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1
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.
2
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/Drones/Action Cams 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 (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!
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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.
Sweet, makes up for missing out on Valentine’s giveaway (almost). Thanks for all the great stuff!
On a similar but not exactly the same vein, I reckon link to madewithsisu.com is quite cool for strava!
I have stopped using Strava…maybe I will start using it again.
Hello Ray
Reading this and other posts such as the “everything you ever wanted to know”, do you think you could do a review of the apps and software gravitating around the HRV analysis? Which HRM strap work, which don’t, with which app etc…
?
thanks
6co
Just to note that Veloviewer is not free anymore: “Your data will be truncated and frozen to your most recent 25 activities and their segments on or soon after 26/02/2015 (a week from your first seeing of this message). Upgrade to PRO before that date to continue using VeloViewer on all of your data.”
There is free functionality, you can see the breakout here: link to blog.veloviewer.com
Just as an aside – going PRO on Veloviewer is arguably the most fun I’ve got out of a tenner ever :)
Same here – a well deserved 10 for the guy that does that site
Yes, certain features of Veloviewer became ‘premium-only’ at the end of last year. A great service worth the fee though in my opinion, it’s a great motivational tool to see your score slowly tick-up after a solid block of training!
I wonder what Strava will make of this app, particularly the replication of premium Strava features such as the “Heart Rate Zone Distribution”. IIRC in the blog post about Strava cutting off 3rd party access to your data, you said that they made a big deal about this particular issue.
It’s actually interesting. Because this is a Chrome extension, it rides ‘above’ Strava. Said differently, it’s actually not authenticating with Strava at all. That’s how it’s able to change the look and feel of the site. So to that end…there’s really not much Strava can do, short of starting a coding war. But honestly, software-development has a long history of showing that back and forth break/fix wars never really work.
And of course, that ignores the obvious: This app betters/extends Strava. So it keeps people paying for Strava. Which, is probably a good thing since Strava just layed off a number of folks…
Sounds about right. There’s something similar for the steam (software selling platform) site called enhanced steam where it also shows lowest pricing ever for programs and current lowest price at alternative sites. Obviously Steam would prefer not having the competition pointed out but there’s not much you can do about it.
On a different note, will they expand to different browsers or is it just Chrome? Not that I would mind starting up Chrome for my workout session analysis but I’m quite happy with Firefox myself.
Thanks a lot for sharing this little gem.
Ray – Do you have any more info on the Strava layoffs? How many, what departments, how bad of a sign this is? They still have a fair number of job openings on their site.
They laid off about half of their marketing team, along with their internal PR team. I don’t know if the layoffs extend beyond that.
Was this announced? Tightening expenses for a Garmin acquisition?
Great post, lots of nerdy stuff here.
You do also have the “Strava Enhancement Suite”
What does going premium bring to the table above and beyond what StravaPlus does?
A few odds and ends I guess, goal setting, training plans, enhanced filtering on leader boards…most notably for me I like the Fitness and Freshness calculator to (roughly) keep track of my form and the few sample Sufferfest videos are good for a go on the turbo every so often.
Plus I personally prefer the heart rate data presentation and the associated suffer score on Strava. Certainly I’d say Strava Plus enhances my use of Strava Premium, I like how I can just add the few fields I’m interested in to the dashboard and the integration of Veloviewer, flyby and being able to scroll through your feed!
Therefore it personally makes me less likely to cancel my Strava subscription.
@DCRainMaker Thanks for article about my extension.
Theses extended features will be applied to running and others activites in a very near future.
You can install this extension on Opera which will be deployed on the Opera store soon.
As a workaround, if you want to manually install it in Opera now, then install this opera extension, and still in opera got to link to chrome.google.com for installation.
Note: Extension works in Chromium too. Firefox not supported at the moment (Need help ?!).
Cheers !
Thank you for making it! It’s very interesting to see some more in-depth stats that give a broader picture than the usual Avg Speed/HR/Cadence etc etc.
I’m excited to hear that you’re planning on expanding it to running activities as well. Pace zone distribution as found in Strava/Training Peaks premium would be a really useful feature here.
Do you have a website or blog?
Many thanks again!
If you want to stay tuned about this extension, here is my twitter account: @champagnethomas
I don’t have any blog to refresh at the moment, just a kind of static “hub” about me here http://thomaschampagne.github.io
Love it, thanks! The flyby is really a lot of fun. Needs a run/ride filter, though. Great fun to use with a race, though!
waiting for the firefox extension :D
Looks like you’ve only got 214 notifications waiting for your account…
Flyby looks good but I can’t see a way to filer run/ride at the moment.
I really hope that it honours privacy settings, although given how many others I could see locally I would be amazed if it does. It’d be all too easy for this functionality to be used as a creepy stalker app. Also I was able to see what device local cyclists were using – with these devices costing what they do, and Strava making it easy for me to see where someone will be and when on their regular rides what’s to stop thieves from targeting the latest tech? Maybe I am worrying about nothing, but near me I can see that Richard rides with his Edge 800, Harriet with a 910XT and Annie runs with her iPhone. Clicking a single link also tells me that Richard often rides at 3-4pm along the same local route.
I’m not normally a paranoid person, but this is surely a recipe for trouble and something Strava need to address in a much more proactive way. Thankfully they do at least offer and push the privacy option by default so it’s not as easy to work out which houses are empty!
I’d also like to see companies like Garmin offering a trace service for stolen kit. On Garmin Connect and Polar Personal Trainer they know my device type and serial number – surely it would be trivial to code up a button to register stolen devices, allowing the police to better investigate once that serial number appears elsewhere?
I have some experience in crime prevention and I’d say you are being a little paranoid :) Of course anyone can always make their ride private anyway.
Human nature is typically to take the path of least resistance and effort. There are far easier targets out there than to extensively research the possibility of swiping one electrical gadget let alone the logistics involved in successfully carrying out the crime or the possibility of waiting around for hours with no-one showing due to a sick day/change in routine or other possible reason.
Far easier to target the laptop/mobile phone/sat nav sat in open view on the back seat of an unattended car or a gadget inexplicably left at a cafe table when someone goes to the counter to order a coffee.
Even if you were set on specifically stealing bike GPS units there are better ways to do it – go to a popular cafe stop and be amazed at how many people leave their Garmin mounted on the bike when they go for a coffee! Sit at a natural bottle neck/slowing point that is quietish but popular enough with cyclists and see what they have on the stem first hand before making a grab?
I’m all for taking sensible precautions (some hints above on that score) but in my opinion (for the little it’s worth) we shouldn’t let our fear of crime impact on our enjoyment of fun features such as this :)
Forgot to mention with regard to the stalker comment if it concerns you, other than making rides private, there is nothing stopping you from using an alias as your username and not employing a photo of yourself too :)
Strava has an option that keeps private things you do within a ser distance from your house. That way you can share without worrying about thieves.
Dave:
a) instead of looking for targets in Strava, wouldn’t it be easier to just go to a trail and wait for the next person who passes by? Strava tells you afterwards of the event not beforehand. Plus you are not required to post a recognizable picture.
b) it seems like half the people have an iPhone anyways. And why go through all the trouble of specifically aiming to steal a 910xt or Edge 800? It is not as if their resell markets are huge (e.g. it would be risky to sell them on Craiglist) compared to a mobile phone which mostly everybody carries one nowadays.
c) would a thief risk attacking a fit person who could potentially outrun and/or bike away in a public place or do it while the item is in a locker, table, bag when nobody is looking?
d) does Strava also include a field saying the person is carrying a loaded gun, knife, mace, or is a martial arts expert, a police man, a type-A person who is fearless and doesn’t give up easily, or whether he/she exercises with a group? We are talking about wasting a lot of time waiting for a specific person and potentially not achieving anything.
e) does Strava really guarantee a house is empty, has no dogs, no silent alarm system?
Crime was doing great before Strava came along. For example, if you want an empty house, many families go out to church on Sundays for a long time. You are over thinking things. There are plenty of better ways to find targets. If you are concerned about being stalked, make your online info private and become a bit of a hermit.
The idea to tag a Garmin device as stolen is a good one. I wonder if it would be possible for police nowadays to ask Garmin if a specific device was ever re-registered to somebody else. it would be sweet if that person ever posted their running/biking events with gps locations.
I wonder what the situation internationally is but talking for the current situation in the UK it would be highly unlikely that the police would have the time, resources and therefore inclination to have such a system or carryout such a check :(
It’s amazing what can be done if the crime is high enough priority but I’m afraid so called “petty” crime typically has very little resource assigned to solving it. Read crime number for insurance purposes – case closed…
Regardless it’s highly likely that anyone responsible for the theft would have long since sold it on by the time it’s back in circulation. That said we all have a responsibility to buy responsibly too.
I’ve certainly noticed a common misunderstanding to what the Enhanced Privacy Mode provides on Strava with people thinking that other’s couldn’t see their activities and therefore not adding a privacy zone. I wrote a blog post a while back explaining why you should use the privacy zones as well.
I think if someone was motivated enough to try and nick your GPS device then they’ll probably take your bike along with it. Definitely think twice before Instagraming photos of your bike which then are attached to your rides as it might just be a nice advert for your pride and joy to some undesirable.
I didn’t mean for the police to check. Garmin should be pro-active and any device marked as stolen should either have a kill switch like the iPhone or they should contact the original owner who can then inform the police. My assumption was that the police wouldn’t have time to chase up things like this, but the technology has been proven to stop iPhone thefts very effectively, so Garmin, Polar and Suunto should do the responsible thing and follow suit. This is easy stuff to implement and I find it disappointing that they’ve not even tried considering how useless these devices are without their cloud platform to upload through. If you remove the onward market for stolen goods then the goods are infinitely less likely to be stolen in the first place.
I’d be interested to read a comment from the manufacturers on kill switches etc. if you have time to ask Ray. Now that Apple started the trend I don’t think vendors can ignore this.
Yes, that’s a very good point, apologies, my misunderstanding. Certainly the little I’ve heard about the IPhone changes suggests a dramatic decrease in their theft since the implementation of a kill switch. Though I guess they were a lot more desirable to steal in the first place.
if you have a very expensive bike:
link to dailymail.co.uk
Edwin, you’re thinking too micro in your minimizing of someone else’s concerns. He specifically mentioned using a routine a person may have within their workout regimen as a mechanism for predicting when said person may or may not be at their house. It might not be the Edge 800, bicycle, wallet or phone that is desired but something(s) within the owner’s home. Admittedly going to this StravaPlus route to find that type of surveillance info may be a bit of a stretch, it does describe a scenario that your rather condescending reply didn’t account for.
One last word on this, I never start nor end my rides immediately near my house. I always spin the legs warming up for a couple of minutes while the Garmin picks up satellites anyway so my ride start and end are never right by my house. It’s another way to avoid an unlikely complication and means I don’t even have to worry about a privacy zone either.
Is it correct to say that for this extension to be beneficial one needs a paid Strava Account?
No, neither Veloviewer or Strava Plus requires a Strava subscription.
is there a safari extension i wonder ?
Like Strava itself, there’s really a lot less there for runners than for cyclists. I was pretty excited to see your post, but a lot of the stuff that *could* be implemented for runners too just isn’t. Heart rate zones really aren’t cycling specific.
What I’d like to see in addition to the strava achievement map is something like a potential achievement map, not showing where I already have CRs, but showing what segments I should try to place in. A map that points out segments that are somehow interesting in the vicinity of lots of segments I’ve done would lead me to new segments. Maybe the map would just point out segments I haven’t attempted yet that are near ones I have. Maybe it would point out segments where I’m relatively close to the top of the leaderboard and should keep trying. Maybe it would point out segments with relatively soft CRs, if there’s a way to quantify that. Anything that would bring new segments to people, especially since the segment browser is so hard to use.
it sounds like you want to go CR (KOM) hunting. :) A couple guys just did that to me. Came from afar, one was never on Strava before, and ran just “my” (CR) segments. Literally drove to the start point, sprinted the segment, and then left. (sorry, I’m just whining).
Author of the app has stated the next major update will add similar features for running.
That’s really annoys when somebody uploads a “run” just of the segment. Has happened to me a few times and was really hard to know if they were actually running. Mind you I am sure I have “annoyed” plenty by taking their CRs :) And the “Flag” button is always there when you know it was actually a bike ride – e.g. sub 4 miling uphill :)
I really like this kind of talk about software. You write so much great posts about hardware (and to some degree software as well), but the idea highlight software this way is awesome! Thanks. :)
Maybe it was addressed in the article or comments. Does one need to have Strava Premium for this extension? or another way of asking. Will this extension work if I just have the “free” Strava account.
Yes, you can use it as Free or Premium user.
This extension has for ambition to enhance the strava web experience of all users. Features added don’t depends on your account type.
(I’m the author of this stuff)
One conclusion that can be drawn from the very existence of these interesting third-party add-ons like StravaPlus and VeloViewer is that Strava has boxed itself in to an erroneous pricing model. I think it’s pretty clear that Strava should be differentiating between their free and Premium levels like this:
– Free. All “social” features, including maps, segments, KOMs, leaderboards, challenges, kudos, comments. “Free” here is what brings in new users.
– Paid (Premium). All training diary and activity analysis features. Including (my list is from a cyclist’s point of view … so, asking for forgiveness in advance from runners and triathletes) power, cadence, HR, speed, power curve, Fitness and Freshness, etc. “Paid” here is what funds development of new features, just like those offered by the third-party add-ons.
Strava’s problem is that they are currently mixing the two – some of the social features are currently Premium only, and some of the training diary and activity analysis features are being given away for free. It’s difficult to see how Strava can extricate itself from this pricing dilemma without irritating current users.
Off topic, but I’m curious what happened to the Fitbit Charge HR review? You had mentioned that it would likely be out last week but it seems to have dropped off the radar. Has that one fallen out of the queue or just gotten bumped back? Was holding off on buying one until I saw your verdict – I live and die by my Garmin while working out, but am looking for more accurate HR/activity/sleep tracking for the “other 23 hours”.
It’s still on the docket. Last week I got double-slammed by being sick and unexpected work travel.
Thomas, first of all I think the app is great overall. I think that looking at speed, power, and HR in quartiles is very interesting and something that had never occurred to me to do. I think your normalized power calculation is off though. Maybe it’s a limitation in the data you can pull through Strava, but I checked a few trainer rides and the NP was consistently 5-10% less than what I get from WKO+. The Strava weighted average power was within a watt or two though.
Does anyone else have issues with the Estimated Normalized Power while using this extension? I think it would be awesome if this worked, but the number is obviously way off. For example, this ride: link to strava.com says I have an Estimated NP of 307W (I wish!). However, my average power was only 101W. I don’t understand how the jump is that large. Estimated NP and Crank Revolutions are really the only 2 major stats that I use from this extension (aside from all the shortcuts), so I’m hoping that the NP will be fixed.
From my own experience and asking around it seems to be a common problem that ENP seems way too high even if you have the correct weight and gear info entered into Strava. To the developer please don’t take this as a whinge, I’m grateful it’s a free extension and I love it, thanks :)
I too only really use the extension for extended power data (other than ENP I find the data useful), the idle curiousity of crank revolutions and then most importantly the quality of life integration of Veloviewer, Flyby and being able to scroll your feed. I love the fact you can pick and choose your data too and would be even happier were ENP more accurate.
Hi,
Here is what i explained in the extension:
So, Maths are Maths, there’s no way to change a result of an equation. Remember that you may experience some misunderstanding values because it’s already computed over an estimation of power. Be aware this ! I can buy a power meter to get very precise values :)
Here is the formula from Dr. Andy Coggan
Note: Estimated Normalized Power will be renamed to Estimated Harmonized Power in a near future.
Erratum :
Here is the formula from Dr. Andy Coggan: link to i.imgur.com
Here is the formula from Dr. Andy Coggan without (not) working image:
Estimated NP = sqrt(sqrt(sum (wattSample^4/wattsSamplesCount)))
Thomas, did you see my post above? StravaPlus is consistently underestimating NP for my trainer rides with a PM. For example, here’s a 3 x 20 session where StravaPlus calculates a 237W NP whereas the actual NP is 255W. This was using a KICKR in erg mode, so the power was very steady.
link to strava.com
Thanks for the further info Thomas I did read the info in the extension and indeed from other sources such as Training Peaks etc.
I very much appreciate your work and of course you’re absolutely right that for 100% accuracy we can buy a power meter (and ensure it’s properly calibrated) and perhaps I am still misunderstanding the concept.
An example, in my case I believe I can sustain somewhere around 275 Watts for a flat out 20 minute effort (so a FTP of around 260 Watts – NB appreciate all of this is from power estimates) yet my ENP for many activities that are 2+ hours long is calculated at well over 300 Watts.
Anyway back to the important stuff which is to re-iterate my thanks your efforts are much appreciated :)
Can you drop me activities IDs ? Probably WKO+ is apply a factor over the NP calcultated by Dr Andy Cogan Formula.
You are not the first one who inform me of this problem.
253876334
There’s also a link in my post.
I’ll calculate the NP manually in Excel later today and see if it matches WKO+.
You are using a 30 second rolling average for your wattSample, right?
Thomas, I calculated NP for that activity in a Google Docs spreadsheet, and I come up with a number very, very close to WKO+. The final NP is at the bottom of Column I. I think you’ll be able to follow the calculation. It’s pretty straight forward. Will you check it compared to your algorithm?
link to docs.google.com
Thanks for this.
I’m getting 263w for you ride (253876334) on my side. With “4” as exponent.
Estimated NP = sqrt(sqrt(sum (wattSample^4/wattsSamplesCount)))
I was using “3.925” as exponent before, because some people where having differences with NP given by their garmin:
Estimated NP = sqrt(sqrt(sum (wattSample^3.925/wattsSamplesCount)))
Also i may remove this value is you don’t have a power meter. Because exponents on unprecise watts values may give undesired results.
Nice find and “kudos” to Thomas Champagne for implementing. Hours more fun I am sure to be had checking all this out.
Very nice add on. Feature suggestion: Add a filter to suppress the 2015 trophies. I hate those things and I’m not alone in thinking so.
It doesn’t work for me, can’t see the 3 bars next to Strava logo
Make sure extension is activated.
Do you have message “This item has been disabled in Chrome.” on light yellow background when you go to this page:
link to chrome.google.com
No I can’t see any message. May just remove and re-install
My mistake I installed strava enhancement suite not stravaplus!!!!
We need a Strava extension that would allow the editing of distance. Now that is something I could get excited about. Silly that something as basic as editing distance can not be done in Strava.
Could you be more precise with that need?!
Strava doesn’t allow the user to edit treadmill or bike trainer distances with HR data.
I ride a kieser indoor trainer at the Y. It provides rpm,watts/cal, hr and miles. I use my garmin. 800 to track my hr profile. I upload to garmin where I am able to fill in the miles ridden which then enters into my goals. However, when I view my strava account I am not able to manually record my miles to track my goals. A mileage manual entry is needed along with hr and rpm.Tks
The ” three orange lines ” UI element is commonly called a Hamburger Menu BTW.
Thanks Thomas for this wonderful extension.
The only problem I have though is lack of odometer display for me, simply says “undefined” even though I have a bike defined in Strava. Odometer reading on strava stats is present for me. Any idea what could be wrong?
Yes i touched bike odo yesterday :D Maybe a bug.
Do you have any activity link to see and fix?
Thanks
Follow updates through : link to twitter.com
One thing to note ….
I’ve realised that Garmin Connect actually already shows the crank revolutions metric. It puts it in the “total strokes” field on the main activities page for a cycling activity. A bit weird really, as that column is for strokes when swimming, but it’s there nonetheless.
It’s not exactly the same as what StravaPlus states, but it’s in the same ballpark.
Gotta love addons/extensions that greatly improve the functionality of your favorite sites.
I was a huge fan of Greasemonkey back int he day. I had tons of Greasemonkey scripts running to improve my deviantART experience. Then when Firefox came out with built-in addons it was a game changer. I especially liked Foxtrick for the soccer management simulator Hattrick.
Hey, great article for a great extension.
the latest version is just awesome and provides the rides counters for runs.
Many Thanks Thomas Champagne !!
How do you think this extension compares to other plug-ins like Strava Enhancement Suite and StravistiX? What would happen if you run them all at the same time?
edit: it looks like Strava Plus is now called StravistiX. Do you prefer it over Strava Enhancement Suite? Again wondering what would happen if I ran them both.
Yes. StravistiX was named formelly StravaPlus. I’m the guy behind this two things.
You should not have any problem to run with another. What to you like in the other?
Tom
I’m running both right now and they are working fine. The Strava Enhancement Suite does other things like the look of Strava rather than heavy stats. So I like that Strava Enhancement Suite allows you to hide Strava Premium badges and basically all of Strava’s ads on the page. So it does more aesthetics and feel than stats. The only overlap I saw was auto-scroll so I kept it on StravistiX but didn’t choose it on the Strava Enhancement Suite just because I didn’t want them to overlap. But so far so good. And I really love StravistiX. Amazing.
Time to do another review? It has dramatically improved with TRIMP scores, and long term fitness levels….awesome!!
Maybe a new review could emerge?!
The plugin received so so many big changes for 2 years… The latest was fitness trends for every sports (ready for triathlon…).
Let me know if you need some help (i’am author behind stravistix).
Tom
I would appreciate that. Looks very promising…
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Does it exist something like that connected directly to Garmin Connect without passing trough Strava?
Regards