Heads up!!! Here’s your massive Cyber Monday sports tech deals list! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $429, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for just $619, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, (or Hero 13 bundle for $339!) and plenty more! Go check out the full list of 100+ deals here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
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You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.Want to compare the features of each product, down to the nitty-gritty? No problem, the product comparison data is constantly updated with new products and new features added to old products!
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Think my written reviews are deep? You should check out my videos. I take things to a whole new level of interactive depth!
Smart Trainers Buyers Guide: Looking at a smart trainer this winter? I cover all the units to buy (and avoid) for indoor training. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
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Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
Get all your awesome DC Rainmaker gear here!
FAQ’s
I have built an extensive list of my most frequently asked questions. Below are the most popular.
- Do you have a privacy policy posted?
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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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
When I lived in the Netherlands I found most of the cinemas showed the English language films in English. Although now I’m in the same situation as you with kids so rarely go to the cinema – but do get exuses to go to the zoo!
Yes, that’s true. Only children’s movies are sometimes shown in Dutch language (“Nederlands gesproken”). See also the map on Wikipedia: link to en.m.wikipedia.org
I guess France and the Netherlands probably represent two extremes in Europe in terms of attitude to common usage of the English language in everyday life.
interesting you call Delft “somewhere down south”. Technically you are right, but normally you would refer to Noord-Brabant or Limburg in that way in the Netherlands. You may want to brush up on your Dutch geography a bit ;-)
Haha…perhaps!
My definition is simple:
Somewhere down south = Anywhere south of my current spot
Somewhere up north = Anywhere north of my current spot
:)
Now that we’re brushing up geography anyway, that “somewhere down south” is called Den Haag, not Delft :-)
Oops… so much for my smart-ass-ery… :-).
Hi Ray,
I feel like it’s a good route for the next year’s DCR summer gathering :)
Hey Ray. I always find my Flux works better over Bluetooth, so I stick to that these days. Not that it helps if the laptop’s Bluetooth module has a crap-out. Good luck for next weekend.
Anyway, I was wondering, do you have a particular pizza recipe that you follow? We have a pizza stone now but struggle to get them thin! Think I need to tweak my dough.
Thanks!
Yeah, it’s funny. I finished up a 2hr ride on it today, including Ventoux in Zwift.
It wasn’t ideal from a Flux connectivity standpoint. It dropped all connectivity multiple times. I was using Apple TV over BLE, but also recording on the side on a Garmin FR935 via ANT+. So I could see that it clearly dropped both sides, on two different devices.
Also saw a couple of cases where the power would ‘surge’ when the include was going between 2% and 3%, as if the trainer instantly was set for 15-20%.
As for pizza dough, no, we actually used flatbread this time. :)
You’re crazy, nicest weather of the summer and you cycle indoor?
Trainers to be tested…
I have given up on Zwift and Bluetooth on Windows 10. It basically never works for me. On two different laptops. Works fine on iPad and iPhone but not W10. TrainerRoad, however, works perfectly on W10 with Bluetooth. Never have had a single problem with TR or Sufferfest. So, I see it as a Zwift issue. It’s been like this for at least a year so I figure that Zwift just doesn’t care to fix it.
I really like Harrys shirt, but i cant ride 150km in it because it is chaffing on the upper torso.
Near the end, the shirt was one of the few things that was not aching…
Ray, you haven’t got the pizza oven yet?! I thought that you just had to do your chores one weekend!
I do, there’s one chore left. It’s basically just an e-mail. Maybe I’ll even do it now…
Ok, e-mail officially done. Though, I have to wait for a few volleys first…
Okay, I look forward to glorious pizza oven photos in a “5 random things” soon… and then you’ll have me wanting to get one! :)
It makes me sad to be in Texas and watch the rest of the world get their act together, sigh…
Dude, the gas fired Ooni’s rock. I have the original, bought it a year ago, and wasn’t able to use it much other than a big party that it handled really well. I’ve been using it a lot this summer. It’s worth it.
Harry, that shirt is absolutely marvelous!
Now if those eyes were on the back, it would really scare off the wheel-suckers.
Awesome jersey Harry!
Garmin USB Ant and Windows 10 just works. I use Zwift a few times a week, work in IT and it’s flawless. I know you used to do this for a living and still do sort of……so you really know your onions :) I’d say Windows, Zwift and Bluetooth are a bit weak but at the end of the day Harry’s shirt is fantastic and that’s all that matters #superfan.
Yeah, I agree. Normally Windows + ANT is the more stable option. But…the BT stack hanging shouldn’t permanently take down Zwift.
I was in the same race as you Ray, and it was really funny once the word got out that you joined the ride, everyone was like, is this the real Rainmaker and after you affirmed everyone felt they were cycling with Wiggins. Your celebrity status is real!
It’s funny isn’t it – I had a similar experience in the one I did (probably the one that crashed for Ray) because Shane Miller / GP Lama riding it. The other 4,090 of us were immaterial. ;-)
Haha… nah, I’m just pedaling along suffering like everyone else. :)
Athlete A was on my watch list this past weekend as well. It was shocking. I say that both in terms of the depth but also (or perhaps especially) the breadth of what was discussed in the film. I’m very glad that the documentary was produced, in part becuase while I think a lot of people in the US and perhaps a handful of other countries consumed enough news to grasp what was going on with regards to Nassar (at the surface level), I don’t think most people were aware of everything else that was covered.
The segment towards the end that discussed the implications of [women’s] gymnastics becoming a younger sport in terms of athletes and how that has played a part in the abuse of all types that has been effectively been sanctioned within the sport (in the US but I’m sure elsewhere as well) was both chilling but made complete and utter sense in the worst possible way.
“The segment towards the end that discussed the implications of [women’s] gymnastics becoming a younger sport in terms of athletes and how that has played a part in the abuse”
Indeed, that was my thoughts as well – and as soon as they started dissecting that, it was a bit of a ‘Woah, now it all ties it together’ type moment.
Some sports have additional/higher minimums for age, that might help in this area. Though, I suspect in most sports the point where an athlete reaches their peak is usually higher in age by default.
The chart shown here is pretty fascinating: link to thestatszone.com
Have you looked at one of these pizza ovens? Both companies are out of the UK and EU. I’ve been using an older Uuni/Ooni 3 and they yield fantastic results.
link to ooni.com
link to us.gozney.com
Yup, the Ooni one is the one we’re looking at. Or, I’m looking at! :)
That was an awesome tome-lapse of the ride to the zoo, the cycle lanes looked so empty. Was that a function of Covid, time of day, a sudden transition of the Dutch population to SUVs and pick-up trucks…?
It was around 9:15 on a Saturday morning, so…pretty quiet. Had it been a normal summer, you’d see more tourists out and about, but even that point is still pretty quiet for most tourists.
Based on our experience here, the Dutch don’t do ‘early mornings’ on weekends. And by ‘early’, I mean anything that’s a single digit hour. :)
Hi,
On some of your posts you mention that you are testing an upgraded version of the Flux 2 trainer (2.1). Is that a HW upgrade or firmware upgrade?
Hardware mostly. Review out sometime today I think/hope.
I see what you mean about Zwift crashing on these big events! I tried one of the ‘Discovery Rides’ on the new stages, and after Zwift crashed on my MacBook four or _five_ times, crashing so hard that it forgot my password, I gave up. Something was deeply broken there. Note, it’s never crashed on my Mac before. I run it on the Mac because it seems more solid there than on AppleTV.
Hi Ray,
This is intended for you and, especially, Shane. My question is- what is the love with videos? Especially Shane? Why would I want to watch a 10 minute video for something I could read in two minutes? I am not against video in general. Just that I think that is should be used only in cases where is actually adds value compared to reading. How to operate something or demonstrating what is does are things that come to mind. But a video of taking something out of the box or reviewing the specs are things that seem to be a waste. I think that videos should be short and sweet and get to the point. On your site I skip most of them. On Shane’s site I skip almost everything. Because I can’t stand taking 10 or 20 minutes watching someone take something out of a box or assemble it. How about a 1 minute video of the tricky part of assembly instead? And the rest is text and pictures? It’s less of a waste of my time and I might actually watch it.
Ultimately, it’s just different audiences.
I’m generally in the same camp as you. I’d much rather a written pile of text I can scan in 30 seconds to see if it’s in there or not, and then read more deeply on the sections I need.
But ultimately, a LOT of people want video reviews, and consume their content via video instead of text. That especially varies based on the topic. For example, for things like action cam or drone reviews, video is often a better way to explain concepts. Whereas power accuracy of a power meter, probably less so.
Ultimately though, I find very little crossover between people who watch my YouTube channel (nearly 200,000 subscribers), and people who read the site (roughly 2 million people/month). It’s funny, the number of times someone on the street will come up and say “Hey man, love your videos!!!”, but then know nothing about the site here.
Actually, just tonight while riding home (in the cargo bike with another bike atop and another trainer), a guy on a road bike all kitted up, slowed down next to me and said ‘Hey man – watch your videos all the time, great stuf!’, and that was that.
For things like unboxing videos, it’s low-effort for me, with relatively high payout. I can shoot a straight unboxing video in 20 minutes, edit it in 30 mins, and upload it in 10. This GoPro Hero 5 Unboxing video (link to youtube.com) is a great example of that. And total revenue to date from that video is $395 for an hours work.
Note: The vast majority of the time I’ll spend god knows how many hours on a complex video and get $12 in YouTube earnings. This TrainerRoad video from earlier this year (link to youtube.com) – a net total of $41.
But ultimately, yeah, just different audiences and preferences.
I think that the production quality of both your and Shane’s video are good. Just the baud rate is too slow for me.