thus, if you want a Fenix 8 for the summer, might as well take the $100 off and put it towards ice cream.
Garmin Forerunner 165 (Base) - $75 off!
$249/$299
$219
Garmin Forerunner 255/255S - $100 off$199This is the lowest price we've ever seen the Forerunner 255 at.
Garmin Forerunner 255/255S Music - $100 off!
$349/$399
$249This is the lowest price on this watch to date (previous low was $299).
Garmin Forerunner 265 Series - $50 off!
$449
$399
Garmin Forerunner 55 - A Few Dollars Off
$199
$169Honestly, I just put this one in there, merely to point out you shoudn't buy it at this price. Buy the FR255 at $30 more, far better watch. This thing should be priced at $129 or something to move units.
Garmin Forerunner 955 - $150 off!$349⚡ This has been one of Garmin's most popular running watches, and it's down to a very strong price. I often use this in my accuracy testing comparisons when validating other watches, due to it's very strong GPS performance. Note this is the base edition without solar. It'd be hard to find any better deal in sports watches today, from any company (given this has full mapping, tons of new features even this week, etc...). I say '$100ish', because it's usually been on forever sale at $499.
Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: $150 off!
$499/$599
$399See everything I said above on the Forerunner 955 base, except this one also has solar.
Garmin Forerunner 965 - $50 off
$599
$549This had been $499 for much of the spring, so $549 isn't that great of a deal.
Garmin Instinct 2 Series - $75 Off$169⚡I believe $169 is the lowest price we've ever seen for the Instinct 2. Or at least, I have no record of it being sub-$199. Very solid deal for a solid little watch.
Garmin Instinct 2 Solar$266
Garmin Instinct 2S & 2S Solar$217
Garmin Lily 2 - 20% off
$249
$199The leather version is also on sale as well.
Garmin Venu 3 - $50 off!
$449
$399
Garmin Venu 3S - $50 off$399
Garmin Vivoactive 5 - $110 off!
$299
$189This is a great deal for Garmin's little-sibling to the Venu series. It has almost all the same features as the Venu 3, except the voice calling related bits.
Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm) - $100 OFF$249
Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm) - $100 OFF$299
Oura Ring 4 - $50 off!$299This is the first time we've seen a deal on the Oura Ring V4.
Polar Verity Sense - 15% off
$99
$84I use this as one of my reference devices for heart rate accuracy testing.
SHOKZ OpenRun Headphones - 31% off$89
SHOKZ OpenRun Pro 2 - 31% off!$124
SHOKZ OpenRun Pro 2 Mini - 31% off!$124
Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 (40 & 44mm) - 50% off$159As with the Samsung Watch Ultra, Samsung is less than 24hrs away from announcing a new version of the Samsung Watch series.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra - 50% off$325Look, Samsung is less than a day away from likely announcing a new version (on July 9th), so if you buy now, you might want to wait a few extra hours after delivery to decide if you want to return it. Otherwise, this is Samsung's best watch to date.

Cycling:

ProductSale PriceAmazonSale Notes
Garmin Edge 1040 Cycling GPS - $150 off!$399⚡⚡ This is a very solid deal, and the lowest price we've seen to date on it.
Garmin Edge 540 Solar - $150 off$299⚡⚡This is the lowest price we've seen on the Garmin Edge 540 Solar to date, which has gained virtually all of the new Garmin Edge 1050 features as well.
Garmin Edge Explore 2 - $60 off
$299
$237
Wahoo BOLT V2 - $30 off
$279
$279

Action Cams & Drones:

ProductSale PriceAmazonSale Notes
DJI Action 4 - $90 off$209While prior gen unit (and probably, 2 generations behind in a few weeks), it's still a very strong contender at this price point especially.
DJI Mini 4K Drone - $60 off$239If you're looking to get into flying with a DJI drone, this is a solid place to start. Of course, moreso than that, the days are very limited for how much longer you can actually buy at DJI drone in the US. So, grab them while you can.
DJI NEO - $30 off!$159This is the lowest price on this drone, and is a great option if you want a follow-me drone that's pretty hard to kill, at a price point that's still super reasonable.
GoPro Hero 12 Black - $100 off!$279This is the older gen model, and to me, $279 seems a bit high. Get the Hero 13 Black for $50 more and have access to all the new accessories. Or, save yourself $50 and get either the DJI Action 4 (prior gen) or Insta360 Ace Pro 1 (prior gen) models.
GoPro Hero 13 Black - $70 off$329
HoverAir X1 Drone Combo - $100 off!$279This has become one of my favorite drones, given it's tiny size (fits in my running shorts pockets) and ease of use. Plus, you can crash the crap out of it (hundreds of times for me and my wife) without any issues. This combo includes an extra battery and fast charger.
HoverAir X1 Pro Drone Combo Kit - $155 off$599This is a solid deal on a solid drone, and one of the two main ones I use when taking videos of myself hiking or running. This includes the two extra batteries as well as the fast charger (so 3 batteries total).
Insta360 Ace Pro Action Cam - $50 off$239This is the previous edition, as the Ace Pro 2 just came out last fall. But for this price, it's hard to beat.

Europe:

There are no deals currently.

And again, keep checking the full list out!

YouTube Videos I Made This Week:

Here’s what hit the tubes over on the You of Tube, definitely don’t forget to subscribe there to get notified of videos the second they hit!

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) The most incredible bike share photo: This photo shows what happens when you fill an entire football field with discarded bike share bikes…and stack it as high as some buildings.  Unbelievable, you really need to see this photo.

2) Jumping into an airplane with a wingsuit: Undoubtedly, many of you have seen this by now.  But if not, enjoy.  And if you have already, enjoy it again. It’s worth it, as you know.

3) Getting the GoPro Shot (further details): Last week I shared a GoPro video on the behind the scenes of just one brief sequence in the launch video.  This post however details that out even further in a more textual manner.

4) SoulCycle now offered as benefit on a points credit card: For those in Europe, the whole credit card points thing is illogical.  But for those in the US/Canada, you know it’s all about the points card.  This card apparently offers free days at SoulCycle. I thought it was interesting (I’ve never done SoulCylce however).

5) Fitbit selected for long-term national health study: Regardless of which vendor is selected, it’s good to see some long-term studies being done with vast numbers of people.  Let’s just hope that there’s at least a few people that understand technology helping with this study, so that we don’t end up with all the flawed ones we see recently on wearables.

6) GlovePay, it’s a thing: Forget Garmin Pay and Fitbit Pay, for the upcoming winter Olympics, you’ll be able to pay by rubbing your gloves against the payment terminal.

7) FDA approves first EKG reader for Apple Watch: This is an interesting one, but one you shouldn’t be misled by the main headlines about it.  This is NOT the FDA approving the Apple Watch as an EKG reader.  Instead, it’s the FDA approving an accessory for the Apple Watch by a 3rd party company as an EKG reader.  The cool part here though is that it’s doing it via an Apple Watch band/strap that you then place your finger on.  I’ve gotta believe the company will look to make straps for other devices like Fitbit and Garmin, since it’d be easy for them to leverage app platforms on both companies devices.

8) Study looking at accuracy of the CycleOps Hammer trainer: Not too shabby.  Though personally I would have liked to have seen wattages above 500w, since that’s pretty low by most testing standards.  (via Tim)

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.

Garmin Edge 520 and 820 Firmware Updates: Adds latest Connect IQ support, tweaks some indoor trainer stuff, other fixes. (both units identical here on update)

Garmin Edge 1000 Firmware Update: Adds latest Connect IQ support.

Garmin Edge 1030 Firmware Update: Adds latest Connect IQ support, boatload of other tweaks and some new features.

Garmin Fenix Chronos BETA firmware update: Bunch of fixes/tweaks.

Garmin Forerunner 735XT Firmware Update: Adds latest Connect IQ support, some Varia Vision tweaks.

Garmin VIRB 360 Firmware Update: Apparently resolves random things that were too random to list.

Wahoo ELEMNT/ELEMNT BOLT Firmware Update: Mostly bug fixes, but a smattering of new features including zero averaging calculations.  GPLama also did a more detailed piece on it here.

Zwift update: You can now control the camera with far more granularity, allowing you to rotate it around you like drone shots.  Also a pile of other new features and stuff, but the camera one stood out to me as nifty.

With that, thanks for reading!

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11 Comments

  1. Jeff T

    $349 for the PowerTap C1 chainring power meter is an amazing deal. I just purchased – upgrading from left-only Stages. Thanks Ray!

  2. Paul S.

    I just recently found out about the Apple Heart Study. I’ve installed the app on phone and watch and signed up but nothing has happened yet. I don’t know yet whether they’re going to take data from anyone who signs up or only a selected few. Looks like it’s being paid for by Apple and run by Stanford.

  3. MattB

    What a shame that the Chinese government is just creating a giant scrap pile of bikes, rather than stuffing them in to containers and sending them somewhere that could really benefit from them through something like link to worldbicyclerelief.org. I’m sure that the vast majority of those bikes could be repaired by cannibalising parts from other bikes, at least before the were heaped up so high, which has likely bent anything more than a few feet deep beyond rescuing.

    • Indeed, that was both my and The Girl’s first thought as well. Just thinking that WBR could likely whack the bike locks off of these and call it macaroni.

      Of course, it’s far more complex that that – but certainly some org must be able to use these in rural locales.

    • Stefan Gutehall

      Here in Hong Kong I first thought that bike sharing was a good thing until it became obvious that many users are just too irresponsible and just leave the bike where they need to get off. That is in the middle of the walking/running path, in front of stairs or anywhere else they get in the way of other cyclists and pedestrians. The bike share companies are not much better, pushing out their bikes in public bike parking to the extent where there is no spot free for people to park their private bikes. Setting aside the fact that its a waste to just discard them, I would not mind if I saw a pile like the one of the pic here in Hong Kong.
      I do remember a similar but smaller pile on a pic form Beijing, It was outside a hospital and it was bikes left by incoming patients that had to be piled up so they didn’t block access to the hospital.

  4. Eli

    The Hammer study summery says they are comparing to a “scientific SRM system” while the full text says its Powertap P1 pedals. Gee, I wonder who funded this…..

    “The last 45s of each measurement was analyzed.”
    Doesn’t a persons power output get steadier towards the end of a 3 min interval so easier to measure? Seems like steady state was accurate but the sprint test wasn’t so good based on figure 1.B

    For those who want the full text: link to fredericgrappe.com

    • Nice find, I couldn’t find it quickly. That is odd.

      What’s funny is that in looking at the authors of the study with their affiliations listed in the full text, I know from some other things just being local they work very closely with PowerTap/CycleOps on other projects. Didn’t recognize the author names, but definitely the orgs. Good call…

  5. Duncan Martin

    The comment on the dual sided WatTeam power meter says:
    ⚡⚡THIS BRINGS IT DOWN TO 300GBP/342EUR FOR A SINGLE SIDED UNIT – BY FAR THE CHEAPEST DIRECT FORCE POWER METER OUT THERE.
    It’s £300 for a dual one or £204 for single (as you say in the next line down).
    And the DCR discount applies too, so it’s even cheaper! :)

  6. Hello Ray

    Tourism Flanders has created a website ‘Cycling in Flanders’ to promote its cobblestones classics to foreign cycling tourists: cool!
    Info on http://www.cyclinginflanders.cc

    Kind regards
    Ed

  7. Dan G

    I think you have discussed this before but I can’t find it — do we know how long for tomtom have committed to supporting their web platform?