Heads up! There’s some pretty substantial sales that just started. For watches, the Garmin Epix is down to $499, and the Fenix 7 to $449, with the Pro editions also $200 off! Meanwhile the top-end Edge 1040 cycling GPS is down to $499, and both the Edge 540 & Edge 840 are also on sale. As is Varia radar for $149. Some incredible deals, and ll the deals are here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
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.
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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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
I applaud you for speaking up. One thing that I would consider letting these companies know is that their goal should be to make a 310xt in the size of a FR60 which supplements its power from solar cells. That would be more enviromentally friendly and minimize cradle recharging time. I’d probably also mention that some of sensors should be solar powered as well.
No worries, I talked extensively to that in side conversations. I can say that the big names get it…I’d be really surprised if we don’t see a FR110 watch with the functionality of the FR60 by spring. I also talked to the usefulnes of including ability to record power to such a device as well.
Thank you for the ‘report’ you are doing a great job, sounds exciting. I hope a proper ANT+ swimming heart rate monitor/transmitter will be out in the market in the near future…
Cheers
The SE-phones has already been on the market for a while in Europe. Do you know if they are ready for ANT+? Is there a WiLink-chipset inside the mobiles?
SE has also announced a small 1,3” OLED-display bluetooth gadget. Seems to be meant for training and other purposes when your hands are occupied. link to blogs.sonyericsson.com
Wrote about your blog post at MyTracks for Android.
link to code.google.com
Was Suunto at the symposium, are they planning for ANT+ instead of the old ANT?
Thanks for a great blog!
Like KB said. The SE X10 mini has been out in Europe for quite some time. I think they launched it at the beginning of the summer. But I can not find anywhere where it says it is ANT+ compatible.
Do you know? Is a firmware update perhaps needed?
Yep, the Mini is allready available in europe, but even at the se developer site, ant+ is not mentioned at all.
It would be great to have at least a realse date…
… and yes, thanks for your blog!
Correct, it is the addition of ANT+ chips that is the primary change here. Unfortunately, no exact release date is available.
Looking forward to seeing a review of the 4iii product. I’ve been following the progress of the Recon Instruments ski goggle (http://www.reconinstruments.com) with built in GPS, speed, altitude, stopwatch, etc. and thinking how cool it would be to get my run/bike data the same way.
What a great opportunity and it definitely sounds like good sharing session for everyone.
Yes, deer in Alberta can sneak up on you very quickly. It’s a good thing you weren’t running at night. And, better a deer than a bear.
I thought the WiLink chipset from TI which was built into many Android phones already supports ANT+? That is how the HTC team uploaded their stats during the tour with an HTC phone. So any knowledge on when the drivers and or apps will be out to make full use of the hardware functionality already out?
It looks like AT&T and Best Buy are now selling the X10. $99 with contract. I’m not sure it’s worth getting over an iPhone with the Fisica dongle.
“With the release of Xperia™ arc, Sony Ericsson is the first handset manufacturer to have integrated support for ANT+. The ANT+ support will also be introduced in Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X8, Xperia™ X10 mini, and Xperia™ X10 mini pro through software upgrades in Q1 2011. Several future Sony Ericsson Android™ devices will also support ANT+ technology.”
link to blogs.sonyericsson.com
More on Sony Ericsson ANT+ support…
link to blogs.sonyericsson.com
I have Xperia X8 phone, and trying to find some ANT+ based app that will enable me to train in wanted HR zones. I want to use it for intervals on bicycle. App like Endomondo ( which I use ), SportyPal, etc. are useless since they are basically only shows momentary pulse.
I wan app where I can input (for example) firs 15 min in zone2, then 3 min in zone4, 2 min in zone2, …. at the end of intervals again 15min for cooling down. Of course if I get out of wanted zone it should alarm me.
Something like A HIIT Interval Timer app for Android, but with ANT+ and HR added.
I really cant believe that this is so hard to develop. :/