Heads up – Big Garmin sales are out!!! The Garmin Fenix 8 is $250 off, the Forerunner 965 is $150, the Garmin inReach Mini 2 is $249, and a ton of other Garmin gear has substantial discounts! Go check out the full list here! Plus all the action cam & drone sales here!
It’s back again – Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days. That means that most (all?) Amazon country/regional properties are doing pretty substantial deals across the board on all sorts of products for two days. As usual, deals last till they last.
While there are, of course, many strong deals across non-sports tech categories, this slate of sales falls short of the much bigger summer Amazon Prime Days sales. My guess is that most sports tech manufacturers are mostly waiting till November to avoid sale fatigue. Still, there are a few notable deals in here, and in some cases, notable for what the deal might represent.
A few ones I wanted to mention for various reasons:
1) Garmin Venu X1 is $699 ($100 off): This one is quirky to me, and might signal more than just a good deal. This unit came out in June, and I actually wore it all summer. Basically, it’s the blend of a Fenix 8, Forerunner 970, and Venu unit…all squished into the thinnest GPS watch Garmin has ever made. But, it was priced at $799, and while I actually think that’s the correct price (probably one of the few things I think Garmin has priced correctly this year, relatively speaking), the market doesn’t seem to think so. Looking at the volume numbers divulged on Amazon’s site, this is getting far less than other models and competitor models it should be beating. Especially given that there are basically just two SKUs, one of which is selling less than 100 units/month on Amazon.com (and the other less than 200 units/month). Obviously, there’s a big world beyond Amazon, but generally speaking, it’s a good barometer for relative volume.
2) Wahoo KICKR CORE 1 for $427:We’ve seen Wahoo flirt with the mid-$400s price on past sales, and we’re seeing that here as well. If you’re looking for a trainer, this is still an excellent unit that’s gone the distance. Of course, the CORE 2 came out exactly a month ago, and after a month of both of us riding it, I should have my review up in the coming days. Though, it’ll basically boil down to “Works great just like CORE 1, except now with WiFi’, Race Mode, and HR Bridging”. Nothing wrong with that, but that’s the review in a single sentence (short of me or my wife breaking it in the next 48 hours).
3) DJI Mini 4K for $239 ($60 off):This continues to be a great drone if you’re looking to get a relatively cheap drone that’s still got good quality. Of course, DJI is facing their cliff-closure in the US at the end of the year, which will prohibit them from importing anything into the country that has a wireless chipset (of any sort) in it. That’s not going to change. I wouldn’t be super worried short-term about repair options for this drone, but long-term, that might be a challenge. Otherwise, DJI has essentially not released any new products to the US market this past year, in preparation for the ban to take effect.
4) Wahoo KICKR V6 for $894 ($155 off):This is the lowest the KICKR V6 has ever been. This will remain Wahoo’s top-end non-moving model for the season (there’s also the KICKR Move, which is essentially a KICKR V6 atop a moving track). If you’re looking for a top-end trainer, this is pretty hard to beat these days.
5) Apple AirTag 4-Pack for $64:I always put these in all my luggage and bike bags when traveling. This continues to be an awesome price for it.
A notable European deal! As noted below, tracking the European deals is a nightmare. That said, one DCR reader in the comments spotted an awesome KICKR CLIMB deal.
1) Wahoo KICKR CLIMB for 449EUR (250EUR off!):The KICKR CLIMB is basically compatible with all Wahoo trainers in the last 8+ years, and moves your bike up/down. This is seemingly available on all Amazon EU sites, and the above link will properly redirect you to the correct site for your country (hopefully, probably…maybe).
Generally speaking, we don’t see companies offer deeper discounts on the same set of products within a 30ish-day span (since that can trigger refunds/price checks/etc…). So, I wouldn’t expect any of these products to have a better price over the holidays. But I would expect other products to be put on sale. For example, we don’t see any Forerunner or Fenix products in the sale here. Nor any of the newer Apple Watch products. Both of which often see Black Friday (November) sales.
To take advantage of Amazon Prime Days, you simply need to be an Amazon Prime member. The good news is that you can sign-up for the free trial and cancel later if you don’t find value in it. Just hit up this giant banner below to do so:
I’ve organized all the best sports technology Amazon Prime Days deals (and a few others I’ve found) below in the tables by category. I’ll be updating them throughout the next two days. Keep in mind that not all deals last (in fact, most don’t). So, if you see something that’s hot, I’d strongly suggest buy now (and return later if need be).
With that, onto the deals! And thanks for supporting the site via the links below. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Enjoy!
Europe Folks Note: I’ve tried in the past to keep track of all the separate Amazon European sites, and honestly, I have given up. With 100+ products on the US list, and then cross-checking each one manually across each country…has proven impossible. That said, you can click any link and, in theory (strong hopefully theory), it’s often also on sale in the EU sites.
Watches & Wearables:
This covers anything you can wear that’s watch-like or activity band-like, including sensors. Generally speaking, you’ll mostly find deals here that are on things I’ve written about in the past. So you won’t find a deal on some random non-sports tech watch here, or on socks. Unless the socks have some crazy sensor or something in them.
These are the just-released AirPod Pro 3, with optical heart rate sensors in them. These are my daily-driver headphones these days, and even more notably, the heart rate accuracy is incredibly good in these.
This is the first major sale for the Apple Watch SE 3, which came out just 2 months ago. It's essentially Apple's 'budget' offering, yet it still has all the same software features as a higher-end Apple Watch Series 11, as long as the hardware permits.
This is the first time we've seen the Apple Watch Ultra 3 on sale, and given it's $100 off, that tends to be the typical sale price for the holidays/Black Friday for the current/just-released version.
This is the activity tracker that both of our oldest daughters have used for years (age 8 & 9), as well as most of their friends now. They/we all like it. Check out my full in-depth review for all my thoughts. That said, the new Bounce 2 came out two months ago, and while my review isn't out yet, it's a far better product. But, quite a bit more too. The TLDR on that review will be that it's the best kids smartwatch/tracker to date (for both parents and kids), but obviously will cost you $100 more.
This is the lowest price we've seen on this to date. The Enduro 3 is simply the Fenix 8 with a MIP/Solar display (but without the scuba or voice calling features). It gets all the Fenix 8 features and updates otherwise.
⚡⚡⚡ This is a fantastic deal. By far the lowest price we've seen this! The Epix Pro has a flashlight which the regular Epix lacks, plus the newer Garmin Elevate Gen5 optical HR sensor with ECG support.
⚡⚡⚡ This is a fantastic deal. By far the lowest price we've seen this! The Epix Pro has a flashlight which the regular Epix lacks, plus the newer Garmin Elevate Gen5 optical HR sensor with ECG support. Note: Availability on this deal fluctuates, just keep checking back, I'm sure it'll pop back again (it always does).
⚡ If you wanted the battery life of a Fenix MIP series without the cost of a Fenix 8, this is basically your best deal. Plus, unlike the base Fenix 7 series, the Pro series includes the flashlight and Gen5 HR sensor with ECG.
⚡ If you wanted the battery life of a Fenix MIP series without the cost of a Fenix 8, this is basically your best deal. Plus, unlike the base Fenix 7 series, the Pro series includes the flashlight and Gen5 HR sensor with ECG.
⚡ The Fenix 8 keeps getting all the new software features of the Fenix 8 Pro that was launched two months ago. Setting aside that Fenix 8 Pro which gained LTE & Satellite Messaging, this is otherwise the most capable sports watch on the market.
⚡ The Fenix 8 keeps getting all the new software features of the Fenix 8 Pro that was launched two months ago. Setting aside that Fenix 8 Pro which gained LTE & Satellite Messaging, this is otherwise the most capable sports watch on the market.
As a general rule, the Fenix E is the watch that literally nobody is buying, and makes no sense at higher prices. The hardware is simply the Epix Gen 2 with Fenix stamped on it. That watch is going for $400, though I expect we'll see it down to $300 over Black Friday. However, one *KEY* difference with the Fenix E, is that it includes all of the software features of the newer Fenix 8, whereas the Epix Gen 2 doesn't get all the new software features. Otherwise, save your $200.
⚡ This is (by far) the lowest price on the Forerunner 265, which was recently replaced by the Forerunner 570 (but at nearly twice this price). What's fascinating about this sale price, is it's well beyond the usual sale prices for Garmin for this product. This pricing is 100% an Kansas-themed 'Hello!' to COROS and their just released COROS Pace 4 at $249.
The Foreurnner 55 is a great option if you simply don't want to spend a ton, but still want a super-capable runners watch (and general activity/sleep tracking watch). I've heard a lot of you get it for teenagers that run, as a great/inexpensive way to track their runs, and still be a good everyday watch.
This is the lowest price to date on the Forerunner 965, which is logical given the Forerunner 970 came out this past spring (which essentialy adds a flashlight and some other running metrics/features).
The Instinct 3 series came out earlier this year, with both an AMOLED and Solar variants. The big upgrade over the previous editions is the inclusion of the flashlight in all sizes, and a massive ugprade of sports features.
The Instinct 3 series came out earlier this year, and the Solar edition in particular has 'unlimited' battery life in certain scenarios. The big upgrade over the previous editions is the inclusion of the flashlight in all sizes, and a massive ugprade of sports features.
⚡ This is the lowest price we've seen on the newest product in the entire Garmin Holiday 2025 sale lineup. This is basically a blend of a Forerunner 970, Venu 4, and Fenix 8...but super thin. It's argueably one of the best deals here at $599, though, Garmin is still clearly trying to figure out the right pricing to drive purchases.
⚡ This is the first time we've seen the Vivoactive 6 on sale, which is essentially a Venu 4, but without the voice/calling/ECG features (and a few other tidbits). It's probably one of the best deals in Garmin's lineup (sale or otherwise).
This is a great dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart (with two Bluetooth Smart connections) chest strap that you'll often find me using as a reference strap in heart rate sensor testing. We only tend to see deals on it around Black Friday, always topping out around 20%.
If you're looking for a good solid high-quality strap, that does both ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, for a reasonable price...look no further than the Polar H9
Got a bike? Then this section is for you. Everything from bike computers to bike lights to trainers, it’s all here. I won’t generally be adding things like brake cables or bike seats here, but if I find a good deal on a cassette to stack on that new direct drive trainer you just bought, I’ll probably list it here.
⚡This is a very solid deal, and is still one of the best bike computers Garmin has ever made, especially when you look at the battery side of things (it lasts far longer than the Edge 1050).
⚡At $249, it's pretty much impossible to beat this deal in terms of bike computers. There's no competitive option that beats it on features/battery/etc at this price, or frankly anywhere near it. Sure, it doesn't have a touchscreen, but it's not as bad as it used to be (I did a stint on it this winter for a week or so, and was fine).
⚡⚡This is the lowest price we've seen on the Garmin Edge 540 Solar to date, which has gained virtually all of the new Garmin Edge 1050 features as well. And notably, lower than the Edge 540 without solar (which is kinda silly, but hey, win for us!).
This is Garmin's radar without the light, so it's a bit smaller as a result. Same radar tech though, and compatible with Garmin/COROS/Hammerhead/Wahoo bike computers.
This is Garmin's standalone radar+taillight option, and $149 is pretty much the standard sale-price. Even despite all the new radars out there, this remains the most accurate option on the market. Now, only if Garmin would just re-release it with USB-C. C'Mon Garmin...maybe next year?
This is the first time this product has been on sale, since launching last spring. I'd argue it could have used a $100 off sale...but hey...they don't consult me.
And then here’s a separate bucket for trainers and indoor bikes:
This is the go-to sales price for the NEO 2T, though has become more frequent over the past year. It's still an incredible trainer, and is the top-end non-moving trainer from Garmin/Tacx.
⚡ This is the lowest price we've seen to date on the Tacx NEO 3M, and finally takes it down to a semi-logical price (compared to it's competitors). This is a good buy, and obviously, given it's only a year old, I definitely don't expectany sort of new version of this anytime soon (the last NEO series unit was about 5 years between versions).
This simulates the up and down motion on Wahoo KICKR trainers moving your bike up and down. Also, there's virtually no product except SNAP, that Wahoo likes to put on sale more. Wouldn't be a sale around here unless this thing was discounted.
⚡ This is a very solid deal for this bike, and the lowest price to date. I actually like the KICKR BIKE SHIFT more than the higher-end KICKR BIKE V2/Pro, mainly because it's both quiter, and seems to be more resillient to issues (less complex design).
⚡This is actually the lowest price we've ever seen on the KICKR V6. Wahoo says we won't see a new top-end KICKR this fall, with them instead focusing on the new KICKR Bike Pro, KICKR CORE 2, and all their new bike computers/radar/etc...
Action Cameras & Drones:
Wanna record it? No better way than an action camera. Anything that’s action camera-related or drone-related, you’ll find here. That’s especially true of action camera mounts, which are often found for great deals around the holidays. The same goes for drones and drone accessories. Usually a great time to pick up an extra battery or extra props.
This is last year's model. And sure, the Action 6 came out 48 hours ago, but honestly, the initial rection hasn't been kind there. I just started testing it, so more to come very shortly.
Look, don't buy this drone. This is the drone that never should have left the napkin at the lunch table at DJI's HQ. The unit breaks easily (as I, and many others found out), and doesn't really do anything super well. Literally, buy any other DJI drone except htis one...you're welcome.
This is a great little drone as your first drone, especially for sports usage, where it'll do an astonishing job following you (running, cycling, etc...). And, you can crash it a gazillion times without any problem.
This is GoPro's budget option, which includes a full color touchscreen on the back as well. The main benefit is it's super small, but note it's not quite in the same quality ballpark as their higher-end cameras. If you want size and GoPro ecosystem on a budget, this is an option. But with the DJI Action 4 just $20 more than $199, that offers notably better quality.
This has become one of my favorite drones, given it's tiny size (fits in my running shorts pockets) and ease of use. Plus, you can crash the crap out of it (hundreds of times for me and my wife) without any issues. This combo includes an extra battery and fast charger.
This is a solid deal on a solid drone, and one of the two main ones I use when taking videos of myself hiking or running. This includes the two extra batteries as well as the fast charger (so 3 batteries total).
This is one of the best 360 action cams on the market, alongside the GoPro Max 2 (both have their pros and cons, check out my full comparison guide linked).
Other Sports & Fitness:
Anything else that’s sports and fitness-related that I think is interesting will be here. It may not be super techy – but it’s stuff that most readers will be using in pursuit of their running/cycling/swimming/hiking/whatever.
The Garmin Inded BPM is Garmin's medically certified blood pressure monitor. It integrates directly into your Garmin Connect account. I use it on occasion as a comparison for wearables, and it works just fine (obviously it's already medically certified by the FDA, so I say 'works' here in the sense of usability/functionality/etc...).
⚡ This is the lowest price we've ever seen for this. This is my defacto satellite communicator when out of coverage area, and I've used it on a number of major treks over the past two years when well outside of cellular service, both in a 24x7 tracking mode for friends and family, but also there in case of emergency. Would strongly recommend for anyone doing anything in the wilderness.
This came out last fall, and is the second time this has been discounted, but now to the lowest price to date. The key difference with the new Plus model is that it adds the ability to send photos and voice messenges via satellite. I've used it a bit, and it's pretty cool because it makes it a lot faster to just say something rather than type it out, but the $499 price seemed excessive. $399 makes it slightly more palatable.
DCR Random Gadget List:
These are basically the mostly totally unrelated gadgets and things I think are cool deals that I’ve likely bought one or five of (you can never have too many, right)? Some of it’s probably photography stuff. Some of it’s random stuff like chargers and battery packs that I use daily, fun camera gear I use to make videos, like sliders and turntables, and well…just random things you’ll find around the DCR Cave. It’s all random…but it’s all awesome randomness!
Product
Sale Price
Amazon
Sale Notes
Adobe Creative Cloud Pro (12 Months) - $389 off (50% off!)
As a side note, you can cancel and take advantage of this. Which, is precisely what I did when I realized my existing plan was gonna be stupid expensive. In any case, I use the Adobe Creative Cloud Pro suite for a lot of what I do.
With that – thanks for reading, and for supporting the site via the links above.
Concerning the Garmin Venu X1 price: Here in Switzerland the Venu X1’s official Garmin price ist 799 CHF. But in (online-)stores you find it for 599 CHF at this point (e.g. galaxus, mediamarkt).
Quite crazy this price drop in just a few months…
EU pricing by 3rd party retailers is tricky though, because EU law (like most countries) prohibits a manufacturer from dictating/forcing pricing. So many EU retailers will undercut MSRP pretty quickly. Especially if they’re willing to take lower profit on it.
That said, MediaMarkt doesn’t typically do so except random sales (same goes for CoolBlue, FNAC, etc…).
What’s funny is, as I said, I think the price is actually correct (relative to the FR970 & Fenix 8 non-Pro pricing). In terms of the software features. “Relative” is carrying the weight here.
But I think the name is the big issue. By not indicating it’s a “Pro-Level” device, people are thinking “Oh, it’s just a Venu with some random numbers after it”, and dismissing it. Had it been “Venu Pro” out of the gate, it’d have gotten a lot more attention.
The Venu X1 had already been on sale at $699 at a few US retailers (Best Buy, REI, etc) going back a few weeks now (see my post on Reddit: link to reddit.com). Looks like it’s back up to $800 at REI for the time being.
Agreed that this is a clear sign the watch is not selling well. Coming from an EPIX 2, the Venu X1 is a revelation in how light and thin it is. I don’t even feel it on my wrist! It’s the kind of watch that really must be tried on to truly appreciate, it doesn’t photograph well.
Oh wow, good catch. I hadn’t noticed that earlier sale.
But yeah, things clearly must not be going well. As noted above (and you noted), it’s actually a very solid watch (especially after all the bug fixing all summer). But it just got off on the wrong foot with marketing/naming, and of course, people being generally annoyed at Garmin’s 2025 pricing scheme.
The DJI Osmo 360 seems to be roundly being discounted fairly heavily just a month or two after launch. The basic camera is £310.50 in the UK (-24%) at Amazon – link to amazon.co.uk – and only a little more than that at DJI’s own UK store.
The Polar Verity HR monitor linked above seems to be a better deal in the UK too, down to around £60 (-30%): link to amazon.co.uk
Yeah, I suspect DJI is finding the reality that aside from night footage, it’s camera isn’t anywhere near as capable as the Insta360 X5 or GoPro Max 2.
Something i’ll show in my 360 camera comparison later today, depending on how distracted I keep getting….
They had the Garmin Vivoactive 6 on sale, and the Edge 540 Solar on sale the last few days over the weekend, but not actually during Amazon Prime days. Huh?!?
Sadly, Favero rarely discounts. You might see some Garmin XC200’s on sale somewhere, but realistically, you’re looking at the same price then as the Favero ones, so…yeah.
Bit off-topic but will you be reviewing the new Garmin Bounce?
I’m looking for a kids watch, and I’ve already tried a couple chinese watches but they are absolutely garbage.
I know this will probably be in your review, but I have so many questions on how you can talk/send/receive messages with the Bounce 2.
Do I _have_ to use the Garmin Messenger Jr app for communication? My main concern was being able to send/receive/text my kid directly from my Garmin Fenix 8 Pro so I don’t have to carry my phone around with me potentially. If I’m forced to use the Messenger Jr app, it really will force me to keep a phone on me. :(
To a lesser degree, it would also be nice to be able to just use the standard Messenger app so I can keep all communication in one app as well, even if I need to use the Messenger Jr app for configuration/etc.
1) In recent years, Amazon has become more restrictive on sending items cross-border from other Amazon properties. It used to be they didn’t care, but these days, especially for tech products, they don’t allow sending from Amazon Germany to a Spanish address. Or vice versa. Sometimes they do (Germany to the Netherlands works, but not as much as they used to).
2) The second issue, is that I put a ton of time into finding deals, and as noted above, part of the site is funded by people using those links. All that site does is simply create Amazon Affiliate links to each Amazon EU country, and takes the affiliate commission. That’s fine, but it’s not doing the hard work of manually finding the meaningful deals. Said differently, if you want to support the site here, simply using the links above (which automatically redirect to your country code). Totally understand if there’s savings elsewhere though.
Ad 1. As a person living in Poland I am occasionally buying from all EU Amazons, and even UK branch as well. I never had an issue with delivery to Poland if an item was sold by Amazon. This includes iPhone 15 Pro Max and Apple Watch 8 from Italy; SRAM battery, Apple TV, Garmin Venu from Germany; Also few things like Tacx tablet holder on Spanish and French ones. Then only exception I’ve seen so far was Amazon own devices which are unsupported in our region (Echo, Kindle).
Ad 2. I agree with you, however at least for me the links here don’t redirect to a regional amazon.pl, but rather to amazon.com
Good to hear you’re still in the Amazon Lucky Zone for Poland. :)
Now, as for the second one, that’s because it looks like I never added the Amazon.pl code into a setting in Wordpress, which in turn means it doesn’t translated. Noted, fixing…
Great job Ray, seems to be working. Now I’m redirected to the .es site and it even works correctly with the app (doesn’t try to force a country change to .com).
Sadly I don’t think I really need anything (today).
I mean, it was entirely unusable when it first launched. Like, hard-stop some features couldn’t be accessed at launch because nobody though to code button-only access to said feature, and even worse, nobody had tested it.
Most (if not all), of those issues have been solved.
Meanwhile, I’ve actually been using the Edge 550 (successor) on all my recent rides, forcing myself with the button-only experience, and it’s fine. Is it as nice as touch? Nope, but it’s perfectly fine.
Amazon in Australia have the Fenix 8 51mm AMOLED at AU$1,486 (~US$970). And the 7S Pro at ~35% off. Tempted at the Fenix 8 seeing my 955 barometer has failed outside warranty.
Amazon is offering “renewed” Garmin Fenix 7 and Epix (non pro editions) for reasonable prices, for Prime members — $300-400 range. Are these watches, at 3 years old, still a good value? Or would one be better off to apply that $$$ to a Pro edition or a Fenix 8?
I just cancelled Prime, for the first time in several years, on Prime Day, no less.
All of the prices shown above, are showing the same, whether you’re a Prime member or not. (With the possible exception of the InReach Messenger, though that might have been a one-day deal).
Maybe that was always the case and I was unaware?
I thought Prime Day, and/or Prime deals in general, were only for Prime members?
Also, the Epix Pro deal is for a refurbished model, and specifically the 51mm case.
The other sizes seem to be around $50 more, again all refurbished.
“Now, only if Garmin would just re-release it with USB-C. C’Mon Garmin…”
Should we now accept that Varia RTL-5**usbC will not be appearing until mid-2026 at earliest?
It’s Spring here in Oz and I’d like the comfort of radar alerts on my road so I might have to bite the bullet on the old model if it’s going to be yet another years wait…..
Agreed. I have my share of complaints about Garmin, but I’ll never understand the mindset of people who post that their last Garmin purchase was so horrible that they decided to fix it by immediately buying a new Garmin that’s twice as expensive, and they can’t believe their new device still has bugs. The products don’t magically get better just because you keep giving Garmin more money.
I can criticize Garmin while recognizing that nobody forces me to use their products or to buy a new Garmin if I don’t like my current Garmin.
At the very least, if you must stay in the Garmin ecosystem, and you must get a new (to you) watch, why not get a 2nd-hand or discounted Garmin?
DCR says above the Core 2 review should be out in a couple of days….that was 30 days ago. Is it still coming ? Hoping Ray didn’t find some issue/problem and is waiting for wahoo to fix it.
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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.
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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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.
Yesterday Garmin was running ads on Instagram with the Edge 540 Solar marked down to $249. It will probably go on sale like that again later.
Apparently the Kickr Climb is on sale in Europe (at least in Germany though):
link to amazon.de
Very very solid. And, looks to be available across all the Amazon EU properties too!
Concerning the Garmin Venu X1 price: Here in Switzerland the Venu X1’s official Garmin price ist 799 CHF. But in (online-)stores you find it for 599 CHF at this point (e.g. galaxus, mediamarkt).
Quite crazy this price drop in just a few months…
Yeah, it’s interesting for sure.
EU pricing by 3rd party retailers is tricky though, because EU law (like most countries) prohibits a manufacturer from dictating/forcing pricing. So many EU retailers will undercut MSRP pretty quickly. Especially if they’re willing to take lower profit on it.
That said, MediaMarkt doesn’t typically do so except random sales (same goes for CoolBlue, FNAC, etc…).
What’s funny is, as I said, I think the price is actually correct (relative to the FR970 & Fenix 8 non-Pro pricing). In terms of the software features. “Relative” is carrying the weight here.
But I think the name is the big issue. By not indicating it’s a “Pro-Level” device, people are thinking “Oh, it’s just a Venu with some random numbers after it”, and dismissing it. Had it been “Venu Pro” out of the gate, it’d have gotten a lot more attention.
Any plans for a full review of the Venu X1?
The Venu X1 had already been on sale at $699 at a few US retailers (Best Buy, REI, etc) going back a few weeks now (see my post on Reddit: link to reddit.com). Looks like it’s back up to $800 at REI for the time being.
Agreed that this is a clear sign the watch is not selling well. Coming from an EPIX 2, the Venu X1 is a revelation in how light and thin it is. I don’t even feel it on my wrist! It’s the kind of watch that really must be tried on to truly appreciate, it doesn’t photograph well.
Oh wow, good catch. I hadn’t noticed that earlier sale.
But yeah, things clearly must not be going well. As noted above (and you noted), it’s actually a very solid watch (especially after all the bug fixing all summer). But it just got off on the wrong foot with marketing/naming, and of course, people being generally annoyed at Garmin’s 2025 pricing scheme.
A couple of UK things:
The DJI Osmo 360 seems to be roundly being discounted fairly heavily just a month or two after launch. The basic camera is £310.50 in the UK (-24%) at Amazon – link to amazon.co.uk – and only a little more than that at DJI’s own UK store.
The Polar Verity HR monitor linked above seems to be a better deal in the UK too, down to around £60 (-30%): link to amazon.co.uk
Yeah, I suspect DJI is finding the reality that aside from night footage, it’s camera isn’t anywhere near as capable as the Insta360 X5 or GoPro Max 2.
Something i’ll show in my 360 camera comparison later today, depending on how distracted I keep getting….
Amazon Canada is so weird. The Varia 515 was $199 last week, but for Prime days they jacked it back up to $275. Likewise some other electronics.
Likewise, some weird pricing on the US side too.
They had the Garmin Vivoactive 6 on sale, and the Edge 540 Solar on sale the last few days over the weekend, but not actually during Amazon Prime days. Huh?!?
Hoping for a discount on mtb pedal power meters (ex assioma)
Sadly, Favero rarely discounts. You might see some Garmin XC200’s on sale somewhere, but realistically, you’re looking at the same price then as the Favero ones, so…yeah.
Favero had a discount last year for Black Friday didn’t they? Not too long to wait if so.
They did, but only on their older stock, not their newer series bits. The older stock was 20% off.
Prior to that, in previous years, it was 120EUR or $200EUR off the Duo’s (varied).
Thoughts on the Galaxy watch 8? I was going to grab the Pixel watch 4 but this looks interesting….
Bit off-topic but will you be reviewing the new Garmin Bounce?
I’m looking for a kids watch, and I’ve already tried a couple chinese watches but they are absolutely garbage.
Thanks
Yup, working on it! I suspect next week. That’s the hope anyway.
All three kids have them, and have been wearing them daily.
I know this will probably be in your review, but I have so many questions on how you can talk/send/receive messages with the Bounce 2.
Do I _have_ to use the Garmin Messenger Jr app for communication? My main concern was being able to send/receive/text my kid directly from my Garmin Fenix 8 Pro so I don’t have to carry my phone around with me potentially. If I’m forced to use the Messenger Jr app, it really will force me to keep a phone on me. :(
To a lesser degree, it would also be nice to be able to just use the standard Messenger app so I can keep all communication in one app as well, even if I need to use the Messenger Jr app for configuration/etc.
For EU I suggest including links to Hagglezon with ASIN.
Then everyone can check for themselves and find the best offer.
Honestly, there are two challenges there:
1) In recent years, Amazon has become more restrictive on sending items cross-border from other Amazon properties. It used to be they didn’t care, but these days, especially for tech products, they don’t allow sending from Amazon Germany to a Spanish address. Or vice versa. Sometimes they do (Germany to the Netherlands works, but not as much as they used to).
2) The second issue, is that I put a ton of time into finding deals, and as noted above, part of the site is funded by people using those links. All that site does is simply create Amazon Affiliate links to each Amazon EU country, and takes the affiliate commission. That’s fine, but it’s not doing the hard work of manually finding the meaningful deals. Said differently, if you want to support the site here, simply using the links above (which automatically redirect to your country code). Totally understand if there’s savings elsewhere though.
Cheers!
Hey Ray!
Ad 1. As a person living in Poland I am occasionally buying from all EU Amazons, and even UK branch as well. I never had an issue with delivery to Poland if an item was sold by Amazon. This includes iPhone 15 Pro Max and Apple Watch 8 from Italy; SRAM battery, Apple TV, Garmin Venu from Germany; Also few things like Tacx tablet holder on Spanish and French ones. Then only exception I’ve seen so far was Amazon own devices which are unsupported in our region (Echo, Kindle).
Ad 2. I agree with you, however at least for me the links here don’t redirect to a regional amazon.pl, but rather to amazon.com
Good to hear you’re still in the Amazon Lucky Zone for Poland. :)
Now, as for the second one, that’s because it looks like I never added the Amazon.pl code into a setting in Wordpress, which in turn means it doesn’t translated. Noted, fixing…
Same problem for me here in Portugal. I get redirected to .com instead of .es (there’s no specific Amazon for PT, we use the Spanish version).
Ok, Poland is solved!
Or, well, hopefully solved*. :) Let me know.
As for Portugal…hmm..that’s messier. Let me see if I can just bulk-force PT users to ES.
*Definition of solved: It redirects you somewhere on the Poland site. Whether or not that’s the proper place is almost entirely an Amazon problem.
UK user here, I was redirected to the .de site for the Climb. When I manually changed the URL to the .co.uk version I saw the 20% deal but..
FREE delivery Saturday, 18 April, 2026
Deliver to Paul – Richmond UK
Usually dispatched within 6 to 7 months
!
Great job Ray, seems to be working. Now I’m redirected to the .es site and it even works correctly with the app (doesn’t try to force a country change to .com).
Sadly I don’t think I really need anything (today).
The Wahoo Elemnt Ace is £396.49 in the UK at Amazon.
“it’s not as bad as it used to be” – glowing praise indeed!
I mean, it was entirely unusable when it first launched. Like, hard-stop some features couldn’t be accessed at launch because nobody though to code button-only access to said feature, and even worse, nobody had tested it.
Most (if not all), of those issues have been solved.
Meanwhile, I’ve actually been using the Edge 550 (successor) on all my recent rides, forcing myself with the button-only experience, and it’s fine. Is it as nice as touch? Nope, but it’s perfectly fine.
Hammerhead Karoo (3) for €309,77 on Amazon.nl
Solid deal indeed! link to amazon.nl
Amazon in Australia have the Fenix 8 51mm AMOLED at AU$1,486 (~US$970). And the 7S Pro at ~35% off. Tempted at the Fenix 8 seeing my 955 barometer has failed outside warranty.
Edge 1040 on sale for $400 in the US (yesterday and today)
Amazon is offering “renewed” Garmin Fenix 7 and Epix (non pro editions) for reasonable prices, for Prime members — $300-400 range. Are these watches, at 3 years old, still a good value? Or would one be better off to apply that $$$ to a Pro edition or a Fenix 8?
bit of chunk more, but garmin has epix pro for 50% off. just picked up 51mm sapphire for 540 before tax
A couple of observations to share.
I just cancelled Prime, for the first time in several years, on Prime Day, no less.
All of the prices shown above, are showing the same, whether you’re a Prime member or not. (With the possible exception of the InReach Messenger, though that might have been a one-day deal).
Maybe that was always the case and I was unaware?
I thought Prime Day, and/or Prime deals in general, were only for Prime members?
Also, the Epix Pro deal is for a refurbished model, and specifically the 51mm case.
The other sizes seem to be around $50 more, again all refurbished.
Epix pro is direct from garmin not Amazon….
Attached screenshot from garmin connect app
“Now, only if Garmin would just re-release it with USB-C. C’Mon Garmin…”
Should we now accept that Varia RTL-5**usbC will not be appearing until mid-2026 at earliest?
It’s Spring here in Oz and I’d like the comfort of radar alerts on my road so I might have to bite the bullet on the old model if it’s going to be yet another years wait…..
I’d be surprised at this point in the year. It tends to be the end of the road for new releases, once you hit mid-October.
Previous year I bought a Vivoactive 5 and I regret that purchase having a not reliable crap for the money.
Yesterday I got my brand new Forerunner 570 for 350 EUR.
Having this as 15th device from Garmin, should I follow Strava and sue Garmin for crap devices, functionalities, application and data?
I would argue if you’ve been somehow wronged 14 times, and then decide to do it again for the 15th time, that’s not Garmin’s fault.
Agreed. I have my share of complaints about Garmin, but I’ll never understand the mindset of people who post that their last Garmin purchase was so horrible that they decided to fix it by immediately buying a new Garmin that’s twice as expensive, and they can’t believe their new device still has bugs. The products don’t magically get better just because you keep giving Garmin more money.
I can criticize Garmin while recognizing that nobody forces me to use their products or to buy a new Garmin if I don’t like my current Garmin.
At the very least, if you must stay in the Garmin ecosystem, and you must get a new (to you) watch, why not get a 2nd-hand or discounted Garmin?
Any future reviews for Garmin GPSmap H1i plus for hiking and biking?
I gave the original wahoo trainer, still works. Looking to move to a newer model that will accommodate disc brake. Core or v6?
Epix Pro 2,51mm sapphire. £449 in the UK at Goldsmiths. Also on 2 Years 0% if that floats your boat.
DCR says above the Core 2 review should be out in a couple of days….that was 30 days ago. Is it still coming ? Hoping Ray didn’t find some issue/problem and is waiting for wahoo to fix it.