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…
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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!
3
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.
Honestly, it’s a pretty simple software trick, right? In “narrow” mode, the drone uses the moving thing as a tunnel and follows super close. It also flies a bit lower than others. But hey, congrats, it works!
Have you found a Mallorca gauntlet yet?
Sorta. I’ve got pieces of a gaunlet, but not in one super cohesive non-stopable format. The trail piece I have easily, basically right out my front door.
Sadly, what would have been an amazing faster-paced gravel section companion to that is part of a no-fly zone. Meanwhile, I have a shorter on-road (but desolate) speed sections I can use, part of a abandoned road project.
My main issue is avoiding various no-fly zones here, while concurrently avoiding people/cars. That’s what makes the Amsterdam route so good, is that most of the daytime, it’s empty/desolate. Especially in the winter months.
I probably just need to spend half a day scouting, and find something within a 20 minute drive that works as a cohesive course.
Did you say 20 minute drive? Drive? I am a bit disappointed… ;-)
Raym will you be reviewing the insta360 x4 and the bike kit?
Probably unlikely. I’m not a huge 360 cam person, and generally speaking, 360 cam content does poorly (as in, the videos about it do poorly for most creators), mainly because companies like Insta360 send out 1,500 review samples of each camera, thus, heavily diluting what’s out there.
That said, I may pickup an X4 merely to understand it a bit better.
Insta also have a poor rep for asking ‘reviewers’ to hide the fact that they are sponsored.
True, though, DJI does the same thing…they just didn’t put it in writing to someone they upset.
I recently watched a Tales, Ales + Trails YT video where he tested the Hover Pro’s follow modes on a long twisty treelined singletrack trail and it ran the gauntlet without issue. Very impressive. As it also was on your video.
I now need to determine if the video image quality is good enough for me.
Oops – it’s **Tails, Ales + Trails**
Indeed, good stuff! Here’s the video I presume you’re talking about: link to youtube.com
The middle section is actually pretty similar to what I filmed a few days ago here in Mallorca (and then the Hover X1 Pro simply…stopped recording after 10 seconds for no obvious reason). I’ll probably head back out again tomorrow or the next day to re-film. It’s just in my backyard, so easy enough, but the winds have been crazy the last few days (50KPH) and mixing those winds on a ridgeline with the trees is a recipe for killing more drones than I need to in a week.
This is very impressive. Is the elevation tracking for the X1 pro improved compared to the X1 (in other words – is it usable for skiing)?
It is nice to see that since your review of the X1, the website now has a repair kit for sale (both X1 and X1 pro)
Interested in the same. Skiing tracking is essential.
I haven’t tried skiing, unfortunately.
Any expectation to get the full review of the Pro published?
Any chance the full review is coming shortly? I’m planning a biking trip in Norway in August.. and kinda tempted to get the X1 Pro/Promax as I don’t like the idea of having the controller on me all the time. So it would be good to get an insight on how it behaves when not used for following.
DJI Mini 4 Pro is likely a better drone, less noisy, longer flight time drone and can be purchased cheaper. I used to have a mini 2 but sold it after I haven’t used it for over a year.. it did not have any active tracking and somehow my wife wasn’t interested in filming my activities ;-)
Quick question – I assume you’re planning to do a full review of the X1 Pro at some point, but in the interim did you get a chance to test it with the Beacon / Joysticks? It seems like that would address the biggest shortcoming of the original X1 (short range and not very effective control for non-tracking use cases).
More generally – how does the X1 Pro stack up against the lower end DJI options (Neo / Mini 4K)
Thanks!