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Week in Review–Dec 22nd, 2018

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:

Wednesday: Polar Vantage V Multisport GPS In-Depth Review
Thursday: Amsterdam Runners: DCR Santa Claus Fun Run – Dec 22nd
Friday: Tacx NEO 2 Smart Trainer In-Depth Review

Heads up: Some final sales

While it’s likely too late to get these items in time for under the tree, you can still at least buy them for yourself or others with an IOU note on it. I’ve got them all listed here.

Wearable and watch deals:

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 Gear & Trainers:

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 Cameras & 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.

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!

There hasn’t been a ‘Week in Review’ in a few weeks, and this wasn’t posted elsewhere, so the below might be interesting to folks. At the very least, it was a blast for us. Note that yes, the audio sucks for the first 8 minutes, then we hit a magic button and it’s all good!

Oh – and if you found that interesting, Shane/Des/I did a three-part series that is definitely worthwhile watching:

1) Best Sports Tech of 2018 // Round Table Chat #1
2) Sports Tech Predictions for 2019 // Round Table Chat #2
3) Sports Tech Content Creation // Round Table Chat #3

We had a blast on those, and that’s like hours worth of super geeky sports tech content. Though, the last one is more about how we create content and some of the behind the scenes bits that each of us dive through.

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) New Giant Bike CycloSmart Trainer: Looks like a new direct drive trainer from Giant. The details are just sliding out, but looks like it could be interesting – depending on the pricing (which is TBA as far as I know). The only bit that concerns me is usage of a metal chain internally, which means some sort of maintenance. To me that’s kinda like SRM requiring a bunch of funky tools for their EXAKT pedals (meaning, it’s not relevant in 2018/2019).   However, if it’s priced right and accurate, then it can make up for those ‘concerns’.

2) Founder of CompuTrainer passes away: There’s no denying that CompuTrainer was a pioneer in the indoor training space, and Chuck was one of the nicest guys out there. While I (or you) may not have agreed with their business execution, he was always friendly and happy to chat when I saw him. The first ‘real’ indoor trainer I bought was a CompuTrainer, and then I eventually bought another one later on with The Girl for her.

3) Why I don’t see Wear OS succeeding in fitness: This article, while all about a 3rd party app (Dark Sky), does a great job at explaining the issues these days with Wear OS. It’s just not focusing on things that fitness companies leverage and care about (mainly, battery life). I think for the Fossil’s of the world it continues to be a great option, but there’s just not enough for fitness/sport companies that want really solid battery life.

4) Zwift secures $120 million in expansion funding: This funding is aimed at eSports expansion specifically – and Zwift themselves has been on a blitz of announcements related to that in the last few weeks. While I think eSports is great, I’m less convinced Zwift is putting in place the framework required to police these events and make them meaningful from a controls standpoint (read: cheating).  After all, if you’re getting a national jersey (as Australia will be giving next month), then you should be assured there’s policies and technical enforcements in place to eliminate easy cheating.  I’ve got a piece planned soon about this, so stay tuned there.

5) GoPro CEO podcast interview about company/products: Always interesting to hear CEO’s speak. I’m still not convinced GoPro is positioned to win longer term here, especially with DJI’s recent entrance into the sorta-action cam market (with the OSMO Pocket). While the Hero 7 is awesome (and certainly better than the OSMO Pocket in many ways), DJI’s software capabilities seem to quickly ramp past GoPro (such as active tracking within the camera on the Pocket).

6) Killer whales next to openwater swimmer: In case you didn’t see this – it’s just incredibly amazing. Also, that women…damn….I’d have been out of there faster than you can fart. Click onto full story for quotes from woman.

7) Behind the scenes on Tacx Neo 2 Production: A cool look at what it takes to make a NEO 2, from Shane.

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 and a few other firmware updates.

Fitbit Ionic & Versa Firmware Update: Part of a rollout of their new Fitbit OS updates.

Garmin Fenix 5 Series Beta Firmware Update: Minor bug fixes.

Garmin Fenix 5 Plus Series Beta Firmware Update: Fixes power meter related bug.

Garmin Forerunner 935 Firmware Update: This has a ton of bug fixes, plus some new features including Swimrun auto sport change and support for Garmin Explore App (Navigation app).

Garmin Instinct Firmware Update: Minor tweaks/fixes.

Garmin Vivoactive HR Firmware Update: Updated Connect IQ, added intensity minutes configuration options.

Garmin Vivosport Firmware Update: Improved battery life, bug fixes.

GoPro Hero 7 Black Firmware Update: A pile of performance and usability tweaks.

GoPro Hero 7 Silver Firmware Update: Adds 1080p for a few specific modes (time-lapse)

GoPro Hero 7 White Firmware Update: Same as Hero 7 Silver.

Wahoo ELEMNT & ELEMNT BOLT Firmware Update: Single bug fix.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

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16 Comments

  1. That whale story is nothing. I had AT LEAST 5 ducks chasing me at Shepperton Lake the other week.

    Seriously tho. it’s pretty amazing she kept heading along the shoreline rather than heading for the beech

  2. Tack video is cool indeed. The innards of the neo look well made and more complex than expected with all those magnets and coils. Nice piece of engineering, easy to see why they are expensive. Plus the fact that they are largely made by hand in The Netherlands. Which is not a bad thing IMHO.

  3. joan r.

    Have you seen this Ray?

    link to theregister.co.uk

    No wonder Garmin took so long to dive ( pun intended ) on to that market.

    • Oh wow, I hadn’t seen that.

      But yes, indeed, many people didn’t understand why Garmin is so cautious in that market (and why updates are so slow). Similar to avionics market they’re in too.

  4. likepend1

    suunto spartan update:

    link to suunto.com

    now you can disable/enable sensors before you start am activity. also adding graphs to screens (in activity) is now possible! nicely done!

  5. Steven Works

    So, it wasn’t this week. I was too busy to post when I saw if happpen.

    You hardly post software updates outside of Garmin, and the other big companies such as Fitbit, GoPro, erc.. Specifically you constantly miss the big Garmin competitors Suunto and Polar software updates.

    • I’m not sure I follow. This week included Fitbit, GoPro, and Wahoo. That Suunto release above was over a month ago, and Polar hasn’t released anything in two weeks.

      Ultimately, Garmin simply releases more software updates/features, on more devices. Garmin has roughly 15-20 new hardware releases per year, and each of those devices tends to get about 1 software update every 4-8 weeks for about 1-2 years. So yeah, it adds up.

      GoPro tends to release a firmware update once every 6 months. Fitbit about every 6-8 months. Suunto about once every 3-4 months, and Polar about every 2-3 months for older products, and slightly more frequently for newer products.

      Finally, sometimes I miss Suunto updates because their pages to follow the updates are all over creation, versus the others are a little easier to quickly find. For example, Polar has a single page to quickly glance at.

  6. Eli

    Why would an internal chain require to be maintained? Single speed chains like whats used in car engines can go over 100,000 miles fine. Sealed in so no dirt to worry about

    • Without knowing anything about car engines, I’d assumed those are totally sealed in though? And isn’t there usually oil/lubricant they go through automatically?

      Whereas this has plenty of air gaps, so over time any lubricant would dry out.

    • Eli

      Industrial roller chains are pretty well known items that are much heavier duty (and heavier) then a bike chain if that is your comparison. But the gears it attaches to can be wider so less wear there too. Not all need to be lubed, for example:
      link to chains.ustsubaki.com

      A trainer is a pretty low speed environment, low amount of force on the chain, and easy temp (not too cold or too hot) so all of that lengthens the lifespan of a chain. 1000 watts is 1.34102 horsepower

  7. ReHMn

    That lady was most probably swimming in Orca wetsuit, not in Sailfish…

    Killer whale mom:
    – Kiddos, play or eat! But do not play with food! Oh, wait! I am reading Orca on her, she must be our relative. She is swimming very slowly… Let me push her a little from behind…

    But seriously…You never know in what mood you will find this mammal. In 2010, Shamu in Orlando Seaworld killed his own trainer. I saw Shamu’s performance in 1999 there.

    • ReHMn

      Typo in email address, that’s why no avatar in previous post… Sorry.

    • Eli

      A very social animal that is intelligent and captive killing its jailer (trainer) isn’t the same thing as one in the wild. Still needs to be careful as they may want to play with their food, inspecting the food before eating, don’t know if the Orca thinks you may be a threat, imposing on its territory, etc…..