Heads up! The big Garmin annual spring sale has started, with $200 off the Fenix 8 (first sale to date!), $100 off the Edge 1050, Forerunner 965 at $499, the Forerunner 265, the new Instinct 3, and countless other Garmin products including inReach Mini 2. Plus the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium is on sale, and some Suunto & Wahoo product deals too. Full list & thoughts 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
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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 2024 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.
Permission to be blunt?
Virtual cycling is NEVER going to be a level playing field.
Why not?
Living in Colorado Springs at 7K foot elevation, I’m always at a disadvantage in Zwift Racing. Granted I’m a sucky cyclist, so it doesn’t really matter.
That Garmin Connect review might be misleading in terms of sleeping, because there is a 1 day shift in recording.
Sleeping from 15th of December to 16th of December is recorded to the day of waking up, not falling asleep…
Fitness age… not relevant at this statistics. It would be, if all Garmin users would measure it through body composition scale, but they even cutted off Tanita scale connectivities.
Daily steps… Walking is not a sport, unless not Nordic walking. Just walking wearing a fitness device won’t keep you fit…
While walking is not necessarily a sport, “walking wearing a fitness device” WILL contribute to keeping you fit (have a meaningful impact on fitness and is a useful indicator) even for active athletes.
And there are well established benefits from low intensity activity like walking, even for strong athletes.
Lots of proper studies support this, some references here:link to healthline.com
And for one example: I am far from competitive athlete but decently active: In my 50s with >1000km running (including Gold Label marathons every year or so) and 7.5-10k km of cycling annually. I have reduced my running in favor or more time on the bike this year, with a corresponding drop in total steps. And I certainly do use the step tracker/pedometer to track my walking activity.
I legitimately wonder why no fitness company does personal yearly recaps for their users (well, except Strava, but most of that recap is only available to paid subscribers anyway).
It would’ve been cool to see not only the general anonymized report from Garmin, but to see it in perspective next to your own report. And even on the iOS / Android front there are, AFAIK, no apps that can crunch your yearly data stored in Apple Health / Google Health and produce a nice shareable infographic.
Hmm, Whoop does one. And I feel like others do as well?
They all kinda blend together in my head with companies do both global ones, as well as individual ones. Who’s on first vs second becomes a whirlwind this time of year.
“Walking is not a sport, unless not Nordic walking.”
That’s a bold expression..
Have you ever done a 100km walk in less then 17hours?
Simply counting daily steps is not the same as intentionally going for a walk. But getting over 10000 steps a day isn’t going to happen for most of us if we don’t do it consciously. Lots of people would be far better of with regular walking.
Agree.
And not only that, but countless studies have shown that the 10K steps a day isn’t about the steps per see – it’s about motivating people to actually take steps at all. Though, it’s actually about the number too, with that specific number showing declines in a slate a different areas. Even just looking at simple calories, someone who consistently walks 10K/day is going to burn a crapton more calories each year than someone doing 2-4K (a very normal amount for people who drive everywhere and don’t otherwise exercise).
One only need to compare a car-culture location to a walkable location, simply by visiting it, to notice the differences in the size of people walking around. This isn’t rocket science, not everything has to be.
Nope, I haven’t walked a 100km, but I would like to run a Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix (CCC at UTMB), which could be considered as walking.
Unfortunately the registration is now conditioned with participation in other races, which I am not inetersted…
Agree with Ray, bringing steps counting to Garmin devices has a motivation for many users who purchased their fitness devices, but if someone is keen on sporting regularly, doesn’t care about steps…
Step counting is present since the 920XT, but literally nobody used it for that purpose. The optical HRM and other features applied in a fitness market made more sense to steps/walking.
Well, I do care ;-)
Here’s an overview of 2024 for my pedestrian activities (Walk, Hike, Jog and Run). The peak being the 100km event which I want to do again in 2025. These kind of goals keep you going. And while my cycling activities were drastically reduced this year, my performance on the bike still was OK (I’m not racing but never had problems keeping up with the club members).
I’d be interested to read the global stats on Training status… I’d imagine many people are unaware there is anything else other than “Unproductive” on offer!
Haha…I suppose a better question is if this is all Training Status stats, or only those on the V2 stats (basically Fenix 7 or Epix, Forerunner 955/965 and newer devices).
That gets rid of Unproductive for most people, as they split out the two main components such that it’s not as pesky as it used to be (and I find now aligns much better to reality).
I suspect though, it’s everyone, ever.
Isn’t this exactly the reason that George Gilbert built Indie Velo?
So that there could be multiple power sources for the data (power meter and trainer for example)
Exactly.
And somehow, yet, years later and who knows how many DQ’s, there still isn’t this feature built into Zwift natively. So close, yet so far away.
(For those not familiar, while Zwift can select an alternate data source, it doesn’t require those dual sources to a single file that’s uploaded to Zwift to verification, like IndieVelo (now TrainingPeaks Virtual) does.).
does the epix you have linked to have the same or better gps / health and activity sensors as the forerunner 955? the screen switch seems worthwhile but i dont want to spend the money for the epix and its nicer screen only to feel ‘cheated’ by having lesser tech and features than I already have with the 955. thanks and happy Christmas
On the HSA savings thing (USA only): the 30% they are talking about is the ‘savings’ by using pre-tax dollars to buy the equipment rather than post tax. You actually pay for 100% of the cost from your HSA account.. But the savings rate is only true if your tax rate on that money is 30%. if your rate is lower, then so is your savings. Either way, you don’t get a ‘discount’ on the product itself.
Normally exercise equipment does’t qualify for HSA funds (so you would pay taxes plus penalties if you bought it that way), but the third party company they are working with basically gets a medical provider to state that it is medically necessary for your to own a Peloton. (which, if this kind of thing goes unchallenged, I’d assume at some anybody who sells something that interacts with your body in any way will try and find medical providers to say that their product is also medically necessary for lots of people).
All that to say: if you are in a very high tax bracket, and don’t see any issues with putting a treadmill on par with a wheelchair in terms of necessity, then you can save some cash doing this. (assuming their medical providers agree, but I’d be surprised if they ever decided your purchase isn’t medically necessary.)
That’s an accurate read on the Wahoo/HSA situation.
I do think that more health and wellness-promoting items like this should qualify for HSA purchases, but then again, I don’t want to risk losing this best-of-all-tax-shelters benefit by pushing the rules to the point where folks could take advantage/misuse the benefit.
For example, if more things qualified, I could see people buying expensive sports equipment with HSA dollars, only to turn around and sell it at cost, netting dollars that would have otherwise been taxed.
The HSA issue is even much more complicated than Mark and Tyler have explained. Ray, I think you missed the mark on this one and should have done some more research. To put it bluntly, NO, Zwift bikes and Wahoo treadmills ARE NOT HSA eligible. You may, however, as with any medically necessary exercise equipment, get IRS to agree it is necessary, but you may not. HSA’s are somewhat complicated and you have to meet alot of rules such as these:
HSA contribution limits
Every year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sets the maximum that can be contributed to an HSA. For example, if your HSA contribution limit for the year is $4,150 (as it is in 2024) and your employer contributes $1,000, you can only contribute $3,150—unless you’re eligible for a catch-up contribution of $1,000.
The amount you can contribute to an HSA each year is determined by whether you are enrolled in self-only or family coverage and if you are age 55 or older.
2024 HSA contribution limits
The HSA contribution limits for 2024 are $4,150 for self-only coverage and $8,300 for family coverage. Those 55 and older can contribute an additional $1,000 as a catch-up contribution.
2025 HSA contribution limits
The HSA contribution limits for 2025 are $4,300 for self-only coverage and $8,550 for family coverage. Those 55 and older can contribute an additional $1,000 as a catch-up contribution.
HSA eligibility
To contribute to an HSA, you must be enrolled in an HSA-eligible health plan. For 2024, this means:
It has an annual deductible of at least $1,600 for self-only coverage and $3,200 for family coverage
Its out-of-pocket maximum including annual deductible does not exceed $8,050 for self-only coverage and $16,100 for family coverage
And to contribute to an HSA you must:
Not be enrolled in a health plan that is not an HSA-eligible plan, nor can you have a full-purpose health care flexible spending account (FSA)
Not be enrolled in Medicare
Not claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return
Also, as the linked webpage only puts in fine print, you MUST get a Letter of Medical Necessity from your doctor. This is nothing new and certainly not exclusive to Wahoo or Zwift. I just seriously doubt too many doctors are going to write a letter of medical necessity for a $5,000 treadmill. They are much more likely to point out that simply walking or running outside, which is free, may actually give you much greater health benefits than a treadmill, one example is Vitamin D.
So, when you consider all the HSA requirements, such as limits on yearly contributions (which is less than the cost of the Wahoo treadmill by the way) and the problems with getting a Letter of Medical Necessity, you discover that very few people, if any, could actually qualify, have the HSA funds, and/or get a doctor to agree.
Some scenario’s, (1) you’re over 65 and on Medicare, NOPE you’re not eligible; (2) your work for the government and have a $1,000 deductible, NOPE you’re not eligible; (3) you work for someone else with health benefits and a $1,000 deductible, NOPE your’e not eligible; and (4) you’re claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return, NOPE you’re not eligible.
So, I should point out that 60% of the population has employer sponsored health care and almost 20% is over 65. That leaves only about 20% of the US population that might be eligible for an HSA to begin with.
Let’s take me for an example, I have four in my family and we had maxed out our HSA by July due to a couple minor procedures. As soon as you max out, your HSA bank will literally shut down your HSA account. Since July, we have simply been paying out of pocket for anything under our deductible(our deductible renewed on June 30). For instance, I have the unfortunate experience of cutting my foot and requiring stitches while on Mackinaw Island in Michigan this Summer. HSA maxed and deductible would not cover the $1,300 bill. Simply had to write a check out of pocket for the entire amount. Now, I do get to deduct that from my taxes at the end of the year but could not run it through the HSA as I had already made the max HSA contribution for the year.
To conclude, Ray, I doubt you see droves of folks getting a Wahoo treadmill through their HSA account. Heck, you can’t even write off an Apple watch for the ECG and that has saved lives.
P.S.If you use HSA dollars for ineligible expenses, you’ll be charged a steep tax penalty. If you do so under the age of 65, you’ll have to pay a 20% penalty plus any applicable income taxes on what you withdraw. If you’re over 65 and on Medicare, remember, you don’t qualify at all to have an HSA.
That is certainly a much more detailed primer on HSAs in general, but as the posting here is only about being able to spend HSA funds on these specific products I kept my comments limited to that. If you follow past the initial page and figure out what is going on here you will see that the third party store front that these manufactures are linking to has medical professionals on staff who will evaluate your ‘condition’ and decide if they will write you a letter of medical necessity. That letter in theory makes I the purchase eligible for HSA funds.
This process has always been possible, but the change that Ray is linking to here is just that you don’t need your own doctor to write the letter (which probably would be an uphill battle), and that these companies are advertising is. This store (that I won’t link to) has hired their own doctors to approve you buying it. Which I believe is why both Tyler and I expressed some concern about how this works. (and who knows how the IRS feels about it).
“Ray, I think you missed the mark on this one and should have done some more research. ”
I mean, literally half of my comment above was me saying “Admittedly, leaving the US more than a decade ago, I kinda missed the start of the whole HSA thing, so, perhaps this isn’t such an awesome deal. You tell me.”
And to be frank, this very comment section illustrates perfectly that doing “more research” would have yielded different opinions on whether this works or not. That was, well, as I (again literally wrote) my point – to find out from people.
It seems a bit of a stretch to me that Wahoo and Zwift are both making a big deal of this (including e-mailing all their US customers), for them to put themselves in a situation that is essentially calling for their customers to defraud the IRS, no?
Of course, I’ll stop before I get into the general stupidity of most of the US healthcare system…
There’s about to be a whole can of worms opened up on this as pretty much all “wellness” companies are getting aboard the HSA payment through Truemed (Saunas, cold plunge, massage therapy companies, etc), so now you could even get a $10k Sauna paid through an HSA.
I’m assuming the top tax bracket population are very happy about this.
But, again, Marco, No you can’t get a $10k Sauna paid through an HSA because $10k exceeds the yearly amount you can put in your HSA. Of course, unless you contribute several years in a row and never use your HSA and accumulate that much funds AND you get a doctor to write a letter AND you get the IRS to agree. Point is, pigs can fly, or can they? Nobody is going to be able to do that, ever.
I think I just didn’t interpret your inflection in your comments. If you had added a question mark after saying they were eligible, it would have been more clear that you were essentially requesting comments or debates on the subject. I do think you correctly assessed the mess of the whole US health system and insurance/HSA situation. Sorry if I came across too critical. Wouldn’t we all just love to have a tax write off on our N+1 bikes, treadmills, trainers, rowers, swimming pools, etc. etc. etc.
The GoPro deal is the same as if you have a subscription. Both save the same $100 but on the GoPro website you cannot double up.
How long until the airlines are like:
“We lost your bag. What? You didn’t AirTag it? Well, that’s your problem, not ours. Better luck next time, chump.”
This seems like a slippery slope toward giving the airlines a pass.
Frankly, that’s already the case for some airlines. In fact, I’d argue the majority of airlines worldwide already don’t care.
United is an exception though, and in my experience do a very legit job of getting bags back as fast as possible. As one who seems to have a strong share of bags lost (on all airlines), I see this as a huge deal. The number of times I have to say to a baggage handler person “I can see on my AirTag it’s X” is huge. This shortcuts that entire process and tells the airline where to look.
That’s specifically a really huge deal when there’s a big event that totally hoses up airline luggage at an airport and bags pile up in hallways and such. In those cases, the airlines become overwhelmed and mostly give up because it’s a needle in a haystack scenario. Whereas this gives them a very short-circuit path to find the bag in the pile (which is usually the problem), and get it moving quickly. It costs the airlines waaaaay less if they can find that bag in 5 minutes, than 30 minutes of searching repeatedly.
Likewise, I suspect Apple has worked with the likes of United to effectively install AirTag repeaters (be it just older iPhone’s/etc…) in baggage-prone areas to ensure better AirTag connectivity to finding bags.
Finally, if we fast forward to the rumors of the next Gen AirTag next year supposedly tripling the distance of the AirTag, that’s an equally big deal in the luggage realm, as going up to 100m away pretty much covers just about every nook and cranny of an airport that a bag could end up in, being within range of a person with an iPhone.