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Week in Review–March 8th, 2020

WeekInReview22

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 PriceAmazonSale Notes
AmazFit T-Rex 3 - $80 off$199This is a solid deal, especially for a watch that has offline mapping.
Amazfit Active 2 - $20 off$79
Amazon Echo Dot Kids - 47% off$31Despite being a tech-focused dude, our kids don't actually get much tech in their lives. However, we got these two years ago for them in their rooms, to play music. They do lots of other things, but our kids mostly just use it to play music (from Spotify and Apple Music too), and occasionally they ask it questions. It has all the parental controls I want, so it locks it down from bedtime/etc...For $31? Solid deal (The coolest 'nice touch' feature is that if you whisper to it, it'll whisper back...in the owl kids voice it has.)
Anker 737 Power Bank (24,000mAh) with 140W Fast Charging - 30% off$76⚡ This is one of my favorite purchases, especially for long hikes. Basically, I can recharge my phone battery about 8 times. Or, I can recharge smaller drone batteries. Or, in the airports, I can power my laptop off it (super handy when no power ports around). I've since converted most of my tech friends to using/buying one as well.
Apple 11" iPad - (Wi-Fi, 128GB) - $70 off!$279⚡ 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 Indievelo, Kinomap, 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.
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Gen with USB-C) - $100 off$149⚡ Both myself and my wife have been using these since last fall, after years of using the Beats Studio Buds...man, these things rock. Sure, they're good for sports, but frankly, I use them on planes, editing, and such more than anything else. In fact, I've been listening to them now for 8 hours as I type away on my flight across the ocean. Only briefly putting them in the case to top-up.
Apple AirTags (4-Pack) - 33% off!$64⚡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.
Apple Airpods (4th Gen) - $40 off!$99
Apple Watch Series 10 - $120 off
$399/$499 (cellular)
$279⚡ This is by far the lowest price we've seen to date for the Apple Watch Series 10. Of course, we're probably only 60 days away from an Apple Watch Series 11, but Apple has alreay announced WatchOS 26 last month, which the Series 10 gets all the new features from.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium - $150 off$649⚡ This is the lowest price on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 we've seen to date. It's likely we'll see an Apple Watch Ultra 3 this September, but like the Apple Watch Series 10 above, WatchOS26 has already been announced and all the new features there go to the Ultra 2.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds - $70 off!
$249
$179
DJI Action 4 - $90 off$209While prior gen unit (and probably, 2 generations behind in a few weeks), it's still a very strong contender at this price point especially.
DJI Mini 4K Drone - $60 off$239If you're looking to get into flying with a DJI drone, this is a solid place to start. Of course, moreso than that, the days are very limited for how much longer you can actually buy at DJI drone in the US. So, grab them while you can.
DJI NEO - $30 off!$159This is the lowest price on this drone, and is a great option if you want a follow-me drone that's pretty hard to kill, at a price point that's still super reasonable.
Elite Riser - $250 off!$749This appears to basically just be an Uncle Amazon sale, but hey, if you've got an Elite trainer and wanted Rizer, this is a super good deal for US folks!
FORM Smart Swim 2 Goggles - $50 off$229
Fitbit Ace LTE Kids Activity Smartwatch - $100 off$129This is (by far) the lowest price we've seen on this watch to date. This is their first full smartwatch focused on kids activity tracking and gamification.
Fitbit Charge 6 - 38% off!
$159
$99⚡ This is the go-to sale price for the Fitbit Charge 6. It happens often, but it still doesn't take away from the fast that it's argueably the best bang for your buck fitness tracker out there.
Garmin Edge 1040 Cycling GPS - $150 off!$399⚡⚡ This is a very solid deal, and the lowest price we've seen to date on it.
Garmin Edge 540 Solar - $150 off$299⚡⚡This is the lowest price we've seen on the Garmin Edge 540 Solar to date, which has gained virtually all of the new Garmin Edge 1050 features as well.
Garmin Edge Explore 2 - $60 off
$299
$237
Garmin Epix Pro Series - $200 off!
$899/$999
$609I believe this is the lowest price we've seen for the Epix Pro series (which has an ECG-capable HR sensor). Note that while some sites might tout $500+ off, in reality, this watch has been floating around $800 recently.
Garmin Epix Sapphire/Titanium (Gen 2) - $400+ off!$469⚡ This continues to be one of the best deals out there. While this watch won't be getting much in the way of big ticket new features, it does continue to get minor software updates - and for the money, has far more software features than any of Garmin's competitors (or for that matter, products like the Instinct 3 AMOLED lineup).
Garmin Fenix 7X Pro Solar - $100-$200 off
$799+
$499⚡ This is the lowest price we've seen to date for the Fenix 7 Pro series, and is a very strong deal!
Garmin Fenix 8 Series - $100 Off!
$999-$1,199
$899While not as good as last month's $200 off, that annual spring sale price won't likely be seen again till Black Friday-ish type sales. Thus, if you want a Fenix 8 for the summer, might as well take the $100 off and put it towards ice cream.
Garmin Forerunner 165 (Base) - $75 off!
$249/$299
$219
Garmin Forerunner 255/255S - $100 off$199This is the lowest price we've ever seen the Forerunner 255 at.
Garmin Forerunner 255/255S Music - $100 off!
$349/$399
$249This is the lowest price on this watch to date (previous low was $299).
Garmin Forerunner 265 Series - $50 off!
$449
$399
Garmin Forerunner 55 - A Few Dollars Off
$199
$169Honestly, I just put this one in there, merely to point out you shoudn't buy it at this price. Buy the FR255 at $30 more, far better watch. This thing should be priced at $129 or something to move units.
Garmin Forerunner 955 - $150 off!$349⚡ This has been one of Garmin's most popular running watches, and it's down to a very strong price. 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...). I say '$100ish', because it's usually been on forever sale at $499.
Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: $150 off!
$499/$599
$399See everything I said above on the Forerunner 955 base, except this one also has solar.
Garmin Forerunner 965 - $50 off
$599
$549This had been $499 for much of the spring, so $549 isn't that great of a deal.
Garmin Instinct 2 Series - $75 Off$169⚡I believe $169 is the lowest price we've ever seen for the Instinct 2. Or at least, I have no record of it being sub-$199. Very solid deal for a solid little watch.
Garmin Instinct 2 Solar$266
Garmin Instinct 2S & 2S Solar$217
Garmin Lily 2 - 20% off
$249
$199The leather version is also on sale as well.
Garmin Lily 2 Active - $50 off!
$299
$249
Garmin Venu 3 - $50 off!
$449
$399
Garmin Venu 3S - $50 off$399
Garmin Venu Sq 2 - $100 off
$249/$299 with Music
$149
Garmin Vivoactive 5 - $110 off!
$299
$189This is a great deal for Garmin's little-sibling to the Venu series. It has almost all the same features as the Venu 3, except the voice calling related bits.
Garmin inReach 2 Mini Satellite Communicator (2-way) - $20 off$379This is a pretty small deal for this product. 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.
GoPro Hero 12 Black - $100 off!$279This is the older gen model, and to me, $279 seems a bit high. Get the Hero 13 Black for $50 more and have access to all the new accessories. Or, save yourself $50 and get either the DJI Action 4 (prior gen) or Insta360 Ace Pro 1 (prior gen) models.
GoPro Hero 13 Black - $70 off$329
GoPro Hero 4K - $20 off$199This was released back in September, and is GoPro's budget option, which includes a full color touchscreen on the back as well. It was previously released at $199, but price increases forced it up to $219. Now, it's back on sale for $199.
Google Nest WiFi Pro - 6E (3xPack) - $110 off!$289I've been using the Google Nest WiFi packs for years. And then I converted over to this last fall. Super happy with this three pod pack.
Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm) - $100 OFF$249
Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm) - $100 OFF$299
HoverAir X1 Drone Combo - $100 off!$279This has become one of my favorite drones, given it's tiny size (fits in my running shorts pockets) and ease of use. Plus, you can crash the crap out of it (hundreds of times for me and my wife) without any issues. This combo includes an extra battery and fast charger.
HoverAir X1 Pro Drone Combo Kit - $155 off$599This is a solid deal on a solid drone, and one of the two main ones I use when taking videos of myself hiking or running. This includes the two extra batteries as well as the fast charger (so 3 batteries total).
HoverAir X1 ProMax Bundle - $190 off!$765This includes three batteries, the drone, the vast charger, and some extra accessories.
HoverAir X1 ProMax Cycling Bundle - $332 off!$969This includes three batteries, the drone, the vast charger, and some extra accessories, plus the Beacon (handelbar remote)
Hyperice Normatec Elite Leg Recovery System - $100 off$999
Insta360 Ace Pro Action Cam - $50 off$239This is the previous edition, as the Ace Pro 2 just came out last fall. But for this price, it's hard to beat.
Jackery Explorer 300 Portable Power Station - $100 off!$159This 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've also bought solar panel to hook up to it (surprisingly effective) for very off-the-grid locales. Heck, I've even powered a KICKR trainer ride from it!
Nespresso VertuoPlus Coffee and Espresso Machine by De'Longhi Delux Kit - 30% off!$149⚡ 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!
Ooni Karu 12 Multi-Fuel Outdoor Pizza Oven - $80 off$319I use the Fyra 12 (with wood pellets), and love it. The Karu 12 is essentialyl the newer version of that, and there's both a gas-only version, and a multi-fuel option (gas or wood). Love it!
Oura Ring 4 - $50 off!$299This is the first time we've seen a deal on the Oura Ring V4.
Peloton Bike - $300 off!$1,083⚡ This is the lowest price I've ever seen this (according to my records). 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.
Peloton Bike+ is $500 off$1,995This is a solid deal for the Bike+, albeit largely the normal sale/deal price. 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.
Peloton Row - $330 off!$2,964
Peloton Tread - $300 off$2,694This is my main treadmill at home, and I really like it. I've got no complaints about it, and am happy I went with the smaller Peloton Tread versus the bigger unit.
Polar H10 Chest Strap (Dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart) - 27% off
$89
$76This 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%.
Polar H9 Chest Strap - $15 off$55If you're looking for a good solid high-quality strap, that does both ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, for a reasonable price...look no further than the Polar H9
Polar Verity Sense - 15% off
$99
$84I use this as one of my reference devices for heart rate accuracy testing.
SHOKZ OpenRun Headphones - 31% off$89
SHOKZ OpenRun Pro 2 - 31% off!$124
SHOKZ OpenRun Pro 2 Mini - 31% off!$124
SUUNTO Aqua Swimming Open-Ear Bluetooth Headphones - 22% off!$139
Samsung Galaxy Ring - $115 off$284
Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 (40 & 44mm) - 50% off$159As with the Samsung Watch Ultra, Samsung is less than 24hrs away from announcing a new version of the Samsung Watch series.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra - 50% off$325Look, Samsung is less than a day away from likely announcing a new version (on July 9th), so if you buy now, you might want to wait a few extra hours after delivery to decide if you want to return it. Otherwise, this is Samsung's best watch to date.
SanDisk 1-4TB Extreme PRO Portable External SSD - 30% off$128-$279⚡This is one of the two the high speed drives types I use to store the footage I'm actively video editing. I typically buy the 2TB and 4TB ones, and then eventually offload the footage onto a NAS array when I'm done.
Sennheiser Momentum Sport Earbuds - $60 off$129
Sony Alpha 7 IV Full-frame Mirrorless Camera w/ 28-70mm Zoom - $400 off$2,398This is the main camera I use for still photography and video b-roll. I recently wrote about all the photography gear I use, linked at side here.
Suunto Race - $100 off!
$449/$549
$349⚡ This is a solid deal on this watch, which has offline mapping and continues to get new features. Further, it's the lowest price we've seen to date on it.
Suunto Vertical - $200 off!$399This is, by far, the lowest price we've seen on this watch (which also has offline mapping).
Vacmaster AM201R Fan + Remote/holder (15% off)$67This is another very popular fan that people use for indoor training/cycling, especially due to inclusion of the remote and remote holder to clasp on your handlebars.
Wahoo BOLT V2 - $30 off
$279
$279
Wahoo KICKR Bike V2
$3,999
$2,974⚡ This is one of the lowest prices we've seen the Wahoo KICKR Bike at (ever).
Wahoo KICKR CORE with Zwift Cog+Click ($75 off)
$499
$424
Wahoo KICKR Desk - $30 off$169
Wahoo KICKR MOVE - $190 off
$1,599
$1,104⚡ This is a very solid deal.
Wahoo KICKR ROLLR - $90 off
$599
$509
Withings Body Comp WiFI Scale - 26% off$169
Withings Body Smart WiFI Scale - 31% off$89

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 1st, 2020
Monday: Tidbits and Tech From a Week Skiing in the Alps
Wednesday: Strava Brings Back Chronological Ordering, Adds Athlete Favoriting
Friday: Saris MP1 Nfinity Motion Platform 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:

FIT-File-Logo-WorkingWide_thumb_thum[2]

Episode 101 is out!

– Strava App Updates… higher frequency!
– Saris MP1 Reviews from DCR & Lama
– Oreka Review
– Continued Coronavirus fall-out on sports tech/events
– Ray’s new mountain bike
– Whoop testing update

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

apple-podcasts-badge google_podcasts_badge@2x

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) Pro cycling teams start to compete on Zwift instead of outdoors: We’re gonna see a lot more of this soon. I suspect a lot of it will be more ‘exhibition’ style events, which is fine. It’s better than nothing at all at this point.

2) The AirPods holder for an Apple Watch band: I’d agree with The Verge, at first I couldn’t decide whether it’s incredibly dumb or incredibly brilliant. But then I realized this will be sitting on the edge of your wrist, at the roundest part of the band. So I’m going with incredibly dumb.

3) Man uses fitness app to record ride, house on route gets burglarized, he becomes suspect: This whole thing is a complete cluster. However, it wasn’t actually the fitness data that got him in trouble, but general Google location tracking data that a warrant was served for. Ironically, it was his fitness data that saved him here. Primarily because it was this very same data that went on to show he wasn’t the suspect. How on earth did it get this far?

4) How technology is changing the sports bra: Super detailed piece from Outside Magazine that looks at the significant shifts in the design and production in just the last few years.

5) Sea Otter Cancelled/Postponed: Bummer, was looking forward to heading out there for this. Sounds like it might get postponed till sometime this fall, though realistically from a product launch standpoint that wouldn’t be super-appealing to me (since companies wouldn’t shift product launches from next April to October). However, I could see a scenario where some US companies might shift a product launch or two from Eurobike (first week of September) to Sea Otter if it was only 3-5 weeks later (as they often did for Interbike in the past).

6) Roundup of the shoes worn at the US Olympic Trials last weekend: This is about as close as we’ll get to gadget tech for an event like that. Maybe in some alternate universe Strava (with their newfound CEO) will allow us to pull device reports again (which, side note, is good for Strava publicity). That’d be super interesting to see what the pros and almost pros are choosing.

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 5 & Fenix 5 Plus series BETA Firmware Updates: Minor bug fixes

Garmin Fenix 6 Series, MARQ Series BETA Firmware Updates: Minor bug fixes

Garmin Edge 520 Plus, 820, and 820 Explorer BETA Firmware Update: Two bug fixes, one for maps, one for radar.

Garmin Edge 530/830/1030 BETA Firmware Update: Bug fix for radar disconnects (same as above).

With that – have a great week ahead!

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10 Comments

  1. Dave Lusty

    Am I misreading something or did that guy pay a lawyer thousands of dollars to defend a case that hadn’t been brought against him? Looks to me as though the police wouldn’t have even brought a case in the first place if he’d just done nothing.

    Regardless of how dumb that guy was, I completely disagree with Google having that information, let alone the police (mis)using it the way they did. Google only object because the police are asking for the data for free, but literally any other interested party could buy that data with no objection from Google.

    • In the US, while there’s some validity if you know you’re 100% innocent and can easily demonstrate that, in not hiring a lawyer, there’s also a lot of validity in hiring one.

      Given the situation spiraled from a police department not doing their jobs to begin with, I’d probably side with the dude as well in that you’ve got a scenario where someone is mounting a shoddy case against you, getting a lawyer to quickly dismantle that is a wise move.

      Unfortunately, that’s the reality of the US system.

    • Neil Jones

      I know it’s a tomarto/tomayto thing, but I still get hung-up about “burglarized” rather than just plain old “burgled”

    • Dave Lusty

      Nothing in that article suggested the police were building a case against him though. They requested some information, sure, but there could have been 200 people in that request who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
      If the US system is so broken that you have to prove your innocence before there’s even a charge then I’m not surprised at all that you live in Netherlands now! Couple that with the lack of a GDPR equivalent and that adds up to big issues in the US going forwards with data mining potentially completely replacing justice.

    • Andrew HUSSEY

      Ha ha…me too Neil!

      I also hate “going forward”, and “awesome” every sentence for things that wouldn’t invoke the slightest amount of awe!

      My partner tells me I’m turning into Victor Meldrew.

  2. ReHMn

    Ohhh, pure idiots!

    “McCoy worried that going straight to police would lead to his arrest.”
    So the solution is to hide at your parents’ house, especially when you are innocent.

    “I was using an app to see how many miles I rode my bike and now it was putting me at the scene of the crime. And I was the lead suspect.”
    Nope, idiot. If you would have stopped riding your bike and do a robbery, it would affect the riding time, average speed and location data where you left the bike.

    “I didn’t realize that by having location services on that Google was also keeping a log of where I was going,”
    Five years old kids are smarter than you!

    Folks, if you execute a crime, make sure that your GPS device is enabled…

  3. JD

    I’m curious as to whether you bother installing any BETA firmware updates or do you always wait for the public edition to be released?
    I’m not sure whether a beta is worth installing (to test/resolve an issue) for the simple fact Garmin doesn’t date the change log.
    I also notice the breadcrumb links on the change log pages don’t work (404 errors). Weird.

    • I usually install betas if it fixes something that’s an issue for me, or if it’s got a boatload of new features I want to dig into.

      Otherwise, I don’t tend to bother – merely because I don’t feel like connecting a cable.

      I’d love to see Garmin adopt an approach like Wahoo for betas whereby you can enroll from your phone (if you have the right password anyway), and then the device pulls the betas automatically via WiFi just like any other firmware update. This would allow Garmin to get a wider public group, because it would lower the barrier to install. A simple warning message each time someone installs a beta release would easily nullify and concerns around someone ending up on a bum build.

  4. Brian Faure

    Yet another GPS push update to my 530. I really wish it asked if I want the update so I can delay it for later. It always seems to update during a time when I want good race/ride data.

  5. Tracy Krznar

    Two items:
    1. Is the upgrade from Garmin Descent MK1 to Felix 6 worth it?
    2. Do you have a review of Whoop?