I still fail to understand how it’s mid-November already?!? The rain and ugly weather is mostly non-stop here, but at least that means (yet) more trainer time indoors. With my parents in town this week, here’s what we were up to!
1) DCR Gadget T-Shirt Came In!
Last year we designed a DCR sports-tech themed ugly sweater t-shirt, which was pretty awesome. We decided against a sweater itself, since for most people that has semi-limited appeal (especially if you’re in a warm locale). This year we tweaked the design and went with a red background. While DCR Open House folks will be able to order (and then pick up at the open house) the t-shirts, you can still get one here. All without the need to travel to Amsterdam.
And here’s a close-up:
Plus, there’s socks too (select drop-down)! Though, the socks haven’t arrived yet (below at right is showing the back-side with the heel).
Maybe they’re in Dutch customs jail. Who knows. Welcome to my shipping life. But hey, you can order them. So woot! And thanks to The Girl who once again did all the work organizing this.
2) 4iiii Fliiiight Smart Trainer Unboxing
First off, please 4iiii, I’m begging you – no more four iiiii’s per product names after this. My ‘I’ key on my keyboard is dying at a much faster rate than the others. With that public service announcement out of the way, the trainer itself (here’s my preview post), which comes in the skinniest box of all trainers:
It uses magnets to produce resistance against metal rims, but unlike the past STAC trainers (remember, 4iiii bought STAC) – this one doesn’t need any additional wheel weights on it. It’s just unfold the unit, clamp your bike and go.
Unfortunately, while boxing and setup went incredibly smooth – on the same silly-easy level as the also-new Elite Suito trainer….the actual first ride experience on Sunday hit a few hiccups. I’ve sent off an e-mail to figure out why I was having the issues I was, but after a few apps and devices, I gave up for the day and went for a run. Given the particular area that failed (FTMS control from apps) is something that STAC has previously had without issue, I’ve gotta believe it’s a software bug. In any case, hopefully it’s a quick and simple fix or idea and I’ll be back in business.
(Mind you, 4iiii simply joins *every other* trainer company this year with new 2019 early-season trainer issues. Not a single company has managed to avoid that list this year.)
3) Recording the Podcast
GPLAMA and I chatted for a couple of hours, though, only ended up recording about 60 minutes of it. The remainder would probably get us in trouble if we recorded it. We’ve joked it would be a great ‘after-hours’ podcast. Just once…maybe twice. And then nobody in the industry would ever talk to us again. It’s our equivalence of going to the bar on Friday after a long work week.
But, the recorded part is pretty good this week. And, it’ll be up shortly. I’m waiting on a comment on one itty-bitty item from a company before I concurrently publish my post (they’re getting back to me today). I think it’s a pretty big item. Actually, it’s industry-changing. So stay tuned and watch on Twitter – because a lot of people will be saying ‘holy @#$#@’ – and you won’t even have to listen to the after show.
4) Off to the pool
Saturday we braved the endless rain and pedaled about 30 minutes across town to the big swimming pool place. It’s like an indoor water park (and in the summer, also an outdoor spot too). It’s awesome.
Though my parents (who are in town) thought the driving sideways rain was less than awesome. Win some, lose some.
Unfortunately, you can’t take pictures at the pool. So here’s a picture on the way to the pool:
And here’s a picture on the way home – with both kiddos hard asleep in the bike:
At least someone was dry during the ride.
5) Five Watches, 5 HR Sensors, One Peanut
Sunday late afternoon as the sun began to wane, I headed out with The Peanut for a run. P2 was asleep (with the grandparents), and P3 was also asleep out walking with The Girl. Also, I took a few watches:
In general, when units are on the stroller they’re collecting heart rate data, GPS data, or whatever else. Speaking of HR data, in total here was the lineup:
1) Apple Watch Optical HR Sensor (right wrist)
2) Garmin Venu Optical HR Sensor (left wrist)
3) Polar OH-1 Optical HR Sensor (upper left arm)
4) MIO Pod Optical HR Sensor (upper right arm)
5) Garmin HRM-DUAL (chest strap)
The Peanut forgot her watch, a Vivofit Jr., sheesh, what a slacker! How can she expect to contribute to this data pool when she forgets the one device she needed to remember?
Turns out, it’s via taking photos. She had the GoPro Max, taking selfies and pictures of ducks:
(In case you’re wondering why I took Max over Hero 8, mainly because she can more or less shoot in any direction and it still magically works. 🙂
In any case – off we went. Just out along the river and then the lake. Nothing special route-wise. We had hoped to see some fuzzy cows in the woods, but only ended up seeing a few bunnies and horses. No worries, we had a good time:
And here’s that HR data, for fun. Ironically – it was exactly as you expect for a cool fall day: The chest strap struggled at the beginning (I had moistened it before the run, but by the time I got everything all set, it got dried out). The Garmin Venu struggled a little bit here and there (I was pushing the stroller with my right hand, the one with Apple Watch on it).
GPS data was mostly blah from everyone. Nobody got it spot-on, with many of the units skewing off into the woods.
I’ll have a much more detailed post later this week when the Clever Training VIP Sale kicks off (that’s the semi-annual one that gets you 20% off an item, straight discount, no points stuffs). But until then, there’s these deals below that are listed as part of the pre-Black Friday ramp up. It’s a thing this year more than previous years. Who knows if there will actually be any deals by the time we get to Black Friday. All these companies are pushing deals earlier and earlier.
In general, most times you won’t see companies increase a deal on a specific product at Black Friday. Manufacturers and retailers go to great lengths to avoid that, because customers will simply demand the difference in cash back or say they’ll return and re-buy (which is at high expense to the retailer and manufacturer). So it’s pretty rare for something to get cheaper later in the holiday cycle (sales sometimes re-appear). In any case, here ya go:
Product
Sale Price
Amazon
Other site
Sale Notes
4iiii Precision Ride-Ready Power Meters - $100 off!
This is for their non-drive power meter, in either the 'Ride-Ready' config (they send you a completed unit), or $50 off for the factory-install (where you send in your crank arm). The Ride Ready option is really a solid deal, considering you get a reliable power meter for $235.
Ride Ready R7000 - 30% off
Ride Ready R8000 - 20% off
Factory Install - 20% off
9th Gen Apple 10.2-inch iPad (Wi-Fi, 64GB) - $100 off!
⚡ This is an awesome deal. I use my iPad primarily for TrainerRoad as well as Zwift when not with a larger display. I also occasionally use it for other apps, namely Wahoo SYSTM, Rouvy, and Peloton. But I pretty much test every smart trainer app on it. For all these cycling apps, the graphics capabilities is really pretty irrelevant, so having the absolute top-end/latest model won't make any difference. I prefer the budget options.
I've been using these the past few months, after years of using the Beats Studio Buds...man, these things rock. My wife has already started stealing them, which means she'll probably get a set for Christmas so she'll stop sealing them.
⚡I make no secret how much I utilize AirTags, mainly, cause they've saved my butt numerous times already. We have them in every suitcase, and every backpack, and every bike bag. They're also hidden in most of our bikes (sometimes two of them). We were able to get our cargo bike back when it disappeared, as well as figure out when all our suitcases went missing during an annual family vacation where they were (for 5 days!), and plan appropriately. Seriously, just get them.
These aren't the latest anymore, that's the newer 3rd gen units. But if budget is in mind, it's hard to beat these. It's still what my wife uses as her daily driver, including tons of time on the indoor trainer/bike.
⚡This is now the lowest price we've ever seen the Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) - a very solid deal, especially with the new WatchOS 10 features adding in offline topo mapping, power meter support, and plenty more.
This is Apple's latest Apple Watch model, and did quite well in my review when it launched about two months ago. Especially notable is all the new sports/fitness features it got this year, such as cycling power meter/sensor support.
This is really the first slate of sales we've seen on the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and the lowest price to date. Note: It'll show $739, and then to get the full extra $10 more off, you have to check that 'Apply Coupon' button under the price.
There's just no competition in our minds on the best running stroller - it's what we used with all three of our kiddos for everyting from intervals to 20-mile long runs. In fact, we actually have two of them - one at home in Europe, and one with family in Canada that we picked up used. Go Bob Go!
The DJI Avata is DJI's smaller form factor FPV drone, and one of my favorites to fly. I don't use it all the time, but more for very specific things requiring a bit more agility (whereas most of the times I'll use the DJI Mini 4 Pro, Air 3, or Mavic 3 Pro).
There's definitely something cool about seeing a sub-$300 drone. And there's nothing wrong with this drone, it's very good. Just be careful though, because it's lack of 360* obstacle avoidance means it's pretty easy to get yourself in a pinch for a beginner drone.
Up till the Mini 4 Pro came out, this was my go-to drone. It's what I shot almost all my drone footage from, and is great for both cycling and hiking (or trail running with a hydration pack to hold it), as it's super lightweight and includes everything you need.
⚡ This is the first time we've seen the DJI Mini 4 Pro on sale, for a product DJI rarely discounts so soon after release. This is a great drone, and my go-to unit now for most trips.
⚡ This is the first time we've seen the new Fenix 7 Pro series on sale, and it's a nice strong sale. The smaller Fenix 7S Pro watch has become my wife's go-to watch since it came out, for all of her training and 24x7 usage.
⚡⚡⚡ This is a crazy super strong deal, with Amazon having it as low as $449 (insane). Note that the Epix Gen 2 has continued to receive virtually all of the Epix Pro new features firmware updates. Also note: This deal is *STILL* available. Sometimes you'll have to click to show other retailers (on the right side), but it's still live.
⚡ This is the first time we've seen the new Epix Pro series on sale, and it's a nice strong sale. I'd say this is probably my go-to watch these days (middle-sized one), with the singular reason I tend to choose it over the Forerunner 965, being the built-in flashlight for night.
⚡ This is the first time we've seen the new Epix Pro series on sale, and it's a nice strong sale. I'd say this is probably my go-to watch these days (middle-sized one), with the singular reason I tend to choose it over the Forerunner 965, being the built-in flashlight for night.
⚡⚡⚡ This is a crazy super strong deal, with Amazon having it as low as $499 for Sapphire edition (insane). Note that the Epix Gen 2 has continued to receive virtually all of the Epix Pro new features firmware updates.
[Note: This is a renewed unit] Obviously, the Fenix 6 isn't the latest anymore, but these are still very capable watches and frankly, at $329, there's absolutely nothing from any of their even brand-new competitor watches (COROS, Polar, Suunto, etc...) that can even remotely compete with the features here. Heck, not even Garmin's own pricing for their Fenix 7 Pro can compete with this. Fwiw, all Garmin renewed units go back to the same factory original units came from. Frankly, there's virtually no difference. If you're on a budget, this is where it's at.
⚡ This is the first time we've seen the new Fenix 7 Pro series on sale, and it's a nice strong sale. The smaller Fenix 7S Pro watch has become my wife's go-to watch since it came out, for all of her training and 24x7 usage.
⚡This is a strong deal if you don't care about the new optical heart rate sensor (including ECG) of the newer Fenix 7 Pro, especially given the Fenix 7 series has received virtually all of the Fenix 7 Pro's new software features, keeping them essentially identical.
This is Garmin's mid-tier running watch, and is a very polished option with good multi-band GPS, and of course, a boatload of running metrics. This model also includes offline music such as Spotify and Amazon Music.
This is one of Garmin's most popular running watches, and this is now the lowest price we've ever seen on it. 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.
This is one of Garmin's most popular running watches, and this is now the lowest price we've ever seen on it. I often use this in my accuracy testing comparisons when validating other watches, due to it's very strong GPS performance. This is the SOLAR edition.
This is a good deal, especially considering the Instinct 2 series got Training Readiness and a host of other new features over the course of just this year alone.
This is a great deal at $199 for the smaller 2S units, especially considering the Instinct 2 series got Training Readiness and a host of other new features over the course of just this year alone. Plus of course all the existing triathlon/power meter/etc support it has built-in.
This is the first time we've seen the Instinct 2X on sale, and since announcement it's received a huge slate of firmware updates and new features. It's best thought of as an Instinct 2.5, as it has almost enough features to really be more of an Instinct 3 (which doesn't exist at this point).
⚡ This is my defacto satellite communicator when out of coverage area, and I've used it on a number of major treks over the past two years when well outside of cellular service, both in a 24x7 tracking mode for friends and family, but also there in case of emergency. Would strongly recommend for anyone doing anything in the wilderness.
We have more Nest cam's than I can count. No really, we have half a dozen at the DCR Cave alone, plus more at home. We love them. Nest Cam's really only go on sale about 1-2x per year.
These are the WiFi mesh access points I use both at home and the DCR Cave. Love them - I don't need to dork with them, they just work. Sure, there are fancier 'Pro' versions now, but really, I just have zero issues.
While the new Pixel Watch 2 just came out a month ago, the Pixel Watch 2 got almost all the software features two weeks ago via software update. The Pixel Watch 2 does have a slightly better optical HR sensor, and better battery life, but otherwise is relatively similiar.
⚡The Karoo 2 is down to $299 ($100 off), but you can use DCR coupon code DCRAIN40 to get an additional $40 off, bringing it down to $259!!! A very solid deal given all the software updates it's received!
This is one of the other more popular display-laden rowing machines. I haven't tried this, but my sports-tech reviewing buddy DesFit has (linked at side) and liked it.
Hyperice Normatec 3 Leg Recovery System - $100 off
I actually quite like the Insat360 Go 3 and the combo of tiny form factor when you want it, and screen-box when you don't. I'm not sure $20 off is a sale worth jumping out of your seat for, but hey...a sale is a sale.
This is something I use frequently when shooting out and about and I need to re-charge a crapton of drone batteries, action cameras, or just cameras and such. I also use it on trips to Eurobike and elsewhere to keep equipment charged. I've even bought a solar panel to hook up to it (surprisingly effective). Heck, I've even powered a KICKR trainer ride from it!
Lasko High Velocity Pro-Performance Fan (U15617) - 23% off
This is one of the most popular indoor trainer fan companies out there, which rivals the Wahoo Headwind fan but cost a fraction of the price. Of course, it lacks ANT+/Bluetooth integration, but realistically if you really want that you can add a smart outlet for $10 to toggle it on/off from your phone if need be. I've actually got this fan in the DCR Cave recently on advice of many people.
Nespresso Vertuo Next Coffee & Espresso Kit - 30% off
⚡ Let's be honest: This place runs on Nespresso (or, well, the knock-off pods we buy). But, the machine is Nespresso. Without it, reviews most definitely would not get done (and certainly not on time). This is a pretty sweet deal if you ask me!
We use one of these and so far after just about five years, it's working great for us. Love it, and works better than trying to stick a regular Nest Cam out the window (since it'll reflect both during daytime and at night with the IR sensor).
⚡ I know, I know, I still owe everyone a review. Nonetheless, 2+ years later, I love this thing. We use it for more than pizza too, notably steaks (to get a really crispy sear). But a lot of pizza. It's completely portable, even easily fitting on our cargo bike. Note that I went with this model, the cheapest one they make, as I realized that buying the higher-end models that that support gas didn't make much sense for me. I have a gas grill already (and could easily just put a stone on it). Similarly, while a large 16" is appealing, realistically I've found this 12" more than enough for pretty substantial personal pizzas (and it makes it easier to handle). Full in-depth review pretty soon...probably. Also, $244 appears to be the lowest price ever.
I believe this is the lowest price we've ever seen on the original/base Peloton Bike model (without a bundle required). This is still a solid bike, and actually one that I use at home (I have the newer Peloton Bike+ at the office). Both my wife and I use these bikes interchangeably, and while the Bike+ has a bigger screen and better accuracy, there's very little difference in the core Peloton experience. I'd still recommend this model to most people. Note Peloton has stated/confirmed there will be no 'bigger discounts' on products during this holiday period.
This is a solid deal for the Bike+. Both my wife and I use both the Peloton Bike+ and the regular Bike (one at home, one at office) on a weekly basis. We like both. The Bike+ is more accurate than the regular bike, and also has a bigger screen and automatic resistance control. That said, the core Peloton experience isn't any different between the two - it's the same platform there. Note Peloton has stated/confirmed there will be no 'bigger discounts' on products during this holiday period.
Peloton has the Peloton Row on sale, both this base unit here, but also various bundled units as well. This is the first times we've seen the base unit (non-bundled) on sale.
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%. Note, the medium- size is the one on sale.
We have a few SONOS speakers around the house and DCR Cave (the Ikea variants at DCR Cave), but by far our favorite is the Roam, which we take outdoors into the garden during the summer, beach vacations, AirBNB's, etc... It has a battery in it, and also connects to both WiFi and Bluetooth. Love, love, love
I use a literal flotilla of these small SSD's for all my photo/video projects until they get moved off to the NAS system (Synology) for longer term storage. I have T5/T7 units, and are picking up a few of the larger T9 ones given the sale prices. Love them, incredibly fast and reliable.
⚡I use the SanDisk Extreme Pro SD Cards exclusively for all my video/photo shooting on my Panasonic GH5 and Nikon cameras (video and stills), including up to 6K recording with the GH5. I've mostly used 128's, but more and more lately I'm filling up cards faster with higher bitrates, so this sale is gonna have me pickup a bunch of the 256GB ones instead. The 128GB/ 512GB/1TB ones are also on sale too viathe same link. Note that usually I wait till these are about $40-45, so this is a fantastic deal and I'll be filling up.
⚡ A very solid deal, making it the least expensive smart bike out there. Note that while the deal is marketed as being 37% off, most of the time the bike floats between $2,500 and $2,800. Still - $1,999 is very solid.
This is the first time we've seen the new Suunto Vertical on sale, and especially notable given the huge firmware update it got this past week with tons of new features from the also-new Suunto Race watch.
⚡⚡ Holy crap, this is an incredible deal. Get this while it's hot and lasts. Note that you can also pair this with the NEO Motion Plates, which would give you a slight bit of forward/back rolling motion.
This is arguably my wife's favorite sports tech gadget. She uses it pretty much daily. Thus, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this deal. Also, please don't tell her, she might just buy another one...
My wife uses the Theragun Elite, which is just slightly more expensive than this model at $299 on sale right now. But hey, I hear good things about all of these.
⚡⚡ This deal is back, and it's a pretty incredible deal. It's the Wahoo KICKR CORE down to $499, which REI briefly did this past June. Nobody else seems to be offering this deal, and even though the KICKR CORE got the price reduced to $599 recently, it's virtually unheard of to see these trainers below the $500 marker.
⚡ This is a very solid deal that happens twice a year, if you were looking at the Wahoo power meter pedals, grab these before this disappears (and it usually disappears). As with the Garmin Rally pedals, I continue to use Wahoo power meter pedals for accuracy testing of other brands/units.
⚡ This is a very solid deal that happens twice a year, if you were looking at the Wahoo power meter pedals, grab these before this disappears (and it usually disappears). As with the Garmin Rally pedals, I continue to use Wahoo power meter pedals for accuracy testing of other brands/units.
⚡ At some point, everything becomes a steal. While the Wahoo RIVAL struggles to be comepetitive with higher-end watches, at $99, it's a pretty crazy deal - especially for triathletes where Wahoo does some cool stuff around automatic transitions.
I've long been a fan of the Withings WiFi scales, especially since they can connect/push data to so many platforms, including Zwift! Note that the Body+ simply includes more data.
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I see another significant change in the Fliiiight vs Halcyon. Foot levelers.
I slide a shim onto one leg of my Halycon to level it. Perhaps I should call it a Shiiiim and post it on Shapeways. 😉
Foot levelers solve the issue and provide a much larger contact area than the Halcyon.
Not actually a stroller but inside the UA. The movement and I think ‘feel’ of the road just puts kids to sleep. My little guy was almost 2 before he stopped falling asleep during the ride to/from Nursery in a bike trailer. It was like clockwork every journey – within 300ft of travel he’d be out like a light!
Any chance of a review on the mioPOD coming up? I hadn’t heard of that one before and I’d love an upper-arm based OHR sensor I don’t have to charge every 4-5 days.My OH1+ is pretty great, but the battery life on it is so short that it won’t last through the week to my LR. It would be perfect if they had just doubled the size and used the extra capacity for a larger battery.
Just what I was about to ask – I’m sure Ray is planning a review considering he’s using it.
Wahoo ‘suggested’ that the features of the TICKR fit would expand. They havent.
Schosche promised their ’24’ would do offline caching etc for Garmin. It doesn’t.
The OH1 is too small and tends to flip over for me – the strap etc is poorly designed.
Could Mio be about to come along and do everything that these others can’t quite manage ? They also seem to be pushing accuracy during ‘challenging’ conditions. Could we be about to see Mio back on the top of the optical pile. ?!
Yup, working my way through, probably up for next week as a review. I’ve got 3 workouts on it now I think. I had some initial app teething issues, but I think I’m past that right now (until I find the next issue I suppose).
Ironically, I haven’t had the OH1 flip over on me in quite a while…and then on my ride just now it did it. Doh.
The sensor is just a Valencell sensor – so in theory it’ll match the Scosche. In practice…ya never know. Track intervals in the morning.
Awesome – I’ll keep an eye out for it. My Wahoo is working just fine, but love a new gadget!
Whats the plan for the track ? It would be great to hear more about your training. Next goal race ??
Reluctantly, I’ve shifted the OH1 from my upper arm to the forearm just below the inside of the elbow. So far, this has helped keep it from flipping over, especially when I wear it with long sleeves. Polar should make it wider (in the across the strap direction) and use the extra space for more battery. That solves both issues with an otherwise great sensor.
Ray/Bobbie, would it be possible to get a more holiday neutral shirt, for those of us that don’t celebrate Christmas but the other holidays around this time of year?
The Girl actually didn’t like it at first either, and then she got the hang of it and now always wears it while raining. I think in general the issue is that the height of the UA with the rain cover on is pretty high for shorter riders – and then you compound that concern with having this floppy tent over you.
No, I haven’t tried them yet. For me given I already have the PowerBeats Pro and Airpods, I feel like I’m imperfectly covered by two products. This might converge my coverage, but increase my costs. 🙂
Well, based on when Ray mentioned it in this post, I can’t see how it could be anything other than Ray and Shane buying Strava and adding new features……
Keep us posted on the 4iiii Fliiiight (did I include enough i’s?). Anyway I am thinking of replacing my Direto with a Fliiiight or Kickr Core and I want to hear what you have to say.
I don’t know if this is a great replacement for a Direto per se, unless you’re really focused on ERG mode, or on silence/lack of vibrations. If so, then hang tight!
Yup, it’s coming (and sitting on my desk as we speak). The only challenge it it doesn’t have Active Track, so it’s more of a static shot sort of thing.
I attended a KICKR product demo at my local bike shop almost exactly one year ago. At that point the Wahoo sales rep was still previewing the watch. “We don’t have a multi sport watch… yet…”. Have got to expect that program has been deep sixed. The FTC photos were what, 2+ years ago now?
4IIII FLIIIIGHT Smart Trainer questions,
do the magnets spread far enough apart for fat / mtn bikes?
Do any trainers handle mtn bike peddle surging realistically (lowest gearing on steep, lose hills) where you can’t just grind on a big front ring.
If ya needed excuse to add a fat bike to the fleet.
instead of typing “iiii” everytime why don’t you create a snippet/preference rule? In MacOS you can go to preferences→keyboard→text and create a simple rule to replece i.e. “4i” with “iiii” everytime you type it no matter the application used. Don’t have a windows machine around but probably there’s a similar utility available.
The cotton shirt for the open house folks made here in Amsterdam are certified as “STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX”, which has a slew of certification criteria for both materials as well manufacturing sustainability that you can read up on.
The ones from Teespring I don’t have in front of me at this exact second (in the wash at home, at the office), to check the tags.
Thanks for the reply! Standard is a first step: not harmful for our body. But unfortunately says nothing about ecologically / bio or labor circumstances. Difficult industry like also all the nice hardware we like so much.
From a labor standpoint, the underlying shirts are made in Germany (and the printing here in Amsterdam). Given it’s in the EU, I don’t believe there’s any real concern about labor circumstances.
That article came up in my Apple News feed, so maybe I won’t give up on that app just yet. Most of the new device rumors & news have been from bloggers over the years. I imagine when the NDA is lifted we’ll see more details here.
There is at least one other new Garmin device rumor floating around, so this may be an interesting holiday buying season.
No, I’ve been meaning too. We use this Bob model: link to amzn.to
I love it, and I’ve actually used 2-3 other random strollers which claim to support running, and the main difference is the rolling resistance. The BOB just floats along. Also, I’ve seen the whole front tire recall thing a year ago, and frankly, it’s silly. It’s just people not knowing how to use a quick release skewer. It’s literally the exact same design as your bike wheels. Don’t get me wrong – I think the changes are grand, but I also think it’s typical Americana lawsuit overblown-ness for people not reading the manual.
That would be good. I’ve struggled to find any good comparisons.
That’s thrown a spanner in the works, the BOB wasn’t the one is was looking at. I was considering the Out n About. Main downside seems to be fixed front wheel.
Black Friday might make my mind up.
Cheers for the reply. Keep up the good work.
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I have built an extensive list of my most frequently asked questions. Below are the most popular.
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! 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 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.
The heel just looks like 2 dudes with a surfboard. It works pretty well.
Tandem surfboarding!!!
I thought they were naked and Ray was keepin it PG.
Whoa. Quite the tease there in #3. #dcrbomb
Maybe a TR announcement with new features. I can only hope.
My very same thought exactly!! ?
Oops, was meant as a reply to the surfboard comment
I see another significant change in the Fliiiight vs Halcyon. Foot levelers.
I slide a shim onto one leg of my Halycon to level it. Perhaps I should call it a Shiiiim and post it on Shapeways. 😉
Foot levelers solve the issue and provide a much larger contact area than the Halcyon.
Those girls sacked out in the stroller is about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!
Not actually a stroller but inside the UA. The movement and I think ‘feel’ of the road just puts kids to sleep. My little guy was almost 2 before he stopped falling asleep during the ride to/from Nursery in a bike trailer. It was like clockwork every journey – within 300ft of travel he’d be out like a light!
Any chance of a review on the mioPOD coming up? I hadn’t heard of that one before and I’d love an upper-arm based OHR sensor I don’t have to charge every 4-5 days.My OH1+ is pretty great, but the battery life on it is so short that it won’t last through the week to my LR. It would be perfect if they had just doubled the size and used the extra capacity for a larger battery.
Just what I was about to ask – I’m sure Ray is planning a review considering he’s using it.
Wahoo ‘suggested’ that the features of the TICKR fit would expand. They havent.
Schosche promised their ’24’ would do offline caching etc for Garmin. It doesn’t.
The OH1 is too small and tends to flip over for me – the strap etc is poorly designed.
Could Mio be about to come along and do everything that these others can’t quite manage ? They also seem to be pushing accuracy during ‘challenging’ conditions. Could we be about to see Mio back on the top of the optical pile. ?!
Yup, working my way through, probably up for next week as a review. I’ve got 3 workouts on it now I think. I had some initial app teething issues, but I think I’m past that right now (until I find the next issue I suppose).
Ironically, I haven’t had the OH1 flip over on me in quite a while…and then on my ride just now it did it. Doh.
The sensor is just a Valencell sensor – so in theory it’ll match the Scosche. In practice…ya never know. Track intervals in the morning.
Awesome – I’ll keep an eye out for it. My Wahoo is working just fine, but love a new gadget!
Whats the plan for the track ? It would be great to hear more about your training. Next goal race ??
Reluctantly, I’ve shifted the OH1 from my upper arm to the forearm just below the inside of the elbow. So far, this has helped keep it from flipping over, especially when I wear it with long sleeves. Polar should make it wider (in the across the strap direction) and use the extra space for more battery. That solves both issues with an otherwise great sensor.
I’ve been using the tickr fit for a while. It’s got great battery (like 39 hours) and it’s been really accurate for me. Plus dual ant*+/BT.
I love the Polar OH1 with goggle clip for swimming. They could make the strap & it’s clip bigger. They should leave the size of the device the same.
Ray/Bobbie, would it be possible to get a more holiday neutral shirt, for those of us that don’t celebrate Christmas but the other holidays around this time of year?
Cheers
-marc
Here you go – the red one probably fits the bill?
link to teespring.com
Yup, that’s that one too. We’ve also got some other designs being worked on. We’re trying to get better about it.
Are you using the Urban Arrow Poncho? We got one but the boss doesn’t wear it much
Definitely. If it rains, I wear it. Every time.
The Girl actually didn’t like it at first either, and then she got the hang of it and now always wears it while raining. I think in general the issue is that the height of the UA with the rain cover on is pretty high for shorter riders – and then you compound that concern with having this floppy tent over you.
Curious if you have tried the new ApplePro earbuds and if they are any better about falling out of your ear (or not)?
Adam Rodman
No, I haven’t tried them yet. For me given I already have the PowerBeats Pro and Airpods, I feel like I’m imperfectly covered by two products. This might converge my coverage, but increase my costs. 🙂
Even without the loops, the AirPods Pro are about as stable as the Powerbeats Pro.
Random reddit review: AirPods Pro vs. Powerbeats Pro vs. WF-1000XM3 (Bonus: vs. WH-1000XM3).
sooo… is the rhythm 24 sale price $89 or $69…(need to replace my dead rhythm+)
ooops sale starts today..i could’ve just looked ?…$89
My guess is that it is something about zwift. My google assistant feed on my phone managed to pick something up before the post was taken down:)
Point 3 is clickbait to keep me coming back! 🙂
I hear ya I am trying not to just keep refreshing DC’s Twitter feed…OUT WITH IT DC!!!
Soon…I hope. Getting some more comments from the folks involved.
Well, based on when Ray mentioned it in this post, I can’t see how it could be anything other than Ray and Shane buying Strava and adding new features……
You’ve grossly overestimated YouTube creator revenue….. or underestimated the value of Strava. ?
Just wait a few months Shane, Strava are doing their best to devalue the brand!
How about Zwift buying Elite, that would be fun!
I’m going with Zwift release VeryuPro Smartbike.
Keep us posted on the 4iiii Fliiiight (did I include enough i’s?). Anyway I am thinking of replacing my Direto with a Fliiiight or Kickr Core and I want to hear what you have to say.
I don’t know if this is a great replacement for a Direto per se, unless you’re really focused on ERG mode, or on silence/lack of vibrations. If so, then hang tight!
More teasing! Lol, It’ll be fire and pitch forks soon I’m afraid.
Any plans on reviewing the Mavic Mini? I just don’t feel like I can ask Santa for it without hearing about the good, bad, and ugly from you.
Yup, it’s coming (and sitting on my desk as we speak). The only challenge it it doesn’t have Active Track, so it’s more of a static shot sort of thing.
What happened to the rumoured Wahoo smart watch?
That’s what happens when people dig too much into *rumors*. 😉
I attended a KICKR product demo at my local bike shop almost exactly one year ago. At that point the Wahoo sales rep was still previewing the watch. “We don’t have a multi sport watch… yet…”. Have got to expect that program has been deep sixed. The FTC photos were what, 2+ years ago now?
4IIII FLIIIIGHT Smart Trainer questions,
do the magnets spread far enough apart for fat / mtn bikes?
Do any trainers handle mtn bike peddle surging realistically (lowest gearing on steep, lose hills) where you can’t just grind on a big front ring.
If ya needed excuse to add a fat bike to the fleet.
Thx
Mike
I wonder, When we can read your review of DJI Marvic Mini?
Probably next week. Headed out Thursday to do a bunch of tests with it (can’t do them nearby the cave/home due to drone restrictions).
That would be great, I was thinking, DJI must be sent you test spl far before Marvic Mini announce. Anyway, I will wait for your review
Yeah, they sent me one slightly ahead of launch, but it got all tangled up in shipping/customs unfortunately.
it would be great if the Xmas t-shirt were available in smaller (toddler) sizes so that the whole family can wear them
We’re poking to see if we can add that or not. Hang tight!
Hi Ray,
instead of typing “iiii” everytime why don’t you create a snippet/preference rule? In MacOS you can go to preferences→keyboard→text and create a simple rule to replece i.e. “4i” with “iiii” everytime you type it no matter the application used. Don’t have a windows machine around but probably there’s a similar utility available.
Yeah, probably a good idea. I know it can be done in the Microsoft Office suite, but not sure on Windows Live Writer than I use for writing posts.
Hi Ray, nice ugly shirt! Is the shirt clean: bio fabric and fair trade or is it really ugly?
The cotton shirt for the open house folks made here in Amsterdam are certified as “STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX”, which has a slew of certification criteria for both materials as well manufacturing sustainability that you can read up on.
The ones from Teespring I don’t have in front of me at this exact second (in the wash at home, at the office), to check the tags.
Thanks for the reply! Standard is a first step: not harmful for our body. But unfortunately says nothing about ecologically / bio or labor circumstances. Difficult industry like also all the nice hardware we like so much.
From a labor standpoint, the underlying shirts are made in Germany (and the printing here in Amsterdam). Given it’s in the EU, I don’t believe there’s any real concern about labor circumstances.
Hmm.. Garmin Vector Air —
link to bicycling.com
That article came up in my Apple News feed, so maybe I won’t give up on that app just yet. Most of the new device rumors & news have been from bloggers over the years. I imagine when the NDA is lifted we’ll see more details here.
There is at least one other new Garmin device rumor floating around, so this may be an interesting holiday buying season.
Have you ever done a review of running strollers? Which one do you use?
I’m in the market for one but haven’t been able to decide which one yet.
No, I’ve been meaning too. We use this Bob model: link to amzn.to
I love it, and I’ve actually used 2-3 other random strollers which claim to support running, and the main difference is the rolling resistance. The BOB just floats along. Also, I’ve seen the whole front tire recall thing a year ago, and frankly, it’s silly. It’s just people not knowing how to use a quick release skewer. It’s literally the exact same design as your bike wheels. Don’t get me wrong – I think the changes are grand, but I also think it’s typical Americana lawsuit overblown-ness for people not reading the manual.
That would be good. I’ve struggled to find any good comparisons.
That’s thrown a spanner in the works, the BOB wasn’t the one is was looking at. I was considering the Out n About. Main downside seems to be fixed front wheel.
Black Friday might make my mind up.
Cheers for the reply. Keep up the good work.
Any one need a bike. I have a Fuji 2000 fs men’s mountain bike. Great shape. Best offer