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.
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 or AirPods, it’s still on sale!
All of the DJI Action 2 kits are 15-20% off (depending on the variant you choose), which is the first time we've seen the Action 2 on sale since launch.
⚡This is the first time we've seen the DJI Mavic 3 on sale (for a non-bundled deal). With all the firmware improvements since the fall, it's finally getting to a more stable place in terms of features.
⚡This is the first time we've seen the DJI Mavic 3 on sale (for a non-bundled deal). With all the firmware improvements since the fall, it's finally getting to a more stable place in terms of features. This is for the full bundle, which includes extra batteries (3 total), ND filters, extra props, and the battery charging station. Note this does not include the RC Pro remote (but does include the base/normal remote).
⚡This is the lowest price we've seen to date on the Edge 1030 Plus, far surpassing last spring's $100 off sale. The Edge 1030 Plus came out June 2020, but has continued to receive numerous firmware updates/features, and is Garmin's top-end unit.
Garmin Epix Sapphire Black Titanium - Actually in stock
This isn't on sale at all, however, it might feel like it. Cause this is the first time since launch the Sapphire Editions are actually in-stock and at list prices. Thus, I figured I'd mention it here. 🤣🤣🤣
Garmin Epix Sapphire White Titanium - Actually in stock
This isn't on sale at all, however, it might feel like it. Cause this is the first time since launch the Sapphire Editions are actually in-stock and at list prices. Thus, I figured I'd mention it here. 🤣🤣🤣
Both the Forerunner 245 & 245 Music are on sale for $75 off. This is neither a huge sale, nor the lowest we've seen them (previous low was $199 last Black Friday).
⚡ This is a solid deal on a very capable watch. More notably, it's also the watch I've long used when I'm not testing other things (and still use to compare things). While it doesn't have the onboard maps of the FR945, since I'm not traveling as much, it doesn't bother me. Of course, keep in mind that with all the Garmin units on sale, the price differences to map-inclusive units aren't very much. It's also the lowest price we've seen on the FR745 ever.
⚡Officially this is $200 off, but realistically the FR945 (non-LTE) floats at about $520 most of the year, so it's really only about $120 off the norm. Still, a fantastic deal.
⚡ This is a very solid deal, and only the second time we've seen it on sale. If you were looking at the Rally setup (which can be swapped between pedal types), grab these before this disappears (and it will disappear). Requires REI membership, using coupon code with REI link here: ANNIV22
⚡ This is a very solid deal, and only the second time we've seen it on sale. If you were looking at the Rally setup (which can be swapped between pedal types), grab these before this disappears (and it will disappear). Requires REI membership, using coupon code with REI link here: ANNIV22
Garmin Rally RS100 (SPD-SL Single Sided) - 20% off
⚡ This is a very solid deal, and only the second time we've seen it on sale. If you were looking at the Rally setup (which can be swapped between pedal types), grab these before this disappears (and it will disappear). Requires REI membership, using coupon code with REI link here: ANNIV22
⚡ This is a very solid deal, and only the second time we've seen it on sale. If you were looking at the Rally setup (which can be swapped between pedal types), grab these before this disappears (and it will disappear). Requires REI membership, using coupon code with REI link here: ANNIV22
Garmin Rally XC100 (Shimano SPD Single Sided) - 20% off
⚡ This is a very solid deal, and only the second time we've seen it on sale. If you were looking at the Rally setup (which can be swapped between pedal types), grab these before this disappears (and it will disappear). Requires REI membership, using coupon code with REI link here: ANNIV22
⚡ This is a very solid deal, and only the second time we've seen it on sale. If you were looking at the Rally setup (which can be swapped between pedal types), grab these before this disappears (and it will disappear). Requires REI membership, using coupon code with REI link here: ANNIV22
This is Garmin's standalone radar+taillight option, and $149 is pretty much the standard sale-price. While Garmin just announced their new RCT715 radar that includes a camera and taillight, that's $399 (and not on sale).
This is a pretty solid deal on the KICKR Bike, if for no other reason than we haven't really seen much in the way of KICKR Bike sales (except Zwift's clearance event recently). Note officially it lists the retail price as $3,800, but I don't think that's actually the real retail price lately. It's always been $3,500
⚡This is the first time we've seen the POWRLINK Zero pedals on sale, and thus far, about 4-5 months since launch - people seem really happy with them (as am I, it's become part of my testing rotation due to strong accuracy). Requires REI membership, using coupon code with REI link here: ANNIV22
DCRAINMAKER.COM Posts in the Past Week:
Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page this past week:
Ok, a bit of a quieter week. This week might be semi-quiet as well as I prep things for the 7-10 days ahead – but next week will definitely make up for it.
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) Quick Page to see all Zwift Steering Events: In the approximately 72 hours after steering launched, Zwift changed how and what events steering would be available on….about 3.5 times. Making it darn near impossible to figure out exactly which events you could use it on. But, if you were among the thousands that bought a Sterzo, you now have a handy option via the Zwift Hacks site to filter all events with (or without) steering enabled.
2) Unbricking a bike with Raspberry Pi to run Zwift: Last year Flywheel got sued by Peloton for stealing code. They lost, and ultimately killed the bike platform. While not ideal at all, Peloton offered customers a swap to a Peloton bike for free (which, is a pretty sweet deal). In any event, if you had one of those Flywheel bikes, they quickly became clothes hangers. However, this developer unbricked it and made it work with Zwift. Mind you, this is definitely not an ‘Easy Button’ project, but it is super cool.
5) Apple watchOS 7 rolls out public beta with sleep tracking: Remember the sleep tracking I previewed back in June? Now you can give it a whirl too on your regular Apple Watch. As usual, reminder – it’s technically beta. Your watch could be fine, or it could do something horrible. It probably won’t, but this is 2020 after all. I’ll probably give it a whirl in the coming days and see what’s changed.
6) Apple Health Plus Subscription Service Coming? Sounds like some sort of paid platform is on the way to Apple. It’ll be interesting to see what exactly they come up with. Rumors seem to point to instructional related, which might make sense. Though, I don’t see any threat to Peloton unless there’s some unknown hardware partnership.
7) Behind the Scenes on Garmin Instinct Commercial: I’m a bit of a camera geek, so it’s always fun to see how things are shot/made. I presume this one was sometime this winter prior to the world ending. But still, it’s interesting.
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.
I’m hoping for Tempe support. A temperature sensor underneath the saddle, out of the sunlight, would be an improvement over the built-in sensor I think.
TBH I don’t understand why it isn’t supported already while so many other Garmin devices do support it; I’m sure it’ll (modestly) drive sales of the Tempe…
Hmmm. I might try it. I’ve gone back to and have been sticking with 11.2 on my 820 due to battery life, sensor dropouts, green screen, and other issues with subsequent releases. Seems I’ve always wound up using down rev firmware toward the end of a Garmin’s product life as the final versions were worse.
Yeah, they were the week prior. I’ve actually got a post talking about some of those things coming up, combining with something else. Just waiting on something else to drop so that it all makes sense.
Do we assume that the 645 is now a bit of a dead duck in terms of any updates etc, whilst notionally it has been Garmin’s top running watch I’m assuming now the limitation on hardware and planned obsolesence means that the 245 has overtaken it.
I’m reealllllyyyy hoping that “something else to drop” that Ray referred to above is a 655 (or 735). I’ll even order it before Ray’s review drops if it has LTE. PLEASE GARMIN, let me let my wife live track my long runs without dragging a phone along.
The Edge 530 update was actually more important because the 5.66 beta was up and then pulled down quickly. Those of us that were unlucky to have installed it (and have Di2) had a nasty bug which was then fixed in 5.68
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FAQ’s
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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.
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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!
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.
Edge series firmware updates. Perhaps a new accessory product release? I think they’ve done similar before
I’m hoping for Tempe support. A temperature sensor underneath the saddle, out of the sunlight, would be an improvement over the built-in sensor I think.
TBH I don’t understand why it isn’t supported already while so many other Garmin devices do support it; I’m sure it’ll (modestly) drive sales of the Tempe…
Wait, there’s no Tempe support on Edge units? Not even on the 1030+ ?
New models are unlikely. They have had quite a few firmware updates so far and the release cycle is longer than the time they have been out.
Hope, not even on 1030+, just takes it from internal sensor with no option otherwise
^Nope, not Hope!
Noticed a massive improvement in screen response in my 820
Hmmm. I might try it. I’ve gone back to and have been sticking with 11.2 on my 820 due to battery life, sensor dropouts, green screen, and other issues with subsequent releases. Seems I’ve always wound up using down rev firmware toward the end of a Garmin’s product life as the final versions were worse.
So, what about that Ghost Pacer link……? 🙂
Dah. I had that in a notepad I lost, thought I got everything. My bad. Will add it in something upcoming this week!
Here it is for others till then: link to kickstarter.com
I see you picked up on the ANT+ icon in the Karoo update (it seems like the lack of it was one of your pet peeves).
Yup, noticed it right away when I went to pair sensors. So much cleaner now!
The 245 and 945 also received big beta updates?
Yeah, they were the week prior. I’ve actually got a post talking about some of those things coming up, combining with something else. Just waiting on something else to drop so that it all makes sense.
Do we assume that the 645 is now a bit of a dead duck in terms of any updates etc, whilst notionally it has been Garmin’s top running watch I’m assuming now the limitation on hardware and planned obsolesence means that the 245 has overtaken it.
I’m reealllllyyyy hoping that “something else to drop” that Ray referred to above is a 655 (or 735). I’ll even order it before Ray’s review drops if it has LTE. PLEASE GARMIN, let me let my wife live track my long runs without dragging a phone along.
Garmin has a suggestions page; at worst asking for further 645 support is only a shot to nothing. At least it would let them know
link to garmin.com
It’s definitely worth making sure Garmin hears the FR645 feedback. Personally I think it should at least match the FR245 features.
Note – I did confirm this week that for the FR645 feature firmware updates, that “that ship has sailed”. 🙁
HI.
I see that the 645 gets Connect IQ 3.2 today.
Do you know what the impact of that potentially means?
Thanks
Thanks
RAS
The Edge 530 update was actually more important because the 5.66 beta was up and then pulled down quickly. Those of us that were unlucky to have installed it (and have Di2) had a nasty bug which was then fixed in 5.68
Wait…you mean you didnt know??!?!?…oh my god…stop the horses…my life will end because theres no Tempe support…what am I gonna dooooo….
Ffs…
Seems pretty valid question though, why not?
After all there’s Varia Vision support, of which here’s probably like 4 people using it.
“This week might be semi-quiet as well as I prep things for the 7-10 days ahead – but next week will definitely make up for it.”
Kickr Core 2020 update incoming?
The way Wahoo worded their PR pile of stuffs – they seem to indicate the line-up we see today is the lineup for the season ahead.