Deals Still On This Weekend! A huge number of the Amazon deals are still going! This includes the Garmin Epix for just $459, and the Fenix 8 for $150 off. The Apple Watch Series 10 for $279, the GoPro Hero 13 Black for $329, smart trainers, drones, action cams, and plenty more! Go check out the full list 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.
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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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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.
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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.
The quote from this week’s Review that needs a separate post is “Setting aside DJI’s slow removal of itself from the US market…”
This is also a good explainer: link to theverge.com.
We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks with various rumored DJI product announcments on the docket (a 360 cam and Mic 3), but they’re all under the same umbrella issue. DJI won’t be allowed to sell products with wireless chipsets by the end of the year, into the US market.
In theory they could get an exemption, but as I’ve been saying since last fall, there’s exactly zero chance on earth they’ll get that. That exemption requires DJI get one of the various intel agencies to sign-off that DJI is safe/clean/not-a-threat, and document it as such.
Having a lot of experiance here, that requires three thigns to happen, which simply won’t happen:
1) It requires either a political appointee or non-political appointee to agree to start such an assessement. There’s zero upside for either of those two groups to do so for a Chinese drone company. Political appointments, from either party, have no reason to help a Chinese company (and in fact, are instructd to do the opposite right now). And non-political governement employees have no monetary or career upside to it either. It’s a 100% potential downside equation for a GS.
2) It requires an intelligence agency to sign-off that a foriegn company is producing a ‘safe’ product. That’s a massive ask for an intel organization, because proving something is ‘safe’ that they can’t control or inspect production lines for, just isn’t something intel agencies like to do.
3) It requires #2 above, but even higher stakes, doing it for a Chinese company that the US government has effectively declared as an enemy.
As a result, there’s zero chance they’ll get that exemption. DJI is absolutely going away from the US market at the end of the year, and the company has decided they’re going to do so now instead. Sure, on the current administration there’s always the chance of “a deal”, because…yeah. But we just haven’t seen “those deals” with any Chinese companies, and even moreso, with ones that have a really big anti-Chinese-drone lobbying group in DC.
[It should be noted, I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with the entire mess. I don’t know whether or not DJI drones are a legit security risk to non-government entities, like farmers. I do think they are for certain sectors, like the military, they should US drone. But equally, for search and rescue, they need everything they can get that.). I’m just pointing out above the situation as it’ll play out in the US, based on a lot of knowledge of this arena.]
Thanks for this very good explanation !
Hopefully they won’t leave Canada too as we little beavers are such a tiny market for them !
Maybe this helps:
link to heise.de
Any news on lifestyle watches with MIP display? I bought my wife a Venu 3s to replace her VA4s and initially she was super impressed by the screen but we just came back from summer holiday and after 2 weeks in bright sunlight she wishes to switch back to the old display type. AoD in these conditions is useless so you can’t see shit without twisting your arm and when you’re doing something or just wanna glance at the watch, it’s less than ideal. Not to mention it’s burning crazy amount of battery and just like with a phone screen, you have to look at the right angle when using polarized sunglasses. I wish Garmin still gave us a choice :(
There’s no plans to bring MIP back into any of the watch lines that it’s left. Meaning, going forward I’d expect only to see MIP in:
1) Instinct (+ AMOLED option)
2) Fenix (+ AMOLED option)
3) Enduro
4) Tactix (+ AMOLED option)
And I suspect eventually we’ll see some consolidation of Fenix/Enduro in terms of the MIP option.
That said, if you can’t see the AMOLED screen in bright sun, something might be wrong with your settings. As one who lives in a bright sunny place every day, I have zero issues (even on lower brightness levels) seeing the display.
They’re saying that the AoD screen is useless outdoors, i.e. without triggering the watch back to fully active display mode.
The comment about “twisting the arm” is about having to do the gesture. I am a MIP fan largely because the gesture works poorly for me too. I even disabled the gesture backlight because it is so unlikely to add light when I want it, but just wastes battery flashing at other times I don’t need it…
The problem is, I just don’t get that argument. It’s really not been an issue for the most popular watch on the planet, the Apple Watch. And there’s a reason why Garmin is ditching MIP: Fundamentally the vast majority of people prefer it. I recently asked if we’d see a Fenix S (small version) return in MIP down the road. The answer: Nope, nobody buys it.
In any case, back to MIP and gesture, this whole complaint further breaks down if we look at low-light usage, where MIP is 100% unreadable without a wrist-turn to be direct on.
TBH, it’s annoying to be told my problem isn’t real because it works for other people. It’s a bit like telling me that one-size-fits-all clothes are ideal and I must be delusional in thinking that my height causes fitment challenges.
But, if you really want to understand how it is possible to get along with MIP and no gestures, let me explain…
First, I am in California between SF and LA. I’m off the coast, with lots and lots of sun.
The backlight also triggers for auto-laps, repeating distance alerts, and turn guidance. So I can see all these screens in a timely manner, without any gesture or button press.
During my hikes and snowshoe trips, I am almost always in bright sun. If I have a late return, I am likely to dig out my headlamp for safety and it also makes the MIP screen readable at a glance. These kinds of activities are where I am likely to randomly check the nav stats based on my own mood or the trail conditions.
During my daily routine activities near home, I am less likely to check the screen during the 1-2 hour duration. Mostly it would be at those alert-based intervals where it lights up. So even though these may be in twilight or dark, I still don’t need gestures nor button presses.
I’m also not a fitness nerd. I don’t do structured workouts or anything where I really need to see timers, heartrate, or similar info at high frequency. I’m mostly using navigation and checking related metrics like distance, elevation, and ascent. My “laps” happen 2-4 times per hour.
As for the watchface, I mostly check time throughout my workday and that is in bright conditions. By the time I retire to dim environments, I have little interest in the watchface.
Well this is how Garmin loses loyal customers. I was the one buying small MIP Fenix and now I have no choice but to buy a larger model. I know 20 people who use Garmin watches and out of all units four of them are small MIP Fenixes so someone’s buying them after all. I’m a guy who switched to Garmin because I hated gesture mode in AW and now they force me to use it. I treat MIP watches the same way as I used to treat analog watches. I don’t have wrist gesture enabled, I simply know if there’s light to see my screen and if not, I push a button. It’s really sad when a company knows better what their customers want. I was hoping they will make a Fenix Crossover one day or something elegant with real watch hands. But hey! It’s better to make dozens of generic AMOLED watches because that’s what sells. But guess what – they will never achieve smartwatch capabilities of Apple and Apple gradually catches up in sports department. And as someone who feels betrayed by his favorite company, I simply stopped caring and rooting for them.
I guess if we ever get the Elite square review 😔
I know it is been quite a bit cumbersome si ce it is supoosed to be manufacturer agnostic but seeing your review fade inte long term I am just getting worried about its quality and performance
I appreciated the point you made in Slowtwitch that Garmin’s success is due to its offering a feature for everyone, even if it’s not for everyone, providing a huge array of features catering to each person’s unique ‘must-have’ feature, even if some are irrelevant to others. Many of us wished they’d put more emphasis on making the the core functionality more reliable and spend more attention on the details and functionality. Right or wrong, they emphasize sales over having happy customers.
Any plans for the reviews of BOLT/ROAM v3? I was expecting sooner reviews for such a hypedup product…