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:
Ok, not much left this week. Sorta a lull. But hey, if ya need a GoPro Hero 8 Black, it’s still on sale!
⚡ 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.
⚡The Fenix 8 is now down to $799 for the 42/47mm AMOLED editions, and from $899 for the Solar/MIP editions. This is the first big sale, outside of a short $70 discount back in January by Uncle Amazon.
This is the lowest price to date on this watch, bringing it down to a very strong $499. This unit includes maps and is more or less a plastic Fenix 7 Pro. The FR970 just came out this week, adding ECG functionality and a few other software features...but at $250 more!
This has become one of my favorite drones, given it's tiny size (fits in my running shorts pockets) and ease of use. While there's the new Pro drones, those are nearly 2x the price (and more for Pro-Max), and honestly, the video quality isn't really achieving that price point. Also note the checkbox to get yet an extra free battery (thus 3 batteries in total, based on the way it's currently coded in Amazon).
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 to clear out the backlog):
1) GCN announces annual Race Pass, live race coverage: I think this is pretty substantial, and finally something I might actually pay for (if the TdF ends up happening). My challenge has always been that I mostly want to watch an English feed of a race, yet reside in non-English speaking countries (France and now Netherlands). So this is potentially perfect for me. I’m hoping they get out an Apple TV app quickly, since I find AirPlay a bit cumbersome for watching something like sports long-term in the background. Also not super clear to me is what happens if I travel (to other countries), do I lose any access? Is it based on country of credit card used, or current locale of my phone? Of course, travel isn’t really an issue right now…
2) Zwift to do Super League Triathlon Live In-Person Event in August: This could be pretty interesting. Basically the swim occurs in an Olympic swimming pool, then the bike on trainers, and run on a treadmill. They’ve got some pretty big names signed up. It’s happening in Rotterdam, so perhaps I’ll jump on a quick train ride and check it out. We’ll see, depending on if the situation remains the same here in the Netherlands or not. (via Eric Min Twitter)
3) Huge list of US bike businesses who received PPP loans: Obviously, this isn’t every business – but, it is interesting insights into things. Sports tech companies included Saris, Lezyne, Niterider, and Specialized. Keep in mind that the point of these loans is to keep people employed. So while some aspects of a company like Saris would be booming (trainers), other aspects wouldn’t be (their bike rack business).
4) Skydio gets $100M in new funding round: Holy balls, that’s a lot. Obviously, expansion of their enterprise space is driving quite a bit of that. But it’s good to see them explicitly noting that they have no plans to leave the consumer space, and in fact expand production there.
6) How Paris is shifting the cycling landscape: It was cool seeing this when we lived in Paris, but even our own street we lived on looks dramatically different now than it did the day we left. Despite having been one of the two main river streets that pulsed with traffic day and night, it’s now got bidirectional bike lanes and more. Oh, and way less vehicle lanes.
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.
Stages Bike (SB20) Firmware Update: This adds back dual Bluetooth connectivity (ideal for monitoring shifting). This was technically the week prior, but I missed it.
There’s another update (version 2.4.0) for the Stages Dash M50/L50 headunits. Major new feature: “Add graphs to data pages for five key metrics: power, heart rate, speed, elevation, and cadence.”
Such a missed opportunity by Eurosport Player. I love the Kirkby/Kelly commentary, but cannot access it when travelling. Despite subscribing in the UK. I am sure they could sort the issue if its technical, Or sort themselves out if it is procedural.
In Australia – no Eurosport Player access. Eurosport have onsold access to an obscure pay TV coy called Fetch. And you need to purchase a Fetch box for $449 AUD to access it. Previously it was on Foxtel, the biggest pay TV provider in Australia but they decided not to renew with Eurosport. Very disappointing and a lot of people not happy. Would sign up for the Player in a heartbeat.
I don’t understand why Garmin can’t produce a change log page for each device that tells what the current firmware is and the history of changes. Most other companies (including Wahoo in the cycling device space) seem to have figured that out.
Yeah, they have a page for each product, but god help you finding that page from a centralized resource. Impossible.
And atop that, I don’t really understand why they make it so difficult to quickly determine the current/latest version. For example, each one of those pages linked to above can be variable, sometimes they’ll show more current updates, and sometimes it’s just a snapshot in time for a given product’s firmware version (e.g. 8.60). I don’t understand the pattern of why some pages are dynamic and others totally static snapshots in time.
I’d say that the general gist of what Suunto has is easiest to jump off to firmware update pages: link to suunto.com
Though, I wish they just put a little date/FW version below each header image. Would save me/anyone a click.
Agreed getting the information isn’t very smooth. Using the update summary’s navigation breadcrumbs to back out a level takes the user from the land of science into the land of marketing.
Within GC web you can create a Dashboard with a “Device” widget for each of your registered devices. The widget will paint an “Update Available” icon if there is an unapplied firmware update for the device. A little less cluttered than Garmin Express which includes all the TrueUp chatter in the device update counts.
Hmmm…in the US, GCN says ’24 live events plus highlights of the three grand tours’. Highlights, not live grand tours. I’m sure that this is due to existing agreements for the tours in the US, but certainly makes this far less compelling for me.
Agreed that it’s not as good as it could be but for $20 you get a bunch of live races that we wouldn’t otherwise get or could only get from cobbling together different services.
Yeah, it’s really too bad the grand tours aren’t available in the US here. Which, sorta gets to my question of whether the toggle is via billing address or physical locale.
Regarding bike racks – just like everything else bike related out there, they’re sold out. My wife has been bugging me to get a 5 bike rack for our mini-van, and I can’t find one in stock anywhere. So I think bike racks have been selling just fine during COVID.
Yeah, Saris actually does two core types of bike racks:
A) Racks for cars
B) Bike parking racks for businesses (and as far as I understand, most of their biz is in the US right now)
It’s that second lot, primarily in the US, that I imagine is challenging right now. And actually, that second half is more of so-called ‘Bike Infrastructure’ that is both business and government/city focused: link to sarisinfrastructure.com
Re: race pass. They’ve confirmed (in Twitter comments) that the pass works moving regions. You’ll just have access to whatever that region has access to, so the occasional event not available to some regions, most likely RCS events)
Given they are a discovery / Eurosport company, you’ll have the same as the player would show, just with the addition of pre and post race analysis sometimes, and no ad breaks.
This has clearly been the plan for Eurosport / GCN for some time, and its great to see it come to life.
Easily worth the $20 or so.
Regarding the PPP loans, I suspect that even bike racks are selling well right now. My N=1 is that I was recently in a bike store and the only kuat rack in my mid-size city was at that bike store – sold out everywhere else.
Hey there! I am in the market for a bike computer and thinking about sticking with the Wahoo brand for it. I am mostly leaning towards the Bolt rather than the Roam (based on your awesome reviews, thanks!).
I wanted to know if you thought that the Bolt was too old at this point, and if I should wait to see if Wahoo has any newer options coming out in the Bolt price point, or if there are updates to the Roam that would make it more worth it?
I am not in a rush to purchase something, as my phone has been working okay for my recent rides. But I am looking forward to having a dedicated bike computer.
..maybe the hackers are also sportsmen.
They had enough of crappy Connect and for years they collected suggestions and complaints from the Garmin forum and the time has come to implement those…
GCN app and Race Pass (iOS in the UK) is very buggy and poor at the moment. Eurosport much better option at the moment, and Eurosport is pretty terrible itself.
Yeah, internet broadcasting with numerous players is hard. I suspect it’s going to take a bit before things stabilize. Which, honestly, is fine – no better time than now to figure it out…
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There’s another update (version 2.4.0) for the Stages Dash M50/L50 headunits. Major new feature: “Add graphs to data pages for five key metrics: power, heart rate, speed, elevation, and cadence.”
Such a missed opportunity by Eurosport Player. I love the Kirkby/Kelly commentary, but cannot access it when travelling. Despite subscribing in the UK. I am sure they could sort the issue if its technical, Or sort themselves out if it is procedural.
Strange. I was able to use the Eurosport player for English cycling commentary during 2019 in the UK and Sweden.
In Australia – no Eurosport Player access. Eurosport have onsold access to an obscure pay TV coy called Fetch. And you need to purchase a Fetch box for $449 AUD to access it. Previously it was on Foxtel, the biggest pay TV provider in Australia but they decided not to renew with Eurosport. Very disappointing and a lot of people not happy. Would sign up for the Player in a heartbeat.
Garry, if you use Optus Broadband in Oz you can get Eurosport for $8.99 per month.
I don’t understand why Garmin can’t produce a change log page for each device that tells what the current firmware is and the history of changes. Most other companies (including Wahoo in the cycling device space) seem to have figured that out.
Doing an internet search for “Garmin DEVICENAME updates” returns results for many current devices.
EX;
link to www8.garmin.com
Yeah, they have a page for each product, but god help you finding that page from a centralized resource. Impossible.
And atop that, I don’t really understand why they make it so difficult to quickly determine the current/latest version. For example, each one of those pages linked to above can be variable, sometimes they’ll show more current updates, and sometimes it’s just a snapshot in time for a given product’s firmware version (e.g. 8.60). I don’t understand the pattern of why some pages are dynamic and others totally static snapshots in time.
I’d say that the general gist of what Suunto has is easiest to jump off to firmware update pages: link to suunto.com
Though, I wish they just put a little date/FW version below each header image. Would save me/anyone a click.
Agreed getting the information isn’t very smooth. Using the update summary’s navigation breadcrumbs to back out a level takes the user from the land of science into the land of marketing.
Within GC web you can create a Dashboard with a “Device” widget for each of your registered devices. The widget will paint an “Update Available” icon if there is an unapplied firmware update for the device. A little less cluttered than Garmin Express which includes all the TrueUp chatter in the device update counts.
Hmmm…in the US, GCN says ’24 live events plus highlights of the three grand tours’. Highlights, not live grand tours. I’m sure that this is due to existing agreements for the tours in the US, but certainly makes this far less compelling for me.
Agreed that it’s not as good as it could be but for $20 you get a bunch of live races that we wouldn’t otherwise get or could only get from cobbling together different services.
Yeah, it’s really too bad the grand tours aren’t available in the US here. Which, sorta gets to my question of whether the toggle is via billing address or physical locale.
Also for Deals, DJI Osmo Action for $249 (Amazon) showed up in my feed.
Regarding bike racks – just like everything else bike related out there, they’re sold out. My wife has been bugging me to get a 5 bike rack for our mini-van, and I can’t find one in stock anywhere. So I think bike racks have been selling just fine during COVID.
Yeah, Saris actually does two core types of bike racks:
A) Racks for cars
B) Bike parking racks for businesses (and as far as I understand, most of their biz is in the US right now)
It’s that second lot, primarily in the US, that I imagine is challenging right now. And actually, that second half is more of so-called ‘Bike Infrastructure’ that is both business and government/city focused: link to sarisinfrastructure.com
Re: race pass. They’ve confirmed (in Twitter comments) that the pass works moving regions. You’ll just have access to whatever that region has access to, so the occasional event not available to some regions, most likely RCS events)
Given they are a discovery / Eurosport company, you’ll have the same as the player would show, just with the addition of pre and post race analysis sometimes, and no ad breaks.
This has clearly been the plan for Eurosport / GCN for some time, and its great to see it come to life.
Easily worth the $20 or so.
Ahh – cool, I think that’ll mostly work out for me. Good deal!
Unfortunately gpsinformation.net is down for a week or so now :/ Starting to fear it’s not coming back.
Yup, been talking to them. Optimistic we’ll see it come back. Hope so!
Hi there,
the link to gpsinformation.net is not working any more
same for gawisp.com, seems both are dead and you will be redirected to:
link to p3nlhclust404.shr.prod.phx3.secureserver.net
today the site is back!
Amsterdam – Rotterdam is just 75 km by bike. Just saying..
Wahoo ELEMNT/BOLT/ROAM Stability enhancements – well, on my Bolt it crushed Live Tracking and iPhone-Bolt connectivity. Again. Bleh.
Hammerhead finally released the first part of their interface overhaul to the public this week.
Regarding the PPP loans, I suspect that even bike racks are selling well right now. My N=1 is that I was recently in a bike store and the only kuat rack in my mid-size city was at that bike store – sold out everywhere else.
Hey there! I am in the market for a bike computer and thinking about sticking with the Wahoo brand for it. I am mostly leaning towards the Bolt rather than the Roam (based on your awesome reviews, thanks!).
I wanted to know if you thought that the Bolt was too old at this point, and if I should wait to see if Wahoo has any newer options coming out in the Bolt price point, or if there are updates to the Roam that would make it more worth it?
I am not in a rush to purchase something, as my phone has been working okay for my recent rides. But I am looking forward to having a dedicated bike computer.
..maybe the hackers are also sportsmen.
They had enough of crappy Connect and for years they collected suggestions and complaints from the Garmin forum and the time has come to implement those…
GCN app and Race Pass (iOS in the UK) is very buggy and poor at the moment. Eurosport much better option at the moment, and Eurosport is pretty terrible itself.
Yeah, internet broadcasting with numerous players is hard. I suspect it’s going to take a bit before things stabilize. Which, honestly, is fine – no better time than now to figure it out…