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Week in Review–October 12th, 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!

Garmin Developer Conference on Wednesday:

 

Previously called the Garmin Connect IQ Summit, but now consolidated for all things Garmin developer into the Garmin Developer Conference, this event is where we should expect to see Garmin announce new developer bits for the Garmin fitness/outdoors/etc platforms. And with that, we tend to see the curtain pulled back a bit on what future devices might have in them. At least, that’s the way it’s worked for the past half a decade or so.

In fact, even before the Garmin Connect IQ Summit there was the ANT+ Symposium, where Garmin used to make some of their development announcements. It’s also where I used to deliver my annual ‘State of Sports Technology’ keynote. And this year will be no different.

And just like past years, my keynote is more about, well…the state of sports tech. It’s not about Garmin or whatever developer stuff they’re announcing. And, like every year – I’ll talk about the highs and lows from a consumer and industry standpoint – and where I think things are going.

The conference is free this year (unlike years past), and entirely virtual (obviously). I’ll be delivering my keynote of sorts in the opening block Wednesday morning starting around 9AM CDT (UTC-5, or 4PM Central European Time). Click here to register to watch!

(Note: Like past years, I’m not being paid anything for my session. In years with the ANT+ Symposium I instead donated my speaker fee to charity, generally a sports-related charity in either Alberta or Newfoundland, home of The Girl.)

Sports Tech Deals of Note:

It’s the start of Amazon Prime Week, tomorrow, and I suspect we’ll see plenty more deals. Until then, here’s some things to get ya started.

ProductSale PriceAmazonSale Notes
AmazFit T-Rex 3 - $80 off$199This is a solid deal, especially for a watch that has offline mapping.
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 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.
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!
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
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 Venu 3 - $50 off!
$449
$399
Garmin Venu 3S - $50 off$399
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
Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm) - $100 OFF$299
Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm) - $100 OFF$249
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).
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.
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!$1,144This 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 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
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.
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 MOVE - $190 off
$1,599
$1,104⚡ This is a very solid deal.
Wahoo KICKR ROLLR - $90 off
$599
$509

DCRAINMAKER.COM Posts in the Past Week:

Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page this past week:

Wednesday: Polar Vantage V2 In-Depth Review
Friday: Fitbit Versa 3 In-Depth Review

Which, was two full in-depth reviews! Lots more wearables stuff in the pipeline!

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!

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:

1) Specialized’s New Ad is So Good: As CyclingTips pointed out, this new ad for a bike or something is probably the most engaging cycling business thing you’ll watch all year. It’s so good you’ll forget it’s an ad. Now, given I just bought a mountain bike, I’m certainly not about to buy another any time soon. But, I enjoy good videos – and this is certainly good and enjoyable.

2) Explaining the new Zwift Pace Partners Drops Multiplier: I’ve started to do Pace Partner rides more and more lately, for the very simple reason that selecting a specific group ride/race doesn’t always work timing wise. Pace Partners meanwhile, they’re almost always there. A new Drops (points) multiplier is now in effect, such that you get more Drops the longer you stay close by. Both the Zwift Insider post above, or the video from GPLama below explain it. Though, as you’ll find, staying exactly within that short 7 meter draft zone for long periods of time is harder than you think.

3) GoPro passes 500,000 paid subscribers: They were previously targeting 600-700K by the end of the year. Of course, the real reason for this is that signing up for GoPro Plus gets you $100 off your GoPro Hero 9. So it’s pretty much a no-brainer since GoPro Plus is far cheaper. GoPro is banking that after a year, people remain on the platform. Which, most probably will. I use it as my backup of GoPro footage, but the 50% discount on accessories is handy when I remember.

4) Maelstrom Trainer Fan Controller Goes Opensource: Of course, the real story here is simply that Keith is moving on from the project to something else. As he noted in the post, the certification related costs were just too high to overcome for this type of product. Still, I’m sure we’ll see something interesting down the road on whatever he’s got planned next…

5) Stryd dips toe into training subscription service: This is an interesting one, and I might end up writing some more in-depth on it down the road. I see both sides of this. On one hand, providing training plans and such for running power-focused workouts makes sense, as a gap exists there. On the flip side, I worry that new features down the road will basically only go to subscribers (which, is how it works for every company – just ask Strava). And for a $200 device, that’s a tough added pill. But if they can make the training plan/platform piece make fiscal sense, then it might be OK.

6) Going from Google Drones to GoPro Drones to Skydio Drones: Women are unfortunately pretty rare in the drone industry, so here’s a good interview with Nicole Bonk, who worked at all three companies in drone engineering and test capacities.

7) Radio Tower Captures its Own Wildfire Demise on Camera: As many of us spend time in the great outdoors and national parklands, this one was pretty crazy to watch. It’s only a couple minutes long, but captures (itself!) as a radio tower camera gets circled with wildfire and eventually falls to it.

With that –thanks for reading!

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38 Comments

  1. Mark Pritchard

    Do you intend to test the HR accuracy of the new amazfit band 5. Just wondering whether the HR accuracy of a cheap fitness tracker would stand up to the more expensive fitness watches! Their advertising claims that it is very accurate, but they probably all say that, but it would be interesting to know.
    Thanks for all the really useful reviews anyway.

  2. dave churchill

    Wildflower probably should be wildfire

  3. Ryan

    Couple of Typos:
    “Dips tow into”
    “circled with wildflower”

    Also will your Garmin Dev Conference video be available outside of the conference?

  4. dave churchill

    Although being surrounded by wildflowers in times of peril sounds calming

  5. Raf Kellens

    So basically Stryd will do what the Trenara app is doing for free the past 1,5 year in the Low Lands. Producing a training plan based on current fitness and adapting that plan each day/week when your fitness improves (or declines ?). Trenara is now entering non-Dutch speaking markets, very interesting to see if they get picked up.

  6. MartinG

    You missed a few parts of the Stryd announcement which I think are actually the most significant: (a) a ConnectIQ app that actually works for interval training, and (b) workout downloads into their CIQ app from 3rd party platforms like TrainingPeaks. It’s a huge step forward.

    • Those are all things that should be done either way, the subscription piece and the impact it has is the most interesting point.

      Ultimately though, nobody really wants to use a standalone Connect IQ app though to get proper data for running power support. And that’s on Garmin to address.

  7. Mr. T

    Has stryd ever made $$$? I think they’ll be gone in a few years c

    • Will

      Don’t know the answer to the first point.

      I think they’ll survive in the long term. Why? The strength of the product. It works so well. No other eco system can give an accurate race prediction that Stryd can, as far as I’m aware of. Garmins Vo2 max is wildly inaccurate as a race predictor. And anyway that predictor assumes a perfectly flat course. With Stryd you tell it the course profile. Boom! As they say.

      Hurdles Stryd face are: runners baulk at spending £200 on a pod. Runners aren’t as tech savy as cyclists so learning power is quite a hurdle.

      Stryd has made huge in roads to learning the tech. Auto FTP. Training plans and race predictors all help.

      Last step is price.

    • “Hurdles Stryd face are: runners baulk at spending £200 on a pod. Runners aren’t as tech savy as cyclists so learning power is quite a hurdle.”

      This.

      I’ve said it since the beginning, and I’ll keep saying it. $99 is the right price point. And the problem Stryd has is that each month that goes by and more brands add native wrist running power (which, as I showed with the COROS Pace 2 is good enough in almost all cases, and even better than Stryd in some cases) – the less likely people are to pay the $200 for Stryd (when they can get a watch for that much).

    • Will

      Maybe I’m too much of a Stryd fan to see the light. But I don’t see other watches offering native power as a threat to Stryd. The watches may output a number but no one is telling the user what this number means, in both training and racing. Only Stryd does. Cyclists are OK with that. They have online training platforms to guide them, plus decades of learnt power knowledge in the community. Running power is still in its infancy. Garmin introducing native running power would help for sure. But again, with any aids it’s another number on the screen to confuse.

  8. Jared

    For the deals it’s probably worth noting that you get the previous generation Tickr from Wahoo not the current one.

  9. Sean in NY

    Hey Ray, can you post your keynote video here on the site if we’re not able to watch it live? Or, by signing up, can we go to the site and watch it after-the-fact? Thanks!

    • My understanding is that by signing it up I think you’re able to watch it after the fact – but don’t quote me on it!

      However, down the road I’ll likely upload it to YouTube or such.

  10. Trevor

    Wheres the sport tech firmware updates section?

    • It got culled this week, partially cause I got too far behind, and partially cause there wasn’t much. :-/

    • JB

      I too often use the link you provide to access what’s new. As the ‘Week in Review’, isn’t published that often, maybe I should just bookmark the updates site. It encourages me to visit your site most days to check updates, not doing so will lose my engagement with your site. ?

  11. Andrew

    Are there any new bike computers to be announced this year, especially from Wahoo or Polar?

  12. Mats

    Will any new devices be announced by Garmin? I was hoping the 745 would be a mid range device, but it’s currently more expensive than 945. So feel like there’s missing a new device in the middle.

    • Generally speaking we’ve already seen all the watches we’re going to see by time the first week or so of October hits.

    • Will

      Garmin 645 Music is now £199 in the UK. It made me wonder if a pre xmas replacement was imminently due. The 735 was briefly reduce to £170 a few weeks before the 745 launch – hence my speculation.

    • In the UK/EU, retailers actually determine the prices for sales – not usually Garmin (whereas in the US, Garmin does).

  13. antdesc

    Hey Ray,

    Can we expect news coros watches this year ? Been waiting to see if a coros apex 2 is on the works..

    Cheers

  14. Nemo Brauch

    While you are at the Garmin Connect conference, perhaps you can find out why it seems nearly impossible to find a simple analog style watch face WITHOUT a second hand. All I want is an option to use the standard Garmin Analog watch face for my Fenix 6s without a second hand. Not sure why that seems so hard.

  15. Ponder

    “close buy” s/b “close by”.

  16. Nemo

    Thanks Will. That’s probably a little tooooo minimal for my eyes!

  17. Jens Holmstrup

    Which Mountain Bike did you buy – have I missed a b´post/blog about this ;-)

    • Haha…I just haven’t really gotten around to posting about it. You’ll see it here and there, mostly in videos.

      It’s the Exceed CF SL 5.0: link to canyon.com

      I don’t have a ton of incredible terrain around here, so something mostly basic was fine.

  18. Paul Horsley

    Are you going to review the Wattbike Atom
    Next Gen bike?

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  21. Thank you so much for your review. I’ve had a garmin watch, (strap broke), then an amazon smart watch of some sort. functional medicine specialist