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…
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.
-
Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
-
5 Easy Steps To The Site
1
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.
2
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!
3
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.
4
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!
5
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.
I don’t have the cajones with those kinds of trails.
But nice place they got in Sedona.
Thanks Ray
There were some firmware and dashboard updates to RunScribe Plus this week; the most noteworthy being the addition of “Shoe Prints” (they’re pretty darn neat, with an example on the main RunScribe web page https://runscribe.com ). There’s details of the firmware update here link to community.runscribe.com and dashboard here link to community.runscribe.com
Nice catch! Didn’t see that!
That treadmill stuff is very interesting. It would be nice if treadmill makers took note and started innovating like this rather than churning out literally thousands of models all based on the same setup with slightly different buttons. Every company seems to have 8 basically identical models just to create a “range”. Automated workout control from external devices is just screaming out for implementation, yet this industry can barely even deliver Ant+ speed broadcast. A disruptive company here could really make a lot of money with one good model.
Agree. Treadmill tech is primed for someone to come in and do what Wahoo did with trainers years ago.
The only challenge with treadmills though (from talking to a bunch of companies looking at the market), is the cost for shipping/etc make it really tough. Weight of treadmills instantly puts it in the freight category, and atop that, most require some sort of in-house delivery service option.
The other challenge for most I’ve talked to is getting the price down. I’d love to see some really good sub-$2k treadmills, but it doesn’t sound like that’d happen. It’d probably be in the $3-4K range if it does.
I agree that the ideal is for treadmill manufacturers to implement a standard control protocol, which only a small number of high-end models currently seem to do, but this isn’t going to happen any time soon. However, there *are* device-controllable treadmills out there, but it just seems that they all use their own protocols often coupled with very poor iOS/Android apps. So, training platforms can take one of two approaches. They can say “we’ll use the standard protocol and if your treadmill talks that language, then we’ll talk to it and control its elevation” which is the approach most seem to take at the moment, and you’d be forgiven to think this was the only option. However, if you look at Kinomap, that’ll quite happily communicate with and control a range of treadmills because it looks like Kinomap have taken the time to implement bespoke protocols for a wide range of treadmills (their app currently lists 40 different manufacturers). Even my £600 DKN treadmill talks to Kinomap over Bluetooth and allows Kinomap to control the gradient.
So maybe we’re not looking for a disruptive manufacturer, but a disruptive platform?
I’d suggest that Zwift etc could attract a lot more treadmill runners if they took the same approach as Kinomap and supported treadmills on a device-by-device basis. It’s a messy and no doubt time-consuming solution, and you could argue that it doesn’t encourage adoption of a standard protocol, but it’s one that Kinomap have shown to be possible and more importantly it would offer compatibility with what people already own, rather than just future models incorporating a standard protocol.