Heads up – Massive Sports Tech Holiday Deals List is Live!!! The Garmin Fenix 8 is $250 off (even the Fenix 8 Pro is $100 off!), the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on sale, the Garmin inReach Mini 2 is $249, the GoPro Hero 13 Black, DJI NEO, and a ton of other brands/deals, including Wahoo, Oura, Whoop, Polar, Samsung, Google, and more than 100 sports tech deals here!
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!
Sports Tech Deals of Note:
A bunch of sales started last Sunday, and most of them end later this week. However, the one exception to both of that is a new (well, re-started) sale on all Suunto gear for 30% off almost everything except the new Baro variant that was recently announced. The interesting thing here is that it goes till December 26th, so if you find a Garmin under your tree and really wanted a Suunto, you can still make the switcheroo before the sale period closes.
We did see lower just back in July, at $199. So I'd probably hold out a bit more here. Assuming that happens, you can't beat this watch at this price point (heck,not even at $226 either).
Perhaps this deal will get better, but right now at $20 off...nah. Given the price of the Garmin Epix Pro has flirted into the $429 range a bit over the past few days (and is a vastly better watch), this needs to drop down closer to $299 to be worth picking up during Black Friday pricing.
These are the just-released AirPod Pro 3, with optical heart rate sensors in them. These are my daily-driver headphones these days, and even more notably, the heart rate accuracy is incredibly good in these.
This is the first major sale for the Apple Watch SE 3, which came out just 2 months ago. It's essentially Apple's 'budget' offering, yet it still has all the same software features as a higher-end Apple Watch Series 11, as long as the hardware permits.
This is the first time we've seen the Apple Watch Ultra 3 on sale, and given it's $100 off, that tends to be the typical sale price for the holidays/Black Friday for the current/just-released version.
This is a great price for this watch. Note though that technically speaking, this is a price reduction (took effect Nov 14th following the launch of the Pace 4). Most companies would first call it a sale, then make that sale price the new price as a price reduction. But COROS often beats to a different drum. Kudos on being upfront about the reduction though!
This is a great price for this watch. Note though that technically speaking, this is a price reduction (took effect Nov 14th following the launch of the Pace 4). Most companies would first call it a sale, then make that sale price the new price as a price reduction. But COROS often beats to a different drum. Kudos on being upfront about the reduction though!
These is the new model just released this past summer with stronger anti-scratch resistance (I even dragged it down a textured concrete pool desk, lens-down, to show this).
⚡ This 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.
⚡ 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.
If you're looking for a simple and inexpensive activity tracker, you won't go wrong with a Fitbit (or this Inspire 3). It's got literally all the same software features in the Fitbit app as a higher-end Google Pixel Watch or other Fitbit device, except...just tiny.
⚡ This is Garmin's newest kids-focused and LTE connected smart watch. Our three daughters have been using it for about two months now, after using the original Bounce 1 for years. This is a *massive* upgrade over the Bounce 1, both in features/hardware, but frankly also battery life. My review should be up next week, but if you've got any questions drop them in the comments below.
This is the activity tracker that both of our oldest daughters have used for years (age 8 & 9), as well as most of their friends now. They/we all like it. Check out my full in-depth review for all my thoughts. That said, the new Bounce 2 came out two months ago, and while my review isn't out yet, it's a far better product. But, quite a bit more too. The TLDR on that review will be that it's the best kids smartwatch/tracker to date (for both parents and kids), but obviously will cost you $100 more.
This is Garmin's premier line of diving watches, which is based on the Fenix 7 seies, rather than the Fenix 8 series. Still, it's by far one of the most capable dive+everything else watches on the market.
Garmin Descent MK3i (Dive watch with air integration) - $250 off!
This is Garmin's premier line of diving watches, which is based on the Fenix 7 seies, rather than the Fenix 8 series. Still, it's by far one of the most capable dive+everything else watches on the market. The 'i' version (MK3i) means that you can connect it to an air tank monitor transmitter pod.
This is the lowest price we've seen on this to date. The Enduro 3 is simply the Fenix 8 with a MIP/Solar display (but without the scuba or voice calling features). It gets all the Fenix 8 features and updates otherwise.
⚡⚡⚡ This is a fantastic deal. By far the lowest price we've seen this! The Epix Pro has a flashlight which the regular Epix lacks, plus the newer Garmin Elevate Gen5 optical HR sensor with ECG support.
⚡⚡⚡ This is a fantastic deal. By far the lowest price we've seen this! The Epix Pro has a flashlight which the regular Epix lacks, plus the newer Garmin Elevate Gen5 optical HR sensor with ECG support. Note: Availability on this deal fluctuates, just keep checking back, I'm sure it'll pop back again (it always does).
⚡⚡ If you wanted the battery life of a Fenix MIP series without the cost of a Fenix 8, this is basically your best deal. Plus, unlike the base Fenix 7 series, the Pro series includes the flashlight and Gen5 HR sensor with ECG.
⚡ If you wanted the battery life of a Fenix MIP series without the cost of a Fenix 8, this is basically your best deal. Plus, unlike the base Fenix 7 series, the Pro series includes the flashlight and Gen5 HR sensor with ECG.
⚡⚡ This is very unexpected, and is an Amazon-specific deal, not a Garmin-supported one. Thus, I expect it won't last more than minutes/hours. Grab it while you can! [Update: This keeps fluttering back and forth, just keep checking!]
⚡ The Fenix 8 keeps getting all the new software features of the Fenix 8 Pro that was launched two months ago. Setting aside that Fenix 8 Pro which gained LTE & Satellite Messaging, this is otherwise the most capable sports watch on the market.
⚡ The Fenix 8 keeps getting all the new software features of the Fenix 8 Pro that was launched two months ago. Setting aside that Fenix 8 Pro which gained LTE & Satellite Messaging, this is otherwise the most capable sports watch on the market.
As a general rule, the Fenix E is the watch that literally nobody is buying, and makes no sense at higher prices. The hardware is simply the Epix Gen 2 with Fenix stamped on it. That watch is going for $400, though I expect we'll see it down to $300 over Black Friday. However, one *KEY* difference with the Fenix E, is that it includes all of the software features of the newer Fenix 8, whereas the Epix Gen 2 doesn't get all the new software features. Otherwise, save your $200.
⚡ This is (by far) the lowest price on the Forerunner 265, which was recently replaced by the Forerunner 570 (but at nearly twice this price). What's fascinating about this sale price, is it's well beyond the usual sale prices for Garmin for this product. This pricing is 100% an Kansas-themed 'Hello!' to COROS and their just released COROS Pace 4 at $249.
The Foreurnner 55 is a great option if you simply don't want to spend a ton, but still want a super-capable runners watch (and general activity/sleep tracking watch). I've heard a lot of you get it for teenagers that run, as a great/inexpensive way to track their runs, and still be a good everyday watch.
⚡ This is the lowest price to date on the Forerunner 965, which is logical given the Forerunner 970 came out this past spring (which essentialy adds a flashlight and some other running metrics/features).
⚡ This is a very unexpected sale, just launched, on this very new watch, which is Garmin's top of the line Forerunner watch with virtually all the same software features as the Fenix 8 (but in a plastic case and without the diving features).
The Instinct 3 series came out earlier this year, with both an AMOLED and Solar variants. The big upgrade over the previous editions is the inclusion of the flashlight in all sizes, and a massive ugprade of sports features.
The Instinct 3 series came out earlier this year, and the Solar edition in particular has 'unlimited' battery life in certain scenarios. The big upgrade over the previous editions is the inclusion of the flashlight in all sizes, and a massive ugprade of sports features.
⚡ The Garmin Venu 4 just came out two months ago, and one of the big ticket features is the LED flashlight built-in. However, it's also got a ton of other new features, as Garmin merged the codebase with the Forerunner/Fenix series, resulting in a boatload of added things like Training Readiness, Acute Load, and more.
⚡ This is the lowest price we've seen on the newest product in the entire Garmin Holiday 2025 sale lineup. This is basically a blend of a Forerunner 970, Venu 4, and Fenix 8...but super thin. It's argueably one of the best deals here at $599, though, Garmin is still clearly trying to figure out the right pricing to drive purchases.
⚡ This is the first time we've seen the Vivoactive 6 on sale, which is essentially a Venu 4, but without the voice/calling/ECG features (and a few other tidbits). It's probably one of the best deals in Garmin's lineup (sale or otherwise).
The newer Pixel Watch 4 came out back in October. I see the Pixel Watch 4 as a pretty substantial hardware upgrade over the Pixel Watch 3, notably due to satellite SOS, as well as a user-replaceable battery.
⚡The Pixel Watch 4 LTE includes satellite SOS connectivity, even if you don't activate a cellular plan on it. I'd strongly recommend getting the LTE version for $50 more, to future-proof you a bit there (or, to save your bacon in the woods).
This is a great dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart (with two Bluetooth Smart connections) chest strap that you'll often find me using as a reference strap in heart rate sensor testing. We only tend to see deals on it around Black Friday, always topping out around 20%.
If you're looking for a good solid high-quality strap, that does both ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, for a reasonable price...look no further than the Polar H9
This is a very solid deal. It's got virtually all the software features of Suunto's higher-end watches (minus the app store), and just came out this past May.
While the new Suunto Vertical 2 just came out a month ago, if you wanted to stock-up on MIP-based display watches before they disappear, here's your chance. This is also the lowest price we've ever seen on the Vertical 1, which is otherwise still a very soild watch.
⚡The Favero Assioma Pro MX dual-sided power meter pedals deal is a no brainer. I use them in my testing constantly along with the PRO RS pedals. Note for US folks: Favero does include all taxes and tarrifs in the price.
⚡The Favero Assioma Pro RS dual-sided power meter pedals having their first sale yet. This deal is a no brainer. I use them in my testing, and will likely pick up another set in this sale. Note for US folks: Favero does include all taxes and tarrifs in the price.
⚡This is a very solid deal, and is still one of the best bike computers Garmin has ever made, especially when you look at the battery side of things (it lasts far longer than the Edge 1050).
⚡At $249, it's pretty much impossible to beat this deal in terms of bike computers. There's no competitive option that beats it on features/battery/etc at this price, or frankly anywhere near it. Sure, it doesn't have a touchscreen, but it's not as bad as it used to be (I did a stint on it this winter for a week or so, and was fine).
⚡⚡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. And notably, lower than the Edge 540 without solar (which is kinda silly, but hey, win for us!).
This is Garmin's radar without the light, so it's a bit smaller as a result. Same radar tech though, and compatible with Garmin/COROS/Hammerhead/Wahoo bike computers.
This is Garmin's standalone radar+taillight option, and $149 is pretty much the standard sale-price. Even despite all the new radars out there, this remains the most accurate option on the market. Now, only if Garmin would just re-release it with USB-C. C'Mon Garmin...maybe next year?
This is the first time this product has been on sale, since launching last spring. I'd argue it could have used a $100 off sale...but hey...they don't consult me.
This is last year's model. And sure, the Action 6 came out 48 hours ago, but honestly, the initial rection hasn't been kind there. I just started testing it, so more to come very shortly.
Look, don't buy this drone. This is the drone that never should have left the napkin at the lunch table at DJI's HQ. The unit breaks easily (as I, and many others found out), and doesn't really do anything super well. Literally, buy any other DJI drone except htis one...you're welcome.
⚡ This is a great little drone as your first drone, especially for sports usage, where it'll do an astonishing job following you (running, cycling, etc...). And, you can crash it a gazillion times without any problem.
NOTE: This is not sold by DJI directly via Amazon. DJI itself is NOT selling the OSMO 360 in the US, and WILL NOT support/repair it in the US. That said, it's a solid deal if you're ok with those risks.
This is GoPro's budget option, which includes a full color touchscreen on the back as well. The main benefit is it's super small, but note it's not quite in the same quality ballpark as their higher-end cameras. If you want size and GoPro ecosystem on a budget, this is an option. But with the DJI Action 4 just $20 more than $199, that offers notably better quality.
This 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.
⚡ This 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).
⚡ This just came out this past August, and is a great little unit. The pod isn't quite as tiny as the Go 3S, but the features and quality are a huge step up (especially the removable MicroSD card).
This is one of the best 360 action cams on the market, alongside the GoPro Max 2 (both have their pros and cons, check out my full comparison guide linked).
Stuff that I found interesting around the interwebs:
(In case you’re wondering why I had virtually no posts this past week, I had two products/updates that shifted announcement dates on me at the last second, thus delaying those posts.)
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) Apple launches GymKit…in exactly one gym in the country: This isn’t surprising, and is the exact same challenges that Garmin saw with the ANT+ gym integration nearly a decade ago (before Bluetooth Smart even existed). The challenge with the gym space is that the cost of new commercial use machines is incredibly expensive ($5,000-$15,000 each), and the replacement cycle is incredibly long (many years), thus by the time a company looks to check out new units that technology has long since passed. And, don’t forget that this is actually Apple’s second attempt at this – as years ago they did the integration with iPods (and eventually iPhones). I don’t expect this attempt to be any different, it’ll ultimately fail in the eyes of the consumer, even if technologically it’s cool and successful. None of it will be Apple’s fault. Ideally, they’d have approached it with some sort of external speed sensor that could be connected to existing treadmills.
3) Final Cut Pro 10.4 now supports GoPro Hero 6 footage: Finally. If you’re like me and edit with FCPX, then this is a huge deal. Heck, I’ve got some unpublished videos because I got too tired of waiting for conversions to occur. Note, there’s actually a boatload of other and far more important features, but supporting H.265 footage is huge. This also supports VR footage too, which in theory fixes the other gap GoPro had whereby it supported Fusion quite well on Premiere Pro, but not so well on FCPX. I haven’t had a chance to run my Fusion footage through FCP 10.4 though and see what things look like.
7) ROTOR is apparently making a watch: Actually, to be more accurate, according to the tweet, ROTOR is making a “superior Swiss” watch that says ‘Made in Germany’ on the front. As an interesting aside, did you know there’s an entire strict definition for what counts as ‘Swiss made’ in watches? It’s here.
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: Like last week, another round of mostly beta updates across a crapton of devices: Most contained minor fixes., and most also contained Connect IQ updates. This included the Edge 520/820/820 Explore/1000/1000 Explore/1030, Fenix 3/3HR/Chronos/5/5S/5X, Vivoactive HR/Vivosport/VivoNachoCheese, and a slew of the APAC variants of these too. I’d link to these all, but everything is linked in the link above and this one paragraph summarizes it all!
Although Boston (or Massachusetts) gets very little cred for it’s longest bike/ped tunnel at only 70 feet, a new Life Time Fitness in Burlington, MA, (the same operation in NYC referenced in your link), just 4.5 miles from my home will open soon with GymKit (Apple) enabled equipment. Thanks for the tip off.
By the way, you don’t reference the Vivoactive HR in your Deals list, but it is on sale for $149 on Amazon. Not quite as good as the $119 it was occasionally on sale for a few weeks back, but at that price it is still probably the most capable watch you can buy for the money. For lots of reasons, I even prefer it to the new Apple Watch, at least for fitness tracking (although maybe the new GymKit enabled gym might change my mind, ha ha).
So you’re writing that the tomtom wearables division is shutting down. Is this now official? I’ve only read either rumors or talk about dialing down/downsizing the wearables division. I suppose it’s only a matter of time either way, but I was just wondering if anything was actually official now.
Nothing official, I suspect eventually they’ll have to address it in earnings calls. Though, like most companies doing this sorta thing they basically try to burn through everything slowly and then call it official when it doesn’t matter anymore.
It’s funny, it’s to see if people were paying attention.
Back in my IT days, we used to put lines like that in our long weekly status reports to one customer, just to see if they were reading them. Never caught it. We’d do random Nacho Cheese facts. It was great.
This.. so many times… its amazing how many people “review” and “sign off” on things without reading them.
A colleague drafted a deck for a client presentation with stick figures on the “team photos” as a placeholder – no one caught it until live pitching for the client.. luckily they had a good sense of humour.
Same here, latest 12.50 is killing my battery. I used to get multiple rides between charges (15hrs or so) now I can’t even get a single 3hr ride. HR and power meter are the only sensors connected, disconnected my phone, still terrible battery life.
We continue to investigate reports of increased battery drain with the Edge 520. Once we have a resolution I will update the thread. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Hi, you wrote about Apple trying to make it into the gym. Is there any news from Zwift Running? Or any other company trying to add running treadmills into an online platform?
With cycling trainers being an order of magnitude cheaper then running treadmills I see your point on how often.they might get replaced, but the audience is much larger as well. There are simply more runners than cyclists. I’m very curious where the treadmills are or will be in 2018, especially with in the back of my head the transition the cycling trainer market went through when newbees Wahoo and Zwift made their apearences.
It’s pretty easy to access Zwift running (I think anyone can now actually), though, still not out of beta. I haven’t heard of a specific timeframe.
I haven’t heard either of a treadmill being approached. I know a few trainer companies have looked at it, but found the logistics make it really difficult (shipping primarily), especially on any global scale. It’s likely why most treadmill companies are fairly regional in their offerings. Heck, I can’t even get all the good ProForm treadmills that they offer on the US side in Europe. Everything here is crazy old models.
wow, I just re-bought 2x vivofit Jr 2’s for my 2 oldest from Amazon and set up a return for the 2 I previously bought. $20 additional saving, plus in small type it said I’d get 20% back with my Chase Amazon Visa.. sweet!
I can’t imagine Bora will be too pleased with Wahoo when they a) can’t easily change the crank length on the head unit and have to faff about with phone apps etc and b) the average power values are all wrong (although they’re probably more interested in NP which is okay)
Bora likely won’t care, since 4iiii doesn’t use crank length in Precision as a user exposable item (it’s hard-set during their installation at factory). :)
I can’t help but wonder what good the GymKit will really do. My gym has an entire room full of Matrix treadmills that were all brand new last year when the gym reopened after a remodel. From day one I could jump on one and set it for a given pace but get a totally different pace from my 920xt with foot pod. Then I could switch to the same model and same aged treadmill right next to the one I was just on, set the same pace and get a completely different pace number on my 920xt than I was getting while on treadmill number 1 set to the same pace. The article states that treadmills are really good at measuring things like pace and distance, but this certainly has not been my experience, even with treadmills that are right out of the box.
I know that the foot pod is not perfect, but in my experience as long as you keep it on your shoes while you run outside to let it self calibrate its pretty darn good. I know I never pay any attention to what the actual treadmill says. Then again, I suppose this isn’t aimed at people who have 920xt/935xt/Fenix type watches and nerd out enough to actually think through what is the most accurate pace, the machine, the watch, or the watch with foot pod.
I suppose it’s possible that Apple knows their audience better than I do….
Apple users care about technical functionality over looks and feels? The treadmill looks like its going at a set exact pace and shows you a good easy to read distance number
For your matrix treadmill if it uses 7xi or 7xe consoles they will be updateable to support gymkit. Looks like lots of devices fall in that boat of upgradable firmware: link to wareable.com
Seems like if apple gets all major manufactures to support this then as equipment rolls out the support will be there
Here you go:
Changes 7.00 to 7.10:
•Fixed an issue where one couldn’t create a course using saved locations on device.
•Fixed an issue where ConnectIQ watch faces would intermittently fail to load from the watch face selection menu. link to forums.garmin.com
A quick note of caution on the Toronto traffic article. The people/home owners association who did it can be held liable if there’s an accident at the intersection. Our HOA wanted to put up a yield sign when the city refused and a lawyer pointed out both criminal and civil liabilities. Looks like fun but my advice is not to.
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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.
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.
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!
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.
Although Boston (or Massachusetts) gets very little cred for it’s longest bike/ped tunnel at only 70 feet, a new Life Time Fitness in Burlington, MA, (the same operation in NYC referenced in your link), just 4.5 miles from my home will open soon with GymKit (Apple) enabled equipment. Thanks for the tip off.
By the way, you don’t reference the Vivoactive HR in your Deals list, but it is on sale for $149 on Amazon. Not quite as good as the $119 it was occasionally on sale for a few weeks back, but at that price it is still probably the most capable watch you can buy for the money. For lots of reasons, I even prefer it to the new Apple Watch, at least for fitness tracking (although maybe the new GymKit enabled gym might change my mind, ha ha).
So you’re writing that the tomtom wearables division is shutting down. Is this now official? I’ve only read either rumors or talk about dialing down/downsizing the wearables division. I suppose it’s only a matter of time either way, but I was just wondering if anything was actually official now.
Nothing official, I suspect eventually they’ll have to address it in earnings calls. Though, like most companies doing this sorta thing they basically try to burn through everything slowly and then call it official when it doesn’t matter anymore.
When are you going to do a review of the VivoNachoCheese? That sounds interesting.
It’s funny, it’s to see if people were paying attention.
Back in my IT days, we used to put lines like that in our long weekly status reports to one customer, just to see if they were reading them. Never caught it. We’d do random Nacho Cheese facts. It was great.
This.. so many times… its amazing how many people “review” and “sign off” on things without reading them.
A colleague drafted a deck for a client presentation with stick figures on the “team photos” as a placeholder – no one caught it until live pitching for the client.. luckily they had a good sense of humour.
Totally normal for the human brain to filter; see the selective awareness test by Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris on youtube.
Are you going to post a review for the gear sport soon?
Shouldn’t a Rotor watch be oval?
Oval…and made in Germany. :)
By the way, the 12.40-12.50 Edge 520 firmware seems to be eating battery like crazy – what used to be a 18-20h seems to be sub-10.
Glad I am not the only one who noticed that.
Same issue for me – although the cold weather (0°c or so) may also be blamed
same here – probably best avioded
Same here, latest 12.50 is killing my battery. I used to get multiple rides between charges (15hrs or so) now I can’t even get a single 3hr ride. HR and power meter are the only sensors connected, disconnected my phone, still terrible battery life.
We are actively investigating reports of battery drain after the 12.50 firmware update. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Hey Shawn@Garrmin, what’s the status of this? the battery issue is not resolved yet.
We continue to investigate reports of increased battery drain with the Edge 520. Once we have a resolution I will update the thread. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Hi, you wrote about Apple trying to make it into the gym. Is there any news from Zwift Running? Or any other company trying to add running treadmills into an online platform?
With cycling trainers being an order of magnitude cheaper then running treadmills I see your point on how often.they might get replaced, but the audience is much larger as well. There are simply more runners than cyclists. I’m very curious where the treadmills are or will be in 2018, especially with in the back of my head the transition the cycling trainer market went through when newbees Wahoo and Zwift made their apearences.
It’s pretty easy to access Zwift running (I think anyone can now actually), though, still not out of beta. I haven’t heard of a specific timeframe.
I haven’t heard either of a treadmill being approached. I know a few trainer companies have looked at it, but found the logistics make it really difficult (shipping primarily), especially on any global scale. It’s likely why most treadmill companies are fairly regional in their offerings. Heck, I can’t even get all the good ProForm treadmills that they offer on the US side in Europe. Everything here is crazy old models.
What about the pedestrian tunnel allong the Louvre in your neighborhood? They have been built for cars but they are also prety long.
Yeah, it’s roughly 1KM long, but wonder how they’d categorize it now that it’s closed to cars. Either way, I love it!
I can’t seem to get the Toronto link to work.
Hmm, that’s odd. Works for me. Browser version?
wow, I just re-bought 2x vivofit Jr 2’s for my 2 oldest from Amazon and set up a return for the 2 I previously bought. $20 additional saving, plus in small type it said I’d get 20% back with my Chase Amazon Visa.. sweet!
I can’t imagine Bora will be too pleased with Wahoo when they a) can’t easily change the crank length on the head unit and have to faff about with phone apps etc and b) the average power values are all wrong (although they’re probably more interested in NP which is okay)
Bora likely won’t care, since 4iiii doesn’t use crank length in Precision as a user exposable item (it’s hard-set during their installation at factory). :)
Ah, good point. However, maybe this deal will encourage Wahoo to fix some of the outstanding irritating bugs like the AP one though
I can’t help but wonder what good the GymKit will really do. My gym has an entire room full of Matrix treadmills that were all brand new last year when the gym reopened after a remodel. From day one I could jump on one and set it for a given pace but get a totally different pace from my 920xt with foot pod. Then I could switch to the same model and same aged treadmill right next to the one I was just on, set the same pace and get a completely different pace number on my 920xt than I was getting while on treadmill number 1 set to the same pace. The article states that treadmills are really good at measuring things like pace and distance, but this certainly has not been my experience, even with treadmills that are right out of the box.
I know that the foot pod is not perfect, but in my experience as long as you keep it on your shoes while you run outside to let it self calibrate its pretty darn good. I know I never pay any attention to what the actual treadmill says. Then again, I suppose this isn’t aimed at people who have 920xt/935xt/Fenix type watches and nerd out enough to actually think through what is the most accurate pace, the machine, the watch, or the watch with foot pod.
I suppose it’s possible that Apple knows their audience better than I do….
Apple users care about technical functionality over looks and feels? The treadmill looks like its going at a set exact pace and shows you a good easy to read distance number
For your matrix treadmill if it uses 7xi or 7xe consoles they will be updateable to support gymkit. Looks like lots of devices fall in that boat of upgradable firmware:
link to wareable.com
Seems like if apple gets all major manufactures to support this then as equipment rolls out the support will be there
DC Rainmaker,
Thank you as it was me who rode the 24 hours on Zwift. I appreciate you adding it to your week in review. Once again many thanks.
Well done – huge congrats!
Yeah well done, well written piece of blog too. It’s very motivating to read about people setting and reaching such goals.
Strange, my 935 got updated to 7.10 but I cannot find anywhere (firmware page, garmin site, google :)) what has changed.
someone any ideas ? I’m just curious
Here you go:
Changes 7.00 to 7.10:
•Fixed an issue where one couldn’t create a course using saved locations on device.
•Fixed an issue where ConnectIQ watch faces would intermittently fail to load from the watch face selection menu.
link to forums.garmin.com
Is stryd going to release new hardware?
I don’t expect anything anytime soon.
A quick note of caution on the Toronto traffic article. The people/home owners association who did it can be held liable if there’s an accident at the intersection. Our HOA wanted to put up a yield sign when the city refused and a lawyer pointed out both criminal and civil liabilities. Looks like fun but my advice is not to.