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Happy Friday!

Welcome back to another edition of the DCR Newsletter. If you’re new around here and want to catch up on all the news, you can find the Newsletter Archives here.

As most of you know, I’m going to do a quick round up of last weeks tech goodness from Ray, and after that keep scrollin’ down for the In-Depth Thoughts of The Girl. It’s been a hell of a week, sooo don’t miss the bottom column.

First up, Ray and I managed to knock out another episode of the Quarantine Corner. So if you’re a DCR Supporter, be sure to check you inbox for the latest episode, should have arrived by Halloween (and you'll get another one we recorded yesterday, likely in the next 24 hours). If you’re not a supporter and you’re wondering why Ray is in a giant bird costume, then sign-up and we can send you the full archives of that too!

Next we have the quiet update from Garmin,under the radar they rolled out Cross Country Skiing Power. Now, for a lot of you, maybe this is not of interest. But for ME, let me tell you, I’m bouncing in my seat BEGGING for someone reading to invite me to come cross country skiing with them. Even better would be if anyone is a biathlon athlete! Seriously, I’d drop it all in a heartbeat to get have the chance to train for and even just ONCE get to race a biathlon. I know, random, but I have always thought biathlon was the coolest sport out there, and now I have a “work” excuse to try it out and maybe write a review for Ray. 

Then we have the Friday dump of unpleasant news, Under Armour sold off MyFitnessPal. For me this was of “meh” level of interest seeming we were headed into the next few days of Halloween and American election news cycles. I’d have preferred we just focus on the fun, silliness of Halloween and all the socially distant “candy-shoots” people created, over the later issue. But hey, can’t win them all.

Following that, all parents were made to feel inadequate with the announcement that Duracell now sells “bitter tasting batteries” and most of us didn’t know about it. Why would Ray report on this? Well, it seems bitter coated batteries causes some issues with your Quarq power meters (and, likely other sensors too). So that’s it now, you’re going to have a big decision, save your child from the desire to eat non-coated batteries, or save your power meter… could be a Sophie’s Choice for some of you.

Last but not least we have the DJI Mini 2 In-Depth Review. This was super cool to see what this little guy could do! When Ray told me he was headed out to the beach for a high winds test on Tuesday (cough, it had been crazy windy for two days), I just thought “oh great, he’s gonna fly that thing straight into the ocean…” But nope, spoiler alert, little Mini 2 held itself together and finally came back to the pier...though, Ray almost went into the water. Def check out the review, even if it’s just to watch the videos!

YouTube

It was a busy week on the YouTube channel. Ray took to the beach to check out the new DJI Mini 2, and was sure to keep us on the edge of our seats with the high winds test. Check it out to see him almost fall off the pier and into the drink. Be sure to give him thumbs up on whatever video you watch next, and if you want, subscribe to get notifications of videos once they are published!

·       DJI Mini 2 Review: 13 New Things to Know

·       DJI Mini 2: High Winds Test

image DJI Mini 2 In-Depth Review
image Tuesday Tidbits: Quarq Bitter Battery Warning, COROS Major Firmware Update, Garmin Major FR245/FR945 Updates
image Friday Tidbits: Endomondo to get shut down and MyFitnessPal sold off
image Garmin Quietly Rolls Out Cross Country Skiing Power
image Elite Tuo Smart Trainer In-Depth Review

In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl

Hey hey, thanks for making it down here. Let me tell you, it’s been a hell of a week.

Do you remember in the newsletter I wrote two weeks ago? When I was explaining how and why the newsletter can get the bumped so many weeks in a row. Simply when “life” happens, I am usually the one to drop all the things to take care of the home front. This is not a complaint, just explaining how we have our family structure set up at the moment to keep all the wheels turning. Well, it happened again.

This past Monday the Maker family had yet another one of those life moments. Our middle daughter, the one who should have been named “The Energizer Bunny”, had a really bad accident at daycare which landed her (and me) in the hospital Monday night. Four hours in the Emergency room, X-rays, an onslaught of doctors, nurses, and a surgeon, a reset leg, we finally emerged with a cast from hip to toe, and a prescription for bed rest for the next 6-8 weeks. Next week we head back to meet the surgeon again and get a realistic timeline for her road to recovery. Until then, I will be working at home trying to meet the demands of a small dictator. There’s a fine line between showing compassion for her and letting her become a tyrant. So anyone who’s had bedrest toddler before and has any advice… I’m all ears!

Other than that pile of drama, the week has been pretty quiet in our house. This is a little bit of lull before we start ramping up for all the holiday shopping guides, and making Black Friday/Holiday sales tables for you readers to find the best deals (though, there are already some stellar deals listed on our Sports Tech Deals page).

As for the running. That’s probably going to take a bit of a back seat. For me personally, I like running in the daylight if I’m by myself. With the Netherlands being so North, its still dark here at 6:00 or 6:30am and then dark again by 5:00pm. Sooooo, until I can get a babysitter to cover some half days throughout the week, that’s just the way the cards are dealt. Maybe, I’ll (begrudgingly) get Ray to bring home a Peloton Bike in the meantime. Or maybe we get the Wednesday night babysitter to come more and I drag Ray out for some more night runs. Stay tuned, we will figure something out, we always do!

As always, thanks so much for following along!

~The Girl

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