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:
Alternatively, for everything else on the planet, simply buy your goods from Amazon via the link below and I get a tiny bit back as an Amazon Associate. No cost to you, easy as pie!
You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.
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Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
1
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.
2
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.
If I don’t sleep with a watch on, are HRV, recovery, etc still useful or is sleep such a core component that they become flawed statistics without that data. Thanks.
No, the HRV features on this watch are pretty much only at sleep. Sure, you can do an HRV spot-check, but it’s not used for anything except recording a data point.
For recovery, it’ll roughly work, but won’t accelerate/etc if you’ve not got sleep data there.
I didn’t see it mentioned in the video, but does FR 165 have support for hotkeys or not? FR265 does have those and they are very useful. It seems that hotkey support is missing from FR165 though, which would be a shame.
No hot keys. Garmin left that feature out of the 255, there’s no way it’s going to include it in an entry model :-)
No hotkeys, which is sorta annoying for the flash light feature.
I use flashlight of any sort very rarely, but for me it’s specially annoying for Garmin Pay. Going through Controls menu is slow and annoying.
Im already certain I know the answer, but does this watch do breadcrumb navigation? Can you import routes and maps?
This is currently only featured on the 945 series and up, but I want to be sure before I spend more than I have to.
Excellent question…does anybody know the answer?
Yes, it does course/route navigation, breadcrumb style. I briefly touch on it in the video. The key difference to the higher-end Forerunner’s is those also have maps on the device, whereas this doesn’t.
Maybe I’ll add a quick little section into the post. There’s some other minor differences around things like how the compass/etc works, but you’ll see those in a post on the FR165 vs FR265, maybe in a few hours. Post is fully done, editing video now.
Hi Ray!
How likely is an update to the 965 series this year? Do you think it is worth waiting, since I kinda fell for the 965 :)
I really hope that Garmin will soon integrate some cellular / LTE options to their premium models.
I certainly wouldn’t expect a FR975 or such, as that would mark a big shift in Garmin’s Forerunner refresh cycle to be annual vs every two years. No idea though if they’ll throw down a LTE variant.
Hello! There is typo in your product comparison for FR 165: PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT DATE and ACTUAL AVAILABILITY/SHIPPING DATE is in year 2024 (not 2023).
Doh, thanks! Old habits die hard. Fixed!
Great details thanks very much.
I don’t think my 165 has red torch or downloadable music as shown in the video. Is this a regional setting (NZ v USA) or did you confuse with the 265?
For music, you’ll need the Music edition. But for the red flashlight, it’s available in all units, but as shown in the tutorial, you’ll need to add it to the controls menu first.
Cheers!