Heads up!!! Here’s your massive holiday sports tech deals list! This includes the Garmin Epix for just $419, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for just $699, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $249, (or the brand new Hero 13 or $299!) and plenty more! Go check out the full list of 100+ deals here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
Here’s how to save!
Wanna save some cash and support the site? These companies help support the site! With Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with either the coupon code DCRAINMAKER for first time users saving 15% on applicable products.
You can also pick-up tons of gear at REI via these links, which is a long-time supporter as well:
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You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
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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.
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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!
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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.
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My Photography Gear: The Cameras/Drones/Action Cams 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 (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
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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 2023 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.
Hi Ray, The Whoop strain limit is 21, not 22.
“WHOOP Strain, reported on a scale from zero to 21…”
(link to whoop.com)
Oops, good typo catch. But yes, same silliness.
Hi Ray – should it be what each platform is “paying” ?
what each platform plays
The original Venu also had a firmware update: https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/healthandwellness/f/venu/270532/venu-software-update—version-6-20
thanks for the great content
Damn this is exactly what I thought, I bought a whoop following a lot of youtubers advice out there, and I found it near useless for me. I sent it back to the shop and kept my garmin fenix 6
While I agree that the daily strain from Whoop is mostly useless, note that it uses a logarithmic scale, so a 0.4 is still a big amount at that point of the scale (like when comparing earthquakes for example, that also use a log scale).
The fact that the scale has a theoretical limit, doesn’t make the measurement useless by default.
That drone video is novel but was starting to make me dizzy near the end. The swimmers on the blocks would have been pretty nervous diving with the drone coming at them side-on too! I wonder if the hits they get justify the cost of the (likely) trashed drone?
Yeah, I agree the spinning loop aspects were perhaps a bit over the top, even for FPV.
As for the drone itself, many FPV flyers will actually waterproof their smaller handbuilt drones via conformal coating. Pretty easy and makes it as simple as drying it off.
Did I miss the stolen cargo bike story?
Ah the quarterly (weekly) newsletter, how I’ve missed it.
The Zwift/Richmond article got me wondering – how do you ‘own’ a course or a route? Why did Zwift have to get UCI’s permission to do this (beyond using the UCI name of course)? I don’t mean because Zwift is virtual rather than real, more the fact that UCI don’t own any of those streets in Richmond. Or were Zwift just playing safe in uncharted waters?
I don’t think it’s so much a case of Zwift wanting Richmond’s permission per se, but rather the money for it. They wouldn’t need permission to emulate the course/route, but rather, would need it to use the UCI logos/branding with it.
But instead, I suspect Zwift wanted to charge the UCI for this, and thus that’s what the visits/demo was about.
Watched the Crossfit Games last week, Woop was showing live HR data from some of the Athletes on the videofeeds during some of the workouts. That was actually an OK use of their product.
On a “simpler” note. – Jon Cena is certainly capable of doing quick reviews of fitness equipment link to youtube.com
:-) – Maybe not quite as good as Chanel (Alex Dowsett’s wife), but certainly quite close :-)
Have you cancelled the fit file, just thought it maybe was a lockdown thing with nothing to chat about. Missing it!!!