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:
There’s a number of strong sports tech deals out there right now, primarily tied to Fathers Day coming up.
| Product | Sale Price | Amazon | Other site | Sale Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | AmazFit T-Rex 3 - $55 off | $224 | Amazon | ||
 | Apple Watch Series 10 - $70 off $399/$499 (cellular) | $359 | Amazon | ||
 | Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium - $70 off | $729 | Amazon | ||
 | Elite Riser - $250 off! | $749 | Amazon | This 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! | |
 | Garmin Edge 1050 - $100 off! | $599 | Amazon | REI | ⚡This is the first time we've seen teh Edge 1050 on sale, since being announced last June (2024). It continues to be the most full featured bike comptuer on the market, and both reviews and consumers seem to be pretty happy with it. It's the unit I use if not testing anything else. |
 | Garmin Edge 540 - $100 off | $249 | Amazon | REI | ⚡At $249, it's pretty much impossible to beat this deal in terms of bike computers. There's no competitive option that beats it on features/battery/etc at this price, or frankly anywhere near it. Sure, it doesn't have a touchscreen, but it's not as bad as it used to be (I did a stint on it this winter for a week or so, and was fine). |
 | Garmin Edge 840 - $100 off | $349 | Amazon | REI | This is Garmin's main mid-range cycling GPS, it's what my wife uses and she's perfectly happy with it. |
 | Garmin Enduro 3: $100 off $899 | $799 | Amazon | REI | This is the biggest sale we've seen on this to date. As noted above, the Enduro 3 is simply the Fenix 8 with a MIP/Solar display (but without the scuba or voice calling features). It gets all the Fenix 8 features and updates otherwise. |
 | Garmin Fenix 8 Series - $200 Off! $999-$1,199 | $799 | Amazon | REI | ⚡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. |
 | Garmin Forerunner 265 Series - $100 off! $449 | $349 | Amazon | REI | This is actually the biggest discount the Forerunner 265 has seen since launch. Obviously the FR570 (successor to FR265) just came out this week, though with relatively modest updates. |
 | Garmin Forerunner 965 - $100 off $599 | $499 | Amazon | REI | 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! |
 | Garmin Varia Radar (RTL515) - $50 off | $149 | Amazon | REI | This is Garmin's standalone radar+taillight option, and $149 is pretty much the standard sale-price. |
 | Garmin Venu 3/3S - $100 off | $349 | Amazon | REI | |
 | Garmin inReach 2 Mini Satellite Communicator (2-way) - $100 off | $299 | Amazon | REI | ⚡ 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. |
 | Garmin inReach Messenger Plus - $100 off! | $399 | Amazon | REI | This came out last fall, and is the first time this has been discounted. The key difference with the new Plus model is that it adds the ability to send photos and voice messenges via satellite. I've used it a bit, and it's pretty cool because it makes it a lot faster to just say something rather than type it out, but the $499 price seemed excessive. $399 makes it slightly more palatable. |
 | GoPro Hero 13 Black Bundle (extra battery/SD card/floaty) - $100 off! | $379 | Amazon | ⚡ This is a very solid deal. It's a Hero 13 Black on discount, but then an extra battery tossed in, then an SD card, and then a floaty. | |
 | Suunto Race - $70 off! $449/$549 | $379 | Amazon | ||
 | Suunto Vertical - $130 off! | $499 | Amazon | ||
 | Wahoo BOLT V2 - $30 off $279 | $249 | Amazon |
DCRAINMAKER.COM Posts in the Past Week:
Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page this past week, albeit, a heavy Garmin week. As usual, I can’t really control when companies decide to announce their products. Last week was a heavy Wahoo week. Tit for tat.
Wednesday: Garmin Forerunner 55 In-Depth Review
Wednesday: Garmin Forerunner 945 LTE In-Depth Review
Friday: An Explainer: Garmin’s New Wearables LTE Strategy
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. Also, there’s a few things this week that were actually from a week or two ago – I’m just catching up on this list:
1) Substantial Strava updates this week: Or rather, what Strava is calling their “biggest update for 2021”. Honestly, I think that’s overselling it a bit. I like the new segment cards and all – it’s tidy, but that mostly assumes you care about segments (for which, I simply do not). Then there’s the challenges piece, which again, is cool if that’s your jam. But since you can only add a limited number of people, it’s not functional for clubs/teams/larger groups. I get it, you have to launch somewhere, but I remain perplexed at how both Strava and Zwift keep missing the boat on larger team/club dynamics here. In any case, if you want the full scoop, hit up Lama’s video below (oh, and related, I still use the now year old one-off routing pieces on a weekly+ basis, including for large chunks of the ride I’m about to head out on now):
2) 2022 Women’s WorldTour Calendar Includes Tour de France Femmes: I’m super excited about this. It’s waaaaaaay overdue. While it’s ‘only’ a week, it’s a start, and it’s a good place to develop an audience. It’ll run directly after the men’s, starting July 24th to July 31st. We won’t see the course till later this year, so that too is an unknown. It’ll be interesting to see what they do here logistically, as starting the same day the men finish means that virtually every bit of media and cycling word is in Paris for the finish. As many others have said though, fan/media-wise, it’d be far better to run these concurrently with roughly the last week of the men’s Tour, with the women simply starting a touch earlier on the same course (as the roads are already closed early that morning anyway). But in any case, baby steps.
3) Fossil doesn’t plan to upgrade existing Wear OS watches: After Google announced last month that they’ll join forces with Samsung to create a new Wear OS version/offering, Fossil basically says ‘sorry’ to existing owners. To be fair, I think this might be the only viable approach, depending on how drastic the changes are. Many people (including myself), would argue the only thing that’s going to make Wear OS halfway palatable is a drastic change. Sometimes pulling off the Band-Aid hurts. I haven’t asked Suunto, Casio, or Polar if they plan to update their Wear OS units.
4) Kiel Reijnen runs with gravel bike for 18 miles during race: Yes, you read that right – 18 miles, or 29 kilometers – after he had a mechanical. He did this in socks, on gravel, with the bike rigged over his shoulder using spare tubes.
5) Peloton acquires yet more tech companies: This time, Latitude 32, an engineering company that has assisted Fitbit, GoPro, and numerous other big names. This includes projects in sport, wearables, audio, and accessories. As if there was really any doubt at this point that Peloton is planning some sort of wearable, after acquiring Atlas and others.
6) How Val Thorens Ski Resort is using Drones: Pretty interesting stuff, from one of the biggest names in skiing in France. And we’re not talking consumer drones here, but industrial ones, used for everything from checking runs for skiers at the end of the day, to checking avalanche systems and more. Also, I want to go back and ski Val Thorens again. Sadly, no skiing this past winter in France.
7) Also – if you want some hilarious blast from the past videos from Val Thorens: Here’s from 6 years ago at Val Thorens when The Girl got ‘stuck’ on a giant zipline that is strung between two peaks. Also, my video, and a lot of other shenanigans. Seriously, it’s absolutely bonkers how high up and far you are. And I’d love to do it again.
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, Wahoo, Polar, and a few other firmware updates.
This was a huge week for firmware updates from a lot of players!
Garmin Edge 530/830/1030/1030 Plus BETA Firmware Update: Continued tweaking of the routing/map screens. This links just to the 1030 Plus one, but you can find the rest in the Garmin Forums (with the most recent betas, as they update frequently).
Garmin Fenix 6/MARQ/Enduro Series Firmware Update: Just a boatload of fixes and tweaks.
Garmin Forerunner 945 Firmware Update: This is the big one, piles of new features from Ultra Run mode to new sleep tracking, to perceived effort tracking, updated Trail Run options, and more. This has been in beta a long-long time. Finally now, production.
Garmin Forerunner 745 Firmware Update: Basically the same as the FR945 one above.
Garmin Forerunner 245 Firmware Update: Adds daily suggested run workouts, VO2Max for Trail Run activities, perceived effort tracking, and a pile more little things.
Garmin HRM-PRO Firmware Update: Bug fix.
Hammerhead Karoo Series Firmware Update: Major Strava leaderboard updates, plus ANT+ sensor connectivity revamps.
Polar Verity Sense Firmware Update: This increases battery life to 30 hours, adds some SDK stuff for developers, and changes the way the sensor sends data via ANT+ during swim mode, so that the user can see summaries of their laps HR data when connectivity is available. It does NOT however add offline caching of heart rate for Garmin watches (trust me, I tried, then I checked with Polar).
Wahoo ELEMNT/BOLT/ROAM Series Firmware Update: Adds performance improvements, and tweaks KICKR & FE-C controls to default to passive mode (so they don’t take over your Zwift session and dork it up)
Wahoo KICKR V5 & V4 (2020/2018) Firmware Update: Adds proper Bluetooth FTMS support (woot!)
Wahoo RIVAL Firmware Update: UI tweaks, and bug fixes.
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With that, thanks for reading!
I was looking at buying a 530,but hey I love a sale and bought the 1030,thanks for the heads up.I also loved the riding around Amsterdam video.
Missed this articles. 👍🏻
Is there also an associated KICKR Core update? It seems to be kind of the stepchild of the Wahoo trainer range.
Yes, there is: link to support.wahoofitness.com
Interesting, my Fenix 6 Pro Solar is on 16.60 release. That must have been pulled at some point and they switched back to 15.20. This new update is now 16.70. So I’m curious what went wrong with the 16.60 release. Hopefully, I’ll be getting that update soon to 16.70. I’ve not had any problems myself with 16.60.
Note that the KICKR CORE also got FTMS support.
Garmin removed the compatibility of the Fenix 6 Pro series watches for the Birdseye Satellite Imagery.
link to forums.garmin.com
Hmm, pecular. Gotta believe there most be some odd licensing thing driving this.
Perhaps, but not in time exploitation? And such things are usually warned six months in advance, a year in advance.
Not convinced about the 245 update… Since updating my Body Battery has been permanently stuck on 5. Sure I don’t wear it at night, but even so! Tried resetting etc, but still no joy.