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Week in Review–March 15th, 2020

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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!

Sports Tech Deals of Note:

Here’s some continuing sports tech deals.

ProductSale PriceAmazonOther siteSale Notes
Apple Watch Series 9 - $106 off!
$399/$499 (cellular)
$292I have no idea why this specific Apple Watch Series 9 combo is on sale this much more than the other editions (which are on sale to $320), but hey...the one I've linked to is the Midnight Aluminum Case with Midnight Sport Loop, and is currenetly listed as new at $293. Else, it's $329 ($70 off).
Garmin Epix (Gen 2) & Sapphire - $300 off
$899/$999
From $549⚡ This deal is back, and at $549 for the base edition, and a mere $599 for the Titanium/Sapphire editions, it's a very strong deal. Sure, not as stong as Uncle Amazon back during Black Friday at $449, but those days are gone. Also, this Epix series just got another huge slate of new features this past week, and continues to get equal new features to the Epix Pro units.
Garmin Forerunner 255/255S - $100 off$249This 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.
Garmin Forerunner 255/255S Music - $100 off!$299This 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.
Garmin Forerunner 55 - $30 off
$199
$169This is a good little running watch, though, it also supports plenty of other sport types as well. This is the normal sales price.
Garmin Forerunner 955 - $100 off!$399This is one of Garmin's most popular running watches, and it's back down to the lowest price ever. 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...)
Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: $100 off!
$499/$599
$499See everything I said above on the Forerunner 955 base, except this one also has solar.
Garmin Index S2 WiFi Scale - 20% off
$149
$119I use this scale, merely for the weight tracking functions (not body fat). It works just fine, and integrates with the rest of your Garmin data. If you aren't in the Garmin ecosystem, there's plenty of cheaper options.
Garmin Instinct 2 Series - $60+ OffFrom $238⚡The Instinct 2 base is from $238 (on Amazon), a very solid deal - especially with all the major software updates it's had over the last year. It's also from $249 at REI.
Garmin Instinct 2X - $50 off$399This is the second 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, given the slightly different internals compared to the rest of the Instinct 2 series.
Garmin Instinct Crossover - $50 off$349
Google Pixel Watch 1 - $150 off$199While the new Pixel Watch 2 just came out last fall, the Pixel Watch 2 got almost all the software features via software update. The Pixel Watch 2 does have a slightly better optical HR sensor, and better battery life, but otherwise is relatively similiar. In fact, the Pixel 1 just got another pile of software updates last week.
Polar Pacer - $70 off!$166This is about as low as it gets price-wise for the Polar Pacer (base unit).
Polar Pacer Pro - $70 off!
$329
$269
Samsung Galaxy Watch6 - $50 off$249
Samsung Galaxy Watch6 Classic - $100 off$299This is a reasoanbly solid deal for this watch, which came out last summer.
Tacx NEO 2T Smart Trainer (+ Free Motion Plates) - $400 off!
$1,399
$999⚡ This deal is back, except now they've sweetened it by adding in the $300 Tacx Motion Plates for free (via rebate). So, in the event you didn't pick up before, go forth.

DCRAINMAKER.COM Posts in the Past Week:

Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page this past week:

Sunday: Week in Review–March 8th, 2020
Monday: 5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Tuesday: Wahoo’s New ‘Stealth’-Black BOLT, Price Drop, Plus Adds E-Bike Support, ANGi GPS connectivity
Tuesday: Strava Eliminates Multiple Summit Tiers, Simplifies Back to Single Option
Thursday: GoPro Hero 8 Black Charging Door Accessory: Video Review Posted
Saturday: Elite Sterzo Steering/Riser Block Accessory In-Depth Review

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!

FIT FILE Podcast This Week:

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Episode 102 is out!

– Sea Otter is off…then on…then conflicts with their own event?
– Pro teams migrate to indoor trainer apps
– What could TrainerRoad do to partner with teams this season?
– And perhaps Sufferfest too?
– Strava’s “What’s Old is New Again” 2020 campaign continues
– Wahoo drops price on BOLT
– Then Wahoo drops a new BOLT!
– Is there actually ebike integration demand?
– Garmin drops price on Edge 1030/130/Varia Radar.
– GoPro Hero 8 charging door test!

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

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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):

1) Apple Watch appears set to add blood oxygen detection and improved ECG: Among many other vNext Apple Watch or WatchOS features that seemed to have leaked out. I’m not however convinced that Apple will be able to do SpO2 any better than Garmin/Fitbit/etc. It’s easy to do sitting still, it’s really hard to do in movement (the FDA certification doesn’t even attempt to deal with at movement).

2) How pro cyclists scheme to get a PlayStation into quarantine: Oh to look back on those times and think it was just going to be a couple of riders for a few days or weeks.

3) Twitch to stream National Women’s Soccer League games: This is super cool, especially for international audiences who will be able to see every game.

4) France looks at fines and jail time for e-bike modification: This seems a bit over the top. A lot of this really does seem to stem out of the slightly bizarre displeasure in certain circles against many of the bike sharing companies, which has in turn spilled out into e-bikes in general.

5) Ironman’s comments and plans for the upcoming season: Realistically, the short version could be ‘Everything is basically off till further notice. We’re rescheduling eventually, and your race fee goes to a future race. Roughly.’

6) All Peloton studios to be closed to the public: No surprise here, one of many things that’ll become the new normal.

7) Sister company to LifeQ shuts down: As a reminder, LifeQ makes optical sensors that are approved by Qualcomm for use in Google Wear devices (which are, in turn, on the approved list by Google for Google Wear devices). They used to make TomTom running watch optical HR sensors way back when. These days the most notable watch for them is the recent Suunto 7. While it might sound bad that their sister company HealthQ is shutting down, this is really about refocusing on LifeQ. So in this narrow focus, it’s a good thing for LifeQ. I think. Hopefully. (Thanks Matthys)

8) Hansons-Brooks Running Team Rejects Official Placements for Payouts: Essentially, the team is pretending one of the runners within the race results (a known doper) doesn’t exist, and thus from a team payout standpoint are paying each member higher up in the ranking. That’s awesome! (via Jeff Dengate)

9) Withings creates new division for medical research: As part of that, they’ll work more closely with institutions that need their devices for unrelated studies. In addition, this page consolidates studies using their devices.

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.

[Things be pretty slow in the sports tech world right now. Part of that is seasonality, but a very real part of that is COVID-19]

Garmin Fenix 6 Series & MARQ series devices BETA Firmware update: Minor bug fix.

Garmin Fenix 5 Series BETA Firmware update: Minor bug fix.

Garmin Instinct BETA Firmware Update: Minor bug fix.

Garmin FR245 Firmware Update: Updates to support newer CIQ apps.

Garmin Vivoactive 4 Series Firmware Update: Boatload of fixes, also some new features and added emoji.

Polar Vantage M & Vantage V Firmware Update: Bug fixes.

Wahoo ELEMNT/BOLT/ROAM Firmware Update: Added ANT+ LEV (e-bikes), SRM power meter fixes, other tweaks.

 

With that – have a great week ahead!

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9 Comments

  1. Wolf

    The fact that Ironman is not even considering refunds, shows to all those who were still wondering what a terrible profit maximizing corporation they have become. Postponing the event into fall? What if you already have another race lined up in fall? Just do both?
    In tough times like these you discover the true nature of a person/company.

    • Richard Mercer

      You can also defer your entry into the 2021 race if the rearranged date is not suitable, so that solves that problem. Also, regarding refunds, as someone who has an IM entry this year, I’d love a refund if my event doesn’t go ahead, but if they end up refunding millions in race fees, there might be no more IM in the future. Companies are struggling to survive right now, and we all need to pull together to get through this. IM are not alone as I’ve had other races postponed and cancelled with no refunds. They are tough, unprecedented times.

  2. ReHMn

    – What is a diagnosis of people who see the main problem of diseases from an economical aspect?
    – Monetary mental retardation…

  3. Mark

    Why the price slash on the Garmin Radar unit? Are they releasing a new model this year?

    • ReHMn

      For its price range, it was falling out of potential customer’s radar…
      and yes, more updates are coming… for instance, it is time to update your emoticons archive:

  4. insideforevernow

    Speaking of Peloton (OK, you mentioned them once…), they’re offering a 90 day free trial of their app which I think is related to the C-word. I’m in Belgium and I can’t sign up on the website (the only regions offered are US, CA, UK, and DE; my card is in BE and the website does not accept my postcode). I also can’t find the app in the Google Play Store.

    Am I being stupid, or is it actually just not available in Belgium? Does anyone know?

    • Yeah, the countries you list are the only countries they sell the bike – and thus, the only countries they make the app available. 🙁

      I agree, it’s largely stupid.

  5. Nathan

    There’s a new firmware update for the Sigma ROX 12.0 out as well (as I discovered when trying to figure out why mine was no longer connecting to Sigma Cloud).

    I’ve not tested the quicker charging yet, but that could be a real bonus when I’m bikepacking with a dynamo and power bank.

  6. ReHMn

    Good Morning, Mrs. Maker! Can you release Peanut1 to the playground, please?