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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.
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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! Does Jumbo Visma really use Egde 130 plus, or should it be Egde 1030 plus?
It’s really the 130. I noticed in Wout’s Strava activity from the TT yesterday that he used the 130, presumably because of the smaller size.
Correct, and not just on the the men’s team, but the women’s too! More on that shortly.
It’s the 130 surely because its weight 33 g only
is there an obvious reason why power pedals are not included
Marginal gains Garmin giving them an edge over the competition. Yeah, couldn’t resist, sorry
My first thought exactly. I thought Ray made a typo. Smaller screen, 12 hour battery life, and no di2 support seems a strange choice for a pro rider. I can’t believe the weight savings are enough to justify the 130 plus over the 530. Anyway, hope the 130 plus is much better than the original 130. The original 130 and the original Garmin Fenix were definitely low points for Garmin.
Bauke Mollema (Trek Team) is ridding without the Bike Computer, he explained on Dutch television that during the race he is riding on his feeling… And for the team arts he has the bike computer in his back pocket to collect the data for the team…
Ray,
Since both you and GPLlama tested the Shimano power meter as inaccurate, what does this tell you about all those teams using it? Do you think it means they don’t really use power numbers in the race? Does it mean Shimano fixed the inaccuracies? Or the teams don’t know?
I think for the most part it means that money talks. These team’s mostly know it’s inaccurate, from my discussions with them. In most cases, while it’s inaccurate, it isn’t likely to meaningfully impact the metrics or race strategies for them. Yes, it does impact it, but most of the issues are in edge cases.
Lets wait for R9200 review and data.
Maybe accuracy is better with it?
So far, I’m not seeing that. More tests to come, but already seeing issues. With a few more tests I’ll forward to Shimano for their thoughts before publishing.
Hi Ray, thx for the video. Awesome as always! Will we see anything from the Tour de France femmes? It would be interesting to see how big a difference there is between the men’s and women’s and also top to bottom teams.
Can’t wait to see more content from Shane and your trip around France.
Steven
Yup, was out there today, focused mostly on the women’s teams and their tech. Astounding to see the leaps and bounds made by the sponsorhips this year. So awesome.
Offloading the roughly 1,000 images and videos as we speak, and going to see what I can make of that pile tomorrow morning.
I’m glad, both that you where there but also the great improvement. Guess we will be there with equality before the peanut x 3 is old enough to ride it.
Any reason why you haven’t reviewed the Bryton Rider S800 yet, DC?
Is this true?
Alpecin–Deceuninck (W): Garmin Edge 830
Would be interesting to get some more insights about not using sponsor items.
Nope, sorry, the sponsorship tag is correct, but they were using Wahoo BOLT V2’s.
Interesting to see how many Hammerheads will be there next year. Maybe SRAM will push Movistar/Trek or whoever they are sponsoring next year to use the device.
Yup, totally agree. Could be super interesting!
The Bryton S800 and S500 look promising and without a new 530 yet do you think its a good alternative?
Honestly, no. I’d recommend checking out my S500 First Ride thoughts post here: link to dcrainmaker.com
The S800 is basically a slightly tweaked S500, released only a few months later. But ultimately, virtually all of the same concerns I have remain in the S800 (since, they were largely the same concerns many reviewers have identified over the past half-decade that haven’t been addressed). The Edge 530 is far more powerful in terms of features than the S800 or S500 (especially in navigation).
A better non-Garmin alternative would be the Hammerhead Karoo (very solid feature set). Or, if within the Garmin family, then actually the Edge Explore 2 is very solid, though, lacks structured workouts if that’s a concern.
That is helpful, I missed your look at the S500 so will check that out
No one using power meter pedals? I presume this is because a lot of teams sponsored by SRAM/Shimano have crank-based power meters on those drivetrains..?
Wait, so what was the reason for the Edge 1040 Solar?
Sorry to say this but at their level they are well beyond from the computer metrics. It’s just a matter of sponsorship. The REAL accuracy of those computers aren’t good enough. They are targeted for Prosumer market (and avg consumer too). I know that because I worked for one of this brands. But they are used to track performance.
What specifically is ‘well beyond’? I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard a single team, rider, or manufacturer state that.
Sure, there are teams that have added metrics beyond this – though frankly, even most of those metrics simply mirror what Garmin is doing, just adapted to a given coaches preferences.
I’m surprised more pro cyclist don’t use a forerunner (maybe the 955, 945 or even 745) they’re lightweight and then you can get all of your physiology metrics recorded for the 24 hour period (like the whoop band, but you also get your cycling data).
My edge head unit is simply for looking at cycling data and navigation. Every activity I do get’s recorded on my fenix 6 and everything get’s deleted on my head unit. It’s much easier and streamlined to record with a watch for analysing 24 hour body metrics.
Garmin does provide their sponsored teams with watches, mostly Forerunner’s. And teams do indeed use them, in fact some teams pull all the data into custom portals as well.
When you get into the pro peloton, they’re looking at every gram of weight savings on their bodies (the bikes themselves have to be a specific weight), hence why we don’t see watches sometimes (or why a rider goes with an Edge 130 Plus over a 1040).
What was the well thought out answers and reasons on the 1040 selection?
Also very curious about this.
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I’m guessing the 9200P is still not widely available, and many teams are forced to stick with the 9100P.
An interesting omission: no Garmin power meters-despite having several teams sponsored by Garmin. No Rally RK200, RS200, etc. Wonder why as it gives more data to digest? Accuracy, problems, or just simply sponsorship requirements?
Simply sponsorship money.
How do you get custom cases/skins for the head units?
I found a shop that sells custom decals but not entire cases, I would love to ride with a more colorful head unit.
What’s most interesting Is the complete absence of Stages! I assume that’s due to Stages just not wanting to spend the marketing money? Or Shimano has said: “nope you’re using ours?” Can’t be that they’re less accurate than the 9100P! S
Purely decision to spend money on sponsorships, but in combination, Shimano basically buying out most of the drivetrain sponsorships to include power.