Heads up!!! Here’s your massive holiday sports tech deals list! This includes the Garmin Epix for just $419, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for just $699, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $249, (or the brand new Hero 13 or $299!) and plenty more! Go check out the full list of 100+ deals 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.
You'll support the site, and get ad-free DCR! Plus, you'll be more awesome. Click above for all the details. Oh, and you can sign-up for the newsletter here!
Here’s how to save!
Wanna save some cash and support the site? These companies help support the site! With Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with either the coupon code DCRAINMAKER for first time users saving 15% on applicable products.
You can also pick-up tons of gear at REI via these links, which is a long-time supporter as well:Alternatively, for everything else on the planet, simply buy your goods from Amazon via the link below and I get a tiny bit back as an Amazon Associate. No cost to you, easy as pie!
You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.Want to compare the features of each product, down to the nitty-gritty? No problem, the product comparison data is constantly updated with new products and new features added to old products!
Wanna create comparison chart graphs just like I do for GPS, heart rate, power meters and more? No problem, here's the platform I use - you can too!
Think my written reviews are deep? You should check out my videos. I take things to a whole new level of interactive depth!
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.
-
Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
Get all your awesome DC Rainmaker gear here!
FAQ’s
I have built an extensive list of my most frequently asked questions. Below are the most popular.
- Do you have a privacy policy posted?
- Why haven’t you yet released a review for XYZ product you mentioned months ago?
- Will you test our product before release?
- Are you willing to review or test beta products?
- Which trainer should I buy?
- Which GPS watch should I buy?
- I’m headed to Paris – what do you recommend for training or sightseeing?
- I’m headed to Washington DC – what do you recommend for training?
- I’m from out of the country and will be visiting the US, what’s the best triathlon shop in city XYZ?
- What kind of camera do you use?
-
5 Easy Steps To The Site
In Depth Product Reviews
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.
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 2023 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.
Hi Ray,
So do you have somewhere where *all* your own activities are recorded, or is everything you do either logged across lots of different platforms or simply not recorded? I know for some people it’s of no relevance or importance, but for me as a data junkie I love to know what I’ve done over the year and even feel cheated if I have to do a calibration warm-up/spin-down without it going into Garmin Connect & Strava.
Neil
I think Strava is probably as close to that as I get, along with TrainingPeaks. I used to be better about keeping my TrainingPeaks data super clean, but that’s degraded a bit over the last few years (my ability to remove duplicates).
I don’t have a single platform that keeps a copy of every activity file ever. The closest there might be the DCR Analyzer, but I only stick stuff in that when I’m analyzing things. So for some workouts where I’m not going to analyze it, I won’t bother to stick it in there. I use a Dropbox share to try and organize all the files though, so I guess there’s that. :-/
Is there any real innovative “features” planned for strava? I haven’t got excited about any feature in strava since they add the ability to add emoji in comments/title!
I agree – Strava is good at one thing: Community, but when it comes to analysis you don’t get much more even in the premium model. I therefore use Runalyze.com as my analysis platform. Maybe they will also add a community function at some point.
You can get charts showing that info of your own Strava device/app data in VeloViewer. Turn on the charts on the Activities list page and set it to a column chart showing “Device/app” on the x-axis and “Count” on the y-axis. Also nice to see the stats for the different training apps that you’ve used along with the different devices.
You can change the y-axis to see things like the amount of climbing, distance, time, PRs, kudos (or anything else) you’ve achieved with each app/device and of course you can filter the data by anything you like to show for example the data for just 2018 or devices you’ve used when commuting etc. The variations for analysis are endless!
Thanks Ben, just tried it and works great. I can spend hours on Veloviewer and not get bored…
Double checked with VV, I’ve spent a lot of time with an Edge 500! Wonder if any device will ever eclipse it. The closest device is barely 50% time or distance.
I keep all activities and data in MS Excel, where each sheet is representing one activity. I can summarize, analyze with a simple formula or create a chart (nope, I do not need graphs there, but I could).
I can add a screenshot when I arrive home…
and I have all the body composition data there also.
Very cool. I’m curious what the data with body comp in it looks like.
Hi Mateo,
Ask and shell receive…
Body composition comes from Tanita BC-1000, which is together with BC-1500 compatible only with 310XT and 910XT…
I do measurement once a week and after every race, because there is significant change on weight, body water and body fat.
This way I have recorded >350 measurements and I can use the advantage of conditional formatting, filtering, etc…
Hi Ray,
You mentioned that Strava tries to remove activities done at same time in two different devices. How does that happen? In the total account? I usually record my rides on a Karoo and a 935 and both are uploaded to Strava. Then Strava displays that I’ve done two rides, myself with myself. I delete the one done on the Karoo most of the time but if I could keep both without worrying, that would be nice. Thanks.
I’ve had it happen if you try to upload two files with the exact same start time to Strava. It says it is a duplicate and won’t save. If the start times are different (I guess even by a single second) then you should be able to upload overlapping files… should you want to!
Yeah, for the fun of it, I rode with 4 devices last weekend, and it showed me on a group ride with myself. And that I’d done 160 miles.
I think the start times of the different activities have to differ by at least 30 seconds, but I haven’t verified it.
The start time check at strava is pretty simple too, if you hand edit the start time in a tcx/gpx but leave every gps point (which includes both time and location) untouched strava will happily accept the duplicate upload.
Ah, your write up about how a device is known or unknown probably explains the problem I was having. When I had Tapiriik transfer my runs from Garmin to other sites (including Strava), I would get no watch listed in my Strava. Later I had Garmin upload to Strava automatically. Suddenly I started getting my watch name included in the runs on Strava. I guess Tapiriik somehow stripped that data field out.
It would be cool if they published this stuff. I’m trying to count, now, how many unique devices I would have uploaded to Strava with, I think it’s 7. But I typed 6 first and remembered another, haha.
now if we could only get some triathlon support in strava. this feature request has hundreds of upvotes and yet they ignore it. garmin has had this for years.
Hmm, so strava is saving your deleted activities. But if I request an archive of my data from strava via the settings page that archive does not include deleted activities (I checked). Isn’t that a violation of gdpr or something for saving my personal data but not providing it to me in an archive when I request it?
To clarify, we do not store deleted activity data. It’s why it’s no in the archive, we don’t have it. If you’re familiar with our API, the data is based on “uploads” not “activities”. link to developers.strava.com
I am familiar with the api.
How does one use the linked api call to get device names? The example responses don’t include a device name. And how would one get the list of all upload ids for a given athlete to even send this query?
Hey Trev,
I didn’t use the API as SQL was much easier. Unfortunately, we don’t have an endpoint that lists all upload ids. The app that uploads would see it via the API, otherwise it’s not used. I suspect most people don’t dual record and create many dupes like Ray or myself. For most people, going through /activities would paint a complete picture…or VeloViewer can paint it for them. How cool is that?
I did some other digs into my data, but nothing groundbreaking either. What devices I’ve used for the longest period of times, top devices per activity type, total time per device (weighted per activity), etc…
Hi Mateo, all the things you’ve mentioned would be very cool additions for users. I understand the query load might be high but with the subscription price where it is. I’d argue we need some more useful features.
I’d Love to see Strava put time in bugfixes fixing the routemaking, giving us more option to look for specific activities in the activity list (for example sort by bike). More option to choose the bike ride u did, 4 skiing options but no MTB option for example! And so much more!
And yeah I already contacted them about it, via mail, via twitter, via facebook, but they don’t seem to want our input!
I had a premium account for years but I cancelled it, they put everything in stuff only pro’s or real hardcore user use but the make route is still in beta (since strava started actually)!
This is a fascinating article and something that I would love to see be made available for long distance events with many participants. Running an analysis on the accuracy of the distance and also Total Ascent, could be one that is surely the definitive proof of accuracy for different devices.
I have become most disappointed how inaccurate my Fenix 5 is, yet blown away with my Edge 500, for Ascent or Total Ascent. When looking at a recent local event with 100’s of riders over a ~175km course with ~2,600m of climbing, it is obvious that there is a great deal of variation of the total climbed reported in Strava. Many devices with barometers, report ~2,100m whereas many report ~2,600m and this is just from 10 minutes of opening random rides to check the devices used.
Of course, certain device manufacturers would be exposed by this data, but from a customers point of view, this information should be available for those who care about it. The data might also embarrass certain manufacturers (looking at you GARMIN) to fix this stuff once and for all.
Hi Ray,
A friend has finally just bought a Garmin 935 and hopped on the TP platform, but we seem completely unable to sync his last few years of data out of Strava. For the last couple of years he was recording directly to Strava via the Strava phone app or Apple Watch app. Is there any way at all to sync or export/import workouts recorded directly to Strava over to TrainingPeaks or Garmin? We’ve tried the Strava/Garmin sync, Tapiriik, etc., and none of them seem to pull out the old data. Extensive googling doesn’t seem to have helped. It is extremely frustrating not to have the old data in the new platform. Do you have any advice?