Week in Review–Oct 27th, 2019

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 this past week:

Wednesday: GoPro Max Action Cam In-Depth Review
Friday: The Smart Trainer Recommendations Guide: Winter 2019-2020
Saturday: Weekend Tidbits: Hammerhead Adds Radar Support, Elite Releases Upgrado app, Garmin adds Edge connection to inReach

Both the GoPro Max Review & Trainer Recommendations guide were beasts to get done!

Sports Tech Deals:

There’s a Suunto 20% off deal this week, which seems to include a bunch of higher end devices like the Suunto 9. It’s not super clear on exactly every device though. Still, here’s the link to all of them.

Nothing new on the trainer front – but these deals are still available:

1) There’s currently a bundle deal on the Wahoo KICKR18 (most current model for this upcoming winter) and the Wahoo KICKR CLIMB, which saves you $200. We don’t generally see sales on Wahoo gear outside of the Black Friday and spring sales, so if you’re looking for a deal on these particular items, it’s solid. Plus, you’ve basically just made yourself a Wahoo KICKR Bike for half the price. You can spend the savings compared to the KICKR Bike on approximately 400-500 pints of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. Oh, and free US shipping and immediate availability.

2) There’s currently a deal on the original CycleOps/Saris Hammer (H1) down to $649, from the usual $1,199.  This is basically on clearance, given it’s been superseded by the Hammer 2 (H2) and just announced H3 units. Though the H1 did actually get a substantial firmware update this past summer that increases accuracy on sprints considerably.

3) There’s currently a deal on the Tacx NEO 2 for $200 off, down to $1,199. This reduces down last year’s Tacx NEO 2 by a considerable bit, whereas the new NEO 2T takes its place as the top-spot. And heck, at the moment I’d actually take the one-year-old NEO 2 over the NEO 2T (until they fix the 2T firmware anyway).

And don’t forget to check out the just published trainer recommendations guide in case you’re looking for guidance.

FIT File Podcast This Week:

Episode 91 of the podcast is up!

– Elite’s new ‘Upgrado’ App: Firmware upgrades with Italian flare
– GoPro Max: Do you get Max or the Hero 8? An explainer
– Leomo Type-S: Full Android ‘Sports Performance Computer’
– Hammerhead Karoo gets ANT+/Varia Radar Connectivity!
– Garmin Edge 530/830/1030 to inReach and a bunch of other updates
– Bowflex bike: A Peloton competitor that works on Zwift?!?
– The 2019-2020 Trainer Recommendation Guide: So much to discuss!

Listen here, or four options for where to find the podcast:

A) iTunes: If you’ve got an Apple device, we’re there!
B) Google Play Music: Yup, we’re here too (and on Google Podcasts app)
C) Spotify: Of course we’re on Spotify now – you can even cache it on your wearable too!
D) RSS Feed: Follow along using the direct RSS feed

YouTube Videos This Past 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 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 (and in this case, some of these are from the past few weeks…as my backlog is a bit longer coming out of summer):

1) Laptop capable holder for indoor cycling on Kickstarter: This is a neat little Kickstarter project that appears to have the strength to hold your laptop while connected to your bike frame. So if you’re running Zwift/TrainerRoad/etc via that, this might be an easier solution for you when you need better access to a keyboard.

2) How Pebble Watches were granted an afterlife: Despite Fitbit purchasing Pebble back a few years ago, none of that meant anything for Pebble users. The platform was basically shut down. However, not entirely – thanks to some community support.

3) Delta sends a plane to entire high school running cross country team (from another airline that cancelled their flight): Odds and ends kinda story, but my perfect intersection of running and aviation. It doesn’t happen often.

4) How to turn GIF’s into a wallpaper on your Apple Watch: Title pretty much says it all.

5) Fake reviews are only going to increase: What will surprise you though is why the FTC is mad at itself about it. Fwiw, in our little sports tech world I very rarely see fakery trends in comments/reviews around trainers and cycling GPS units. I see a bit more as we get into the wearables segment, though rarely from legacy players like Garmin/Suunto/Polar, but more some of the newer companies. Meanwhile, drone and action cam reviews/etc are pretty much rampant with fakery, and paid reviews that don’t mention they’re paid.

6) Magnetic GoPro Mount for both vehicles and clothing: This kinda reminds me of the running lights people often use that snap between two magnets to your clothes. But, it also works for any metal surface like a car or building. I’m tempted, though, honestly might just spend a bit of time on Amazon and see what else is already available. I often use GoPro’s on cars during testing, and I’m always leery I’ve got the suction cup right (I’ve never lost one). But I also want something proven here.

7) Super cool world mountain bike jump attempt: Albeit, it ends horrifically crash-wise. But FPV drone here is amaze-balls. I really want to get into doing FPV stuff. It’s on my to-do list for this winter. The only downside is my inability to fly it where I live/work, I’d have to bike about 25 mins away. Albeit, with the warehouse-like size of the DCR Cave, I can probably do some learning there too. I’m hoping my past RC and real-world flying work carries over (as it’s totally different than regular drone flying).

8) Some details/tidbits on training load on a Garmin device from FirstBeat engineer: This is a good primer post if you need more info than Garmin’s typically thin documentation, but don’t quite want to go digging into the FirstBeat white papers. Having met Herman and Aki numerous times to be briefed on upcoming features, they’re some of the most well-versed folks in this field.

Sports Tech Device 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.

Garmin Fenix 6 Series BETA firmware update: WiFi music sync issue fix.

Garmin MARQ Series BETA firmware update: Same as the Fenix 6.

Garmin Fenix 5 Plus BETA firmware update: Same as the Fenix 6 and MARQ.

Garmin Fenix 5 Series BETA firmware update: Some minor fixes/tweaks.

Garmin Fenix CHRONOS BETA firmware update: Same as the Fenix 5.

Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music BETA firmware update: I think the same as the Fenix 6 and Fenix 5 Plus and MARQ update, just worded differently.

Garmin Edge 530/830/1030 Firmware Update: Beastly big update with tons of feature changes, new features, and bug fixes. Seriously worth a read.

Garmin Edge 1000 Firmware Update: GPS related bug fix.

Garmin Instinct Firmware Update: Small pile of bug fixes.

Hammerhead Karoo Firmware Update: Updates to last week’s big update, including some minor fixes.

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With that – thanks for reading and have a good week ahead!

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