Heads up – Massive Sports Tech Holiday Deals List is Live!!! The Garmin Fenix 8 is $250 off (even the Fenix 8 Pro is $100 off!), the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on sale, the Garmin inReach Mini 2 is $249, the GoPro Hero 13 Black, DJI NEO, and a ton of other brands/deals, including Wahoo, Oura, Whoop, Polar, Samsung, Google, and more than 100 sports tech deals here!
Here are all the best sports tech deals for the holiday sale period ahead. As always, I’ve categorized all the deals by type, and then added various notes or things to consider. While Black Fridady & Cyber Monday has passed, the vast majority of these are still available in some capacity.
This list is being updated numerous times each day with all the latest deals. As a general rule of thumb, you won’t see a product get a better/steeper deal on Black Friday if there’s already a deal out for it (especially for bigger name/brand products). The reason is simple: It really annoys retailers to deal with consumer refund requests. Likewise, almost all companies are announcing deals earlier and earlier these days. There’s really only a handful of ‘new’ deals being announced for Black Friday itself.
As always, thanks for your support. Using the links below (and throughout the holiday season) helps the site, so I appreciate it (seriously!) As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Europe & Canadian Folks: The vast majority of these deals do actually convert/work in Europe and Canada (in fact, almost every single Garmin deal is identical for Canada). Still, there are slightly more variances in Europe, both higher and lower, so YMMV.
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.
We did see lower just back in July, at $199. So I'd probably hold out a bit more here. Assuming that happens, you can't beat this watch at this price point (heck,not even at $226 either).
Perhaps this deal will get better, but right now at $20 off...nah. Given the price of the Garmin Epix Pro has flirted into the $429 range a bit over the past few days (and is a vastly better watch), this needs to drop down closer to $299 to be worth picking up during Black Friday pricing.
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 a great price for this watch. Note though that technically speaking, this is a price reduction (took effect Nov 14th following the launch of the Pace 4). Most companies would first call it a sale, then make that sale price the new price as a price reduction. But COROS often beats to a different drum. Kudos on being upfront about the reduction though!
This is a great price for this watch. Note though that technically speaking, this is a price reduction (took effect Nov 14th following the launch of the Pace 4). Most companies would first call it a sale, then make that sale price the new price as a price reduction. But COROS often beats to a different drum. Kudos on being upfront about the reduction though!
These is the new model just released this past summer with stronger anti-scratch resistance (I even dragged it down a textured concrete pool desk, lens-down, to show this).
⚡ This is (by far) the lowest price we've seen on this watch to date. This is their first full smartwatch focused on kids activity tracking and gamification.
⚡ This is the go-to sale price for the Fitbit Charge 6. It happens often, but it still doesn't take away from the fast that it's argueably the best bang for your buck fitness tracker out there.
If you're looking for a simple and inexpensive activity tracker, you won't go wrong with a Fitbit (or this Inspire 3). It's got literally all the same software features in the Fitbit app as a higher-end Google Pixel Watch or other Fitbit device, except...just tiny.
⚡ This is Garmin's newest kids-focused and LTE connected smart watch. Our three daughters have been using it for about two months now, after using the original Bounce 1 for years. This is a *massive* upgrade over the Bounce 1, both in features/hardware, but frankly also battery life. My review should be up next week, but if you've got any questions drop them in the comments below.
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 Garmin's premier line of diving watches, which is based on the Fenix 7 seies, rather than the Fenix 8 series. Still, it's by far one of the most capable dive+everything else watches on the market.
Garmin Descent MK3i (Dive watch with air integration) - $250 off!
This is Garmin's premier line of diving watches, which is based on the Fenix 7 seies, rather than the Fenix 8 series. Still, it's by far one of the most capable dive+everything else watches on the market. The 'i' version (MK3i) means that you can connect it to an air tank monitor transmitter pod.
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.
⚡⚡ This is very unexpected, and is an Amazon-specific deal, not a Garmin-supported one. Thus, I expect it won't last more than minutes/hours. Grab it while you can! [Update: This keeps fluttering back and forth, just keep checking!]
⚡ 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).
⚡ This is a very unexpected sale, just launched, on this very new watch, which is Garmin's top of the line Forerunner watch with virtually all the same software features as the Fenix 8 (but in a plastic case and without the diving 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.
⚡ The Garmin Venu 4 just came out two months ago, and one of the big ticket features is the LED flashlight built-in. However, it's also got a ton of other new features, as Garmin merged the codebase with the Forerunner/Fenix series, resulting in a boatload of added things like Training Readiness, Acute Load, and more.
⚡ 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).
The newer Pixel Watch 4 came out back in October. I see the Pixel Watch 4 as a pretty substantial hardware upgrade over the Pixel Watch 3, notably due to satellite SOS, as well as a user-replaceable battery.
⚡The Pixel Watch 4 LTE includes satellite SOS connectivity, even if you don't activate a cellular plan on it. I'd strongly recommend getting the LTE version for $50 more, to future-proof you a bit there (or, to save your bacon in the woods).
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
This is a very solid deal. It's got virtually all the software features of Suunto's higher-end watches (minus the app store), and just came out this past May.
While the new Suunto Vertical 2 just came out a month ago, if you wanted to stock-up on MIP-based display watches before they disappear, here's your chance. This is also the lowest price we've ever seen on the Vertical 1, which is otherwise still a very soild watch.
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.
⚡The Favero Assioma Pro MX dual-sided power meter pedals deal is a no brainer. I use them in my testing constantly along with the PRO RS pedals. Note for US folks: Favero does include all taxes and tarrifs in the price.
⚡The Favero Assioma Pro RS dual-sided power meter pedals having their first sale yet. This deal is a no brainer. I use them in my testing, and will likely pick up another set in this sale. Note for US folks: Favero does include all taxes and tarrifs in the price.
⚡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.
This is Elite's previous-gen trainer, but it's still a reliable workhorse. This bundle is paired with the Zwift Cog/Click, though, you can also buy it without a cassette for the same price.
This is one of the most popular indoor trainer fan companies out there, which rivals the Wahoo Headwind fan but cost a fraction of the price. Of course, it lacks ANT+/Bluetooth integration, but realistically if you really want that you can add a smart outlet for $10 to toggle it on/off from your phone if need be. It's one of the ones in my rotation.
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 is another very popular fan that people use for indoor training/cycling, especially due to inclusion of the remote and remote holder to clasp on your handlebars.
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. Same goes with 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.
NOTE: This is not sold by DJI directly via Amazon. DJI itself is NOT selling the OSMO 360 in the US, and WILL NOT support/repair it in the US. That said, it's a solid deal if you're ok with those risks.
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 just came out this past August, and is a great little unit. The pod isn't quite as tiny as the Go 3S, but the features and quality are a huge step up (especially the removable MicroSD card).
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.
Product
Sale Price
Amazon
Other site
Sale Notes
FeedBack Sports Pro Mechanic Bike Repair Stand - $50 Off
We use this stand for both any of the work we do on any of our bikes (well, except the cargo bike). Super quick and easy to take out when we need it. Note: Feedback Sports is a DC Rainmaker Partner
FeedBack Sports Pro Mechanic HD Bike Repair Stand - $55 Off
I've got this setup, andit's basically got almost everything I need for regular/daily bike maintenance across virtually all of my bikes. Plus, in theory I can keep things tidy in that carrying case....I mean, if I were to actually put all the tools back in it. Note: Feedback Sports is a DC Rainmaker Partner
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...).
I use this scale, merely for the weight tracking functions (not body fat). It works just fine for that piece, and integrates with the rest of your Garmin data. If you aren't in the Garmin ecosystem, there's plenty of (far) cheaper options.
⚡ 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.
This is one of the other more popular display-laden rowing machines. I haven't tried this, but my sports-tech reviewing buddy DesFit has (linked at side) and liked it.
These are the main gels I use when I don't need the bigger 90g ones. So for example doing something a bit shorter where I don't want to carry the bigger 90g packs (mainly running). Note: Precision Fuel & Hydration is a DC Rainmaker partner
Precision Fuel & Hydration PF90 Energy Gels 10pkg - 15% OFF
I primarily use these 90g packs on all my adventures, roughly doing 90g/hour for cycling/trail running/hiking/etc... Note: Precision Fuel & Hydration is a DC Rainmaker partner
My wife uses the Theragun, and absolutely loves it, in the most hatefun kind of way.
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.
Despite being a tech-focused dude, our kids don't actually get much tech in their lives. However, we got these two years ago for them in their rooms, to play music. They do lots of other things, but our kids mostly just use it to play music (from Spotify and Apple Music too), and occasionally they ask it questions. It has all the parental controls I want, so it locks it down from bedtime/etc...For $31? Solid deal (The coolest 'nice touch' feature is that if you whisper to it, it'll whisper back...in the owl kids voice it has.)
⚡ This is an awesome deal. I use my iPad primarily for TrainerRoad as well as Zwift when not with a larger display. I also occasionally use it for other apps, namely Indievelo, Kinomap, Rouvy, and Peloton. But I pretty much test every smart trainer app on it. For all these cycling apps, the graphics capabilities is really pretty irrelevant, so having the absolute top-end/latest model won't make any difference. I prefer the budget options.
Apple 2025 14" MacBook Air Laptop with M4 - $250 off
See my other note about the MacBook Pro. While I'd love the MacBook Air instead, the singular reason I use the MacBook Pro is the added USB-C port (2 vs 3 on MacBook Pro). Otherwise, this spec-wise woudl do the trick.
Apple 2025 14" MacBook Pro Laptop with M5 - $250 off
This is the updated/newer model of the MacBook M1 Pro that I use for all my video editing. In my case, I still use a 2021 14" MBP, with relatively modest specs (32GB RAM). And I've been super happy with it, even while editing complex drone/action cam videos with 4 concurrently 4K streams in a multicam configuration, it has zero issues rendering or anything else.
This is the singular piece of apparel that's lasted the longest in my collection - some 15-16 years of buying the same socks. Heck, some of them are probably half that old. EIther way, this be the ones I use. Love them (well, except for hiking and trail running, then I use other stuff that goes higher). I'm wearring them as I wrote this post too.
We have more Nest cam's than I can count. No really, we have half a dozen at the DCR Cave alone, plus more at home. We love them. Nest Cam's really only go on sale about 1-2x per year.
⚡ Let's be honest: This place runs on Nespresso (or, well, the knock-off pods we buy). But, the machine is Nespresso. Without it, reviews most definitely would not get done (and certainly not on time). This is a pretty sweet deal if you ask me!
Ooni Karu 12 Multi-Fuel Outdoor Pizza Oven - $120 off
I use the Fyra 12 (with wood pellets), and love it. The Karu 12 is essentialyl the newer version of that, and there's both a gas-only version, and a multi-fuel option (gas or wood). Love it!
I use Philips Hue stuff all over the DCR Cave/Studio for lighting, both obviously colorful stuff in the background of shots, but also just for automation of the lights. Same goes at home. Love it (mainly when it's on sale like now). Starter packs are a good place to begin, and then I love the light strips (such as pictured).
We have a few SONOS speakers around the house and DCR Cave (the Ikea variants at DCR Cave), but by far our favorite is the Roam, which we take outdoors into the garden during the summer, beach vacations, AirBNB's, etc... It has a battery in it, and also connects to both WiFi and Bluetooth. Love, love, love. I think the main reason I love it, is that we heavily use it in summer, so...kinda reminds me of summer.
SanDisk 1-4TB Extreme PRO Portable External SSD - 30% off
⚡This is one of the two the high speed drives types I use to store the footage I'm actively video editing. I typically buy the 2TB and 4TB ones, and then eventually offload the footage onto a NAS array when I'm done.
Sony Alpha 7 IV Full-frame Mirrorless Camera w/ 28-70mm Zoom - $400 offThis is the main camera I use for still photography and video b-roll. I semi-recently wrote about all the photography gear I use, linked at side here.
I have bigger Synology NAS units at the DCR Studio/Office, but I also have a smaller unit (this one) that I use to keep various piles of data here too. I like the Synology stuff, as it's generally quite dependable.
With that – thanks for reading, and for supporting the site via the links above.
Ray, with Fitbit login accounts officially going dark start of 2026, 1byOne scale syncing up through Garmin, Strava, Zwift and TrainingPeaks will likely break forever. Any scales you’d recommend with similar body and weight measurements and integrations? If they’re on a BFCM sale, even better!
In the UK Venu X1 still doesn’t appear to have any discounts and I haven’t seen it discounted at all. It feels a little overpriced to me so not surprised to see discounts but slightly strange none here so far. Wonder if the UK is the one country buying it?
I see Suunto in the UK (and on Amazon UK) has the 9 PEAK PRO for GBP£199, allegedly down from £315. Does that seem like good value? I currently have the Suunto 5 but it’s beginning to malfunction. Thanks
That’s tough. The 9 Peak Pro is definitely an aged product. And so you’d basically be trading one aged product for another aged product, without the notable benefits of their newer units.
Without knowing all the GBP pricing off the top of my head, I feel like jumping to the Suunto Race S would be a better course of action. The Suunto Run, while very good on it’s own, is really a different beast software-wise.
Through with their recent privacy policy change: moving to china, initiating in app 24h tracking and selling ‘anonymized’ data i decided not to pull the trigger.
Currently they’re showing the Venu 4 for $499 and the Epix Gen 2 for $250 renewed…. Flashlight and future updates vs maps and robust build… which of those would be the better deal?
Is that mapping to the AMZN UK site for you (showing Apple mapping to Garmin)? Amazon automatically does redirection between countries, but obviously, that’s not working here.
I can override it for any given SKU manually though, so I’ll do that. But just want to validate it’s the UK side.
Would love to know what knock-off Nespresso pods that you use! I refill the capsules, but have not been able to find anything other that Nespresso or Starbucks-branded pods.
There are no knockoffs for Vertuo pods. Ray is probably referring to the original pods, which do have knockoffs. This description shows up annually. It could do with updating.
Indeed, had three listings there, and long-story one of the three had the wrong dates (so it didn’t show up), and the other one had the copied typo (which did show up). Fixed!
Quite a few Fenix 8 Pro discounts in the UK too. A contact at my go-to shop has confirmed my suspicions that these units haven’t exactly been flying off the shelf!
Generally speaking, we tend to see European Black Friday deals (especially for newer items), really peak specifically on Black Friday itself, rather than the more American-minded build-up phase.
Favero is putting power meter pedals on sale for Black Friday like a normal retailer and wahoo/Speedplay doesn’t even have units in stock to sell at any price! What gives with their supply chain?
I wonder if that’s a US thing and tariffs. Note that you can go right onto Wahoo’s site and buy them in Europe without any issues (power meter pedals specifically).
Also note that Garmin doesn’t have Rally pedals on discount/sale in the US either right now.
DC – for a new teenager that does not have a phone – would you recommend the Bounce 2 or the Fitbit ACE LTE for us to call or text and for location tracking?
Hi Ray,
If I were to get a Core body temperature sensor, how much am I losing with v1 vs v2 (obviously not in terms of future-proofing, but in terms of the features that are available right now)?
I’m looking at getting my wife either the Vivoactive 6 or Venu3s. It would mainly be used for running, MTB, hiking, and occasional ski trips. I’m struggling between the two options. Do you have any input on what might be the better option? TIA
I have the Forerunner 945 LTE and I love it’s SOS features. If the review for the Fenix 8 Pro comes out after the sale is over, I will be content keeping my old watch (unless the review is fantastic).
The TLDR on that reviewfrom a safety/etc feature standpint will be:
1) The LTE works well for safety/tracking etc, it does what it says it does in that realm. It sucks, though for any sort of general text messaging features that you’d otherwise do on your phone (e.g., responding to a thread from friends about something else). And by ‘sucks’, I mean, it can’t do that at all.
2) The satellite pieces work, though, not fast, and rarely instantly. At least compared to Apple’s implementation, which is just so much faster. Still, it does work, and in most cases for satellite messages, you’re not really doing them frequently, but only infrequently (stopping for a break, emergency, etc…).
For our girls, we are superconsistently lasting 50%/day (per 24hrs). Super simple math. That’s with school, after-school activities elsewhere, etc… They have no WiFi access at school, so it’s pure LTE then.
Versus for Bounce 1, it was more like 1.5 days.
We generally don’t let our kids wear them to bed, so they just charge by the door every other night.
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
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Smart Trainers Buyers Guide: Looking at a smart trainer this winter? I cover all the units to buy (and avoid) for indoor training. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
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FAQ’s
I have built an extensive list of my most frequently asked questions. Below are the most popular.
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.
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!
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.
Thanks for the post!
Ray, with Fitbit login accounts officially going dark start of 2026, 1byOne scale syncing up through Garmin, Strava, Zwift and TrainingPeaks will likely break forever. Any scales you’d recommend with similar body and weight measurements and integrations? If they’re on a BFCM sale, even better!
For European folks:
The Varia RTL515 at a good price available from France:
link to amazon.fr
link to deporvillage.de
Amazon Belgium was offering a BF discount of 10€ = Net price 108,99€ ✌️
Edge 1050 on link to shop.zweirad-stadler.de
599 EUR
Ray, in Amazon Apain the GoPro Max2 is at 346,28 €:
link to amazon.es
On GoPro own shop 319 €
In the UK Venu X1 still doesn’t appear to have any discounts and I haven’t seen it discounted at all. It feels a little overpriced to me so not surprised to see discounts but slightly strange none here so far. Wonder if the UK is the one country buying it?
I see Suunto in the UK (and on Amazon UK) has the 9 PEAK PRO for GBP£199, allegedly down from £315. Does that seem like good value? I currently have the Suunto 5 but it’s beginning to malfunction. Thanks
That’s tough. The 9 Peak Pro is definitely an aged product. And so you’d basically be trading one aged product for another aged product, without the notable benefits of their newer units.
Without knowing all the GBP pricing off the top of my head, I feel like jumping to the Suunto Race S would be a better course of action. The Suunto Run, while very good on it’s own, is really a different beast software-wise.
Noted, thanks for the insight.
Oura Ring 4 for 279 euro (silver) or 379 (gold etc) at amazon.nl and amazon.de
Amazon is worth watching on a daily basis. They had the Garmin Forerunner 970 on sale for $650 ($100 off) one day only, last week.
Hi Ray, Is the Suunto Race $500 off?
I couldn’t find that deal :(
Ahh sorry, typo with one too many zero’s (should be $50 off). $500 off would mean they would be giving you money to take it. 😂
KOM Cycling is running a 35% site wide sale, I just snagged their trainer table for $71.50! Closest I can get to the originally reviewed price :)
link to komcycling.com
link to dcrainmaker.com
Nice find!
the Suunto Run was briefly 160€ here in Europe.
Through with their recent privacy policy change: moving to china, initiating in app 24h tracking and selling ‘anonymized’ data i decided not to pull the trigger.
In my morning email, BikeTiresDirect has the Garmin Varia RTL515 on sale for $139 for today: link to biketiresdirect.com
Currently they’re showing the Venu 4 for $499 and the Epix Gen 2 for $250 renewed…. Flashlight and future updates vs maps and robust build… which of those would be the better deal?
Bad link : Apple Ultra 3 amazon link connects to one of the Garmin watches. Couldnt find the watch on offer on Amazon UK for sure.
Is that mapping to the AMZN UK site for you (showing Apple mapping to Garmin)? Amazon automatically does redirection between countries, but obviously, that’s not working here.
I can override it for any given SKU manually though, so I’ll do that. But just want to validate it’s the UK side.
Would love to know what knock-off Nespresso pods that you use! I refill the capsules, but have not been able to find anything other that Nespresso or Starbucks-branded pods.
There are no knockoffs for Vertuo pods. Ray is probably referring to the original pods, which do have knockoffs. This description shows up annually. It could do with updating.
@dcrainmaker:
Core 2 Sensor ist not 149! 149 is the price for the old core one!
Indeed, had three listings there, and long-story one of the three had the wrong dates (so it didn’t show up), and the other one had the copied typo (which did show up). Fixed!
Amazon has the Garmin 570 on sale (as well as the 970). link to amazon.com
Fenix 8 Pro is $140 off in Canada…must not be selling very well lol
Quite a few Fenix 8 Pro discounts in the UK too. A contact at my go-to shop has confirmed my suspicions that these units haven’t exactly been flying off the shelf!
Garmin Venu 4 in Italy still 549,99 € ….very bad.
Generally speaking, we tend to see European Black Friday deals (especially for newer items), really peak specifically on Black Friday itself, rather than the more American-minded build-up phase.
For the Swiss:
Hammerhead Karoo 3 for 259 CHF (277 Euro)
That is a great deal. I see it at both Galaxus and Digitec. Do you recommend one of them?
In the Netherlands I see it for EU 320 at Futurum (with BF-20 code). And EU 325 at Mantel.
They don’t ship to Netherlands. :-(
Given the fact that the 540 Solar is the same price as the 540, is it a no-brainer to get the 540 Solar….is the “darker screen” an real issue?
Definitely a no-brainer. I don’t think the darker screen is a real issue. At least, it’s never been for me.
Thank you sir! Appreciate you and all your good info
Any deals on the Oakley Meta AI?
Thanks B
There is a better deal on the Insta360 x5 at Costco
Favero is putting power meter pedals on sale for Black Friday like a normal retailer and wahoo/Speedplay doesn’t even have units in stock to sell at any price! What gives with their supply chain?
I wonder if that’s a US thing and tariffs. Note that you can go right onto Wahoo’s site and buy them in Europe without any issues (power meter pedals specifically).
Also note that Garmin doesn’t have Rally pedals on discount/sale in the US either right now.
Wahoo/Zwift has the Kickr Core 2 on sale for $399 :)
Any decent ear hooks compatible with Airpods Pro 3?
I recently found your website. Really helpful. Thanks!
no deals on the nix biosensors, to go along with the review?
joke…..it was a joke…….lol
Wahoo Kickr Run (prices from Wahoo site)
US price $5299.99
UK price £5999.99
The US prices is approx £3970 WTAF?!
DC – for a new teenager that does not have a phone – would you recommend the Bounce 2 or the Fitbit ACE LTE for us to call or text and for location tracking?
Hi Ray,
If I were to get a Core body temperature sensor, how much am I losing with v1 vs v2 (obviously not in terms of future-proofing, but in terms of the features that are available right now)?
A couple of older Elite wheel-on smart trainers for just $100 @ Sierra:
link to sierra.com
link to sierra.com
I’m looking at getting my wife either the Vivoactive 6 or Venu3s. It would mainly be used for running, MTB, hiking, and occasional ski trips. I’m struggling between the two options. Do you have any input on what might be the better option? TIA
insta360 X5 just 379 euros on bol.com link to bol.com
I have the insta360 X2, which is very useful for rowing en speedskating. Time for an upgrade!
I have the Forerunner 945 LTE and I love it’s SOS features. If the review for the Fenix 8 Pro comes out after the sale is over, I will be content keeping my old watch (unless the review is fantastic).
The TLDR on that reviewfrom a safety/etc feature standpint will be:
1) The LTE works well for safety/tracking etc, it does what it says it does in that realm. It sucks, though for any sort of general text messaging features that you’d otherwise do on your phone (e.g., responding to a thread from friends about something else). And by ‘sucks’, I mean, it can’t do that at all.
2) The satellite pieces work, though, not fast, and rarely instantly. At least compared to Apple’s implementation, which is just so much faster. Still, it does work, and in most cases for satellite messages, you’re not really doing them frequently, but only infrequently (stopping for a break, emergency, etc…).
Cheers!
Thank you. This confirms that I will almost definitely be staying with the 945 LTE.
Hi Ray,
How much better is the battery life on the Bounce 2?.
My son has the Bounce 1 and yeah the battery is pretty bad.
For our girls, we are superconsistently lasting 50%/day (per 24hrs). Super simple math. That’s with school, after-school activities elsewhere, etc… They have no WiFi access at school, so it’s pure LTE then.
Versus for Bounce 1, it was more like 1.5 days.
We generally don’t let our kids wear them to bed, so they just charge by the door every other night.
Thanks for the response Ray, do you leave them charging al night?.
Yup, totally. No issues there.
That’s interesting, I always thought that leaving something charging overnight ruins the battery.
Garmin inReach Mini 3 / Mini 3+ released: link to garmin.com