I’m DC RAINMAKER…
Here’s how to save!
Wanna save some cash and support the site? These companies help support the site! With Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with either the coupon code DCRAINMAKER for first time users saving 15% on applicable products.
You can also pick-up tons of gear at REI via these links, which is a long-time supporter as well:
With TPC (The Pro's Closet), you'll save $40 on purchases over $200 with coupon code DCRAIN40 for tech and non-tech purchases!
Alternatively, for everything else on the planet, simply buy your goods from Amazon via the link below and I get a tiny bit back as an Amazon Associate. No cost to you, easy as pie!
You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.
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Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
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In Depth Product Reviews
You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you’re trying to decide which unit to buy – check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.
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Read My Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
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Have some fun in the travel section.
I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.
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My Photography Gear: The Cameras and Equipment 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! 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 2023 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.
Activity Trackers
A Quick Look at the Withings Go Activity Tracker
As expected the early part of CES week saw a lot of new product announcements. There are lots of new players on the field with some innovative new products (and some obvious knock-offs and re-makes of existing technologies); but also … Read More Here
Under Armour’s HealthBox: WiFi Scale, Fitness Band, HR Strap, and more!
Today Under Armour has announced a flotilla of fitness products, likely to take the cake for the most unique fitness products announced by one company at the show this week. They’ve done so by partnering with HTC and delivering a … Read More Here
Fitbit Announces New ‘Fitbit Blaze’ Smart Fitness Watch
Update – March 2016! I’ve published my full Fitbit Blaze In-Depth Review here! Swing on over for all the details after extensive use! Today at CES Fitbit announced their latest wearable, the Fitbit Blaze. This new unit is effectively a … Read More Here
Polar A360 In-Depth Review
It’s been about a month since Polar announced their latest wearable – the A360. This would be their first entrant into the optical HR sensor world, a key milestone for a company that’s effectively built its entire reputation and company … Read More Here
Withings Activité & Activité Pop In-Depth Review
It’s been well over a year since Withings released their initial Activité smart watch, which they then followed up last winter with the cheaper Activité Pop version. Of course – looking at both watches at a glance you wouldn’t realize … Read More Here
The new Polar Loop 2 and also new $19 Misfit Flash Link Activity Tracker
I just wanted to very briefly cover two new products that have been announced in the last 24 hours. Neither one really warrants a standalone post – especially since neither company has samples available on-hand (or rather, in my hands). … Read More Here
Garmin Vivoactive In-Depth Review
Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Garmin announced a slew of wearable devices including the new Vivoactive. The Vivoactive was designed as a merger between Garmin’s mid-range fitness watches (i.e. the FR220) and the … Read More Here
Fitbit Charge and Charge HR In-Depth Review
It’s been a few months now since Fitbit announced and then subsequently released their Fitbit Charge and Charge HR units. At the same time, they announced the Fitbit Surge GPS (which I’ve already reviewed here). For this post though, we’ll … Read More Here
Fitbit Surge In-Depth Review
It’s been a few months since Fitbit announced a trio of products, including their first GPS watch – the Fitbit Surge. This joined two other activity trackers, the Fitbit Charge and Charge HR within the announcement (my review of the … Read More Here
Mio Fuse Activity Tracker and Optical HR Sensor In-Depth Review
This past summer Mio announced two new products to their lineup – the Mio Fuse and the Mio Velo. These products just recently started shipping in the past few weeks, giving me an opportunity to use the final hardware and … Read More Here
The Basis Peak In-Depth Review
When the Basis Peak was announced earlier this fall it was designed to fill in the gaps as well as build upon their previous product, the Basis B1, that was released about 2 years ago. The Basis watch has always … Read More Here
First look at Garmin’s new Vivosmart activity tracker
Today at IFA, the giant consumer-electronics focused show in Berlin, Garmin announced their latest activity monitor, the Vivosmart. This unit builds upon the Vivofit that was released earlier this year with additional features and tighter smartphone integration. I had a … Read More Here
Garmin Forerunner 15 GPS Watch & Daily Activity Monitor In-Depth Review
In keeping with the popular trend of adding activity monitoring to devices, back in April Garmin announced their latest running watch – the Forerunner 15 (FR15). This would take their popular FR10 budget-focused GPS running watch and then combine it … Read More Here
Garmin Vivofit In-Depth Review
Back in January Garmin decided to join the activity tracker fray and announced two related products: Vivofit and Vivoki. Vivofit would be the standard consumer-focused 24×7 activity tracker, while Vivoki would be focused on corporate wellness and primarily targeted at … Read More Here
Polar Loop In-Depth Review
The Polar Loop is the very first daily activity tracker on the market that not only counts steps, but also connects to a separate heart rate strap – providing you with heart-rate based calorie information for activities. This changes the … Read More Here
Withings Pulse In-Depth Review
Almost a year ago Withings announced the Withings Pulse activity tracker at CES 2013. However, it wasn’t made available until this past summer, when I started testing it. Like most activity trackers it did all the usual items – steps, … Read More Here
FitBit Zip In-Depth Review
Here’s a fun fact to start out with: The FitBit Zip is actually probably the only product where I’ve written the review after over a year of use with the device. Well, two devices actually. But, more on what happened … Read More Here
Basis B1 Watch In-Depth Review
The Basis B1 watch represents the first fitness tracker on the market to do 24×7 continuous heart rate monitoring (all without a heart rate strap), in addition to all of the usual metrics like a step-counter and sleep. Adding to … Read More Here
Nike+ FuelBand In-Depth Review
The Nike+ Fuelband is one of many activity monitors on the market today. Up against the likes of FitBit, Jawbone UP, and others – how does it stack up? Read More Here