Heads up! Big sports tech sales have begun! Check out the massive list of everything, from 20%-30% off all smart trainers, to $200 off the Garmin FR945 LTE & $150 off the Edge 1030 Plus. Then $240 off Garmin’s Rally power meters (including MTB edition) and $200 off the Wahoo POWRLINK Zero Speedplay power meter. Plus deals on Varia Radar, rocker plates, more watches, action cams, drones, and more. Realistically the best deals we’ll see till November. Enjoy! Full and updated list 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.
You'll support the site, and get ad-free DCR! Plus, you'll be more awesome. Click above for all the details. Oh, and you can sign-up for the newsletter here!
Here’s how to save!
Wanna save some cash and support the site? Use Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with either the coupon code DCRAINMAKER for first time users saving 15% on applicable products.
And both Backcountry & Competitive Cyclist offer free 2-day shipping!In the UK/EU/Australia/New Zealand? Then hit up Wiggle at the link below!
Alternatively, for everything else on the planet, simply buy your goods from Amazon via the link below and I get a tiny bit back as an Amazon Associate. No cost to you, easy as pie!
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!
Wanna create comparison chart graphs just like I do for GPS, heart rate, power meters and more? No problem, here's the platform I use - you can too!
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.
-
Check out my weekly podcast - with GPLAMA, 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?
- Why haven’t you yet released a review for XYZ product you mentioned months ago?
- Will you test our product before release?
- Are you willing to review or test beta products?
- Which trainer should I buy?
- Which GPS watch should I buy?
- I’m headed to Paris – what do you recommend for training or sightseeing?
- I’m headed to Washington DC – what do you recommend for training?
- I’m from out of the country and will be visiting the US, what’s the best triathlon shop in city XYZ?
- What kind of camera do you use?
-
5 Easy Steps To The Site
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 and Equipment 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! 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 2021 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.
Personally, I prefer filter coffee over Starbucks:
link to youtube.com
I’m wondering about it’s use in the UK if it ever made it – plenty of drive thru’s here, as a driver, we sit on the right, most people wear their watches on their left arm though! Big stretch required!! Still, I’d rather make my own coffee than pay a similar amount to a meal for a hot drink, that to be fair isn’t as nice as McDonalds coffee over here in the uk!
@Anirudh: me too. As a matter of fact, I prefer any coffee over Starbucks.
Starbucks make coffee? I thought they just swept the floor and ran hot water through that.
These anti-Starbucks comments make me want to ask Ray to add “Like” functionality.
Yes! Those buttons…I want them steering, please oh please.
I can’t understand why the Starbucks app can’t run on a fenix 3. It sure can’t be a ConnectIQ version thing. There’s nothing to the app. I still can’t justify upgrading my F3. It just works.
Yeah, I’d agree in theory this should be an easy one. About the only caveat I could think of is perhaps rendering the barcode with a lower resolution screen? I don’t know off-hand the resolutions though and whether there’s any meaningful difference (at all)?
You are most likely correct. The F3 is 216 x 216, and the lowest resolution on supported devices seems to be 240×240. So, I’m about 11,000 pixels short. I guess I will have to lug out my phone, unless I’m on my bike.
Hey Ray. In that first picture of Watch… where did you get that green band? I need it. 🙂
That’s the COROS Mojito. If I’ve decoded all the press stuff correctly, you can buy the Nylon strap along, directly from COROS’s site as of today: link to coros.com
It’s the green one.
Will the Vertix straps work on a Fenix 6?
Can’t imagine they wouldn’t be – both 22mm. I may grab one to try out.
That’s not going to work, Garmin Fenix watches have their own strap system, it’s not 22 mm quick release.
But what about people that use ”dumb trainer” and a powermeter/cadence sensor to ride zwift, i would like to guess that we are safe for the long run as our experience in zwift dosent depend on a smart trainer compatibility with zwift right?
I received the zwift survey as well.
I also got a question if it was appealing to get a bike with a financing option. (Monthly fee)
And also some questions until what price point the bike was still interesting for me.
Part of me wonders if the Zwift Bike is the solution to all the esports calibration chatter. Suddenly it’s easy to verify someone’s setup.
Yup, 100%. But, I think things are trending that way anyway with electromagnetic trainers/bikes.
Will that include a set of scales in the seat post
I’ve been scanning my rewards cards’ barcodes and QR codes for years already on my FR 935 using generic barcode/rewards cards apps on Connect IQ.
There’s plenty of them – give them a try! Why limit yourself to just starbucks when you can have a full wallet’s worth of rewards cards not only all in your wrist, but all in one widget!
I even made QR codes to share my contact info, another for leaving a google review for the store I work at, and things like that and added them to some QR code widgets. The ones I use for that are called “QR Code Viewer” and “My QR code” and I just put in a direct download link for dropbox which has my contact file on it (and in the case of the review, a link to the google review page). There’s tons more you can do with it though!
Still neat to see the Starbucks one officially from them. If you guys like that, you should try one of the 3rd part generic ones that lets you put whatever you want there! Garmin’s screens scan WAY better than phone ones – I used to hold my membership cards on my phone but they always had trouble scanning. I’ve NEVER had a problem scanning them off the Garmin screen.
That’s super awesome. Never even knew about those apps. Will start poking!
I used to use on for my grocery rewards card. It worked everytime and was one of the more useful things on my phone.
The Peloton twitter thread was the best rabbit hole of the past 3 months…
It’s one of the best Twitter rabbit holes ever created.
Re: personalized Zwift survey – if you answer “All of the above” every time, does it ask “Are you Ray Maker?”
Haha…that’d be an awesome Easter egg! And, maybe why it was like ‘Dude, you don’t need any more things – ending survey now!’ for me.
Coffee at starbucks is like sex in prison, you can get it, but it will be rough.
The Starbucks app/widget just FEELS like something that won’t work in person when you really need it.
Totally unrelated but saw Garmin now offers the opportunity to customize watch-strap combos, in the case their 20+ options don’t suit ya.
And bigtime US politicians are wearing Whoops to monitor for COVID. It may do them well to peruse some HR accuracy testing such as this site!
link to axios.com
Does the 20+ watch strap combo include velcro, anyone got one or know who sells them for the Garmin Fenix 6?
Hi,
greetings from Germany. While we recorded our velohome podcast we were asking ourselves, who is better preparde for this kind of attack, Wahoo or Garmin? Or in other words, if you got the workaround for an upload, would the same work for wahoo as well?
And generally spoken, which one to choose in this kind of infrastructure apocalypse…
wrong post, sorry
Thanks to you for sharing this informative and impressive article with us. Do you know that at the source of the watchmaking river, we find the modest goldsmith and master watchmaker whose know-how and energy managed to open new paths which were to bring ease and prosperity to the people of the Mountains. rafiqsonsonline(.)com/product-category/daniel-klein/ watchmaker organized a veritable miniature industry at the same time as sales outside. This presupposes at that time practical gifts and a remarkable commercial sense, because the difficulties were still considerable. At the source of the watchmaking river, we find the modest goldsmith and master watchmaker whose know-how and energy managed to open new paths which were to bring ease and prosperity to the people of the Mountains.