Heads up!!! Here’s your massive holiday sports tech deals list! This includes the Garmin Epix for just $419, the Apple AirTag 4-Pack for just $69, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $249, (or the brand new Hero 13 or $299!) and plenty more! Go check out the full list of 100+ deals here!
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:
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
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!
3
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.
4
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!
5
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 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.
I planned to have tons of funny stuff happen to me this easter.
But instead I have been at home painting the roof and walls of my living room.
link to picasaweb.google.com
But the easter bunny think i deserve to enter the giveaway anyways :)
I promise, she told me so just now.
Heading out for a Pentagon to Capitol run, sure would be nice to have that 610 on my wrist!!!
Heading out for a Pentagon to Capitol run, sure would be nice to have that 610 on my wrist!!!
I spent last week in Cancun with my family and I managed three 10K runs in 75-85 degree weather between zip-lining, snorkling, water skiing and wind surfing. I know it is not fair to complain about warm humid weather, but it was a bit of a shcck during the runs. The worst part was being forced to run on concrete – my 52 yr old knees are still complaining. Hope they shut up for my 10 mile race next Sunday. Overall a wonderful family trip!
We returned home in time for our annual Easter Egg and matzah hunt. My 11 yr old son hauled out his basket that was still filled with last year’s stash. When I tried to throw it away, he informed me that he always eats his Easter candy a year later. However, he did let me throw away the moldy matzah.
Pick me if the contest is still on
Interesting workout this next saturday: 12 mile long run in the morning, 1 mile race in the afternoon followed by a 5K Corporate Walk.
Never a planned workout….just get out when I can….which was a short 5km run…..along with visiting the family back home
Count me in a entry :-)
My kids are grown up and gone, but the dogs enjoy an Easter ‘dog treat’ hunt.
We hide treats on our 90 acres and let them go!
Every year they improve their time!
Terry
Brick coming up this weekend! Finally warm enough to ride outdoors. Great blog! Your review of the FR60 was really helpful.
This year i planned run in San Silvestre 31/12, Spain
Did a straight 2000m at the long course pool at Wilson hs. 610 looks like a great watch! Thanks for the giveaways!
Really enjoy your blog. Lots of great product reviews and other info. Can’t wait to win my Forerunner 610! THANKS!
Ok, I confess: I just want the F610!
But I promise I’ll give my actual F60 to my wife. No more excuses for her to start running!!!
Thanks a lot!
Upcoming week:
Morning Crossfit WOD
Evening swim 500m or run 3 miles
Still feeling the Easter effects…
(un)Funny Easter story: Finding a rotten hard boiled egg that was too well hidden from a year earlier. Planned workout: 10k run.
I’m in! This may be motivation enough to get me outside and running for a few days a week!
Looking forward to the trying out the 610. I ordered mine last week!
My training consisted of taking out my new Ritchey Break-Away for its first shakedown ride, so I knew it would be ready to join me in Chicago this week and DC the week after next…
Just had your site recommended to me for the reviews. Absolutely amazing stuff – keep it up!
Now that the tempurature was warmed, we just need it to dry out. I plan to do the 50 mile round trip NYC-Piermont this Saturday. Weather permitting, I will do it again Sunday.
Can’t resist the urge to enter. The 610 looks slick and worth some envy. Though my 305 would never forgive me for ogling another watch.
i swam, i ran, i hiked… i also ate chocolate :)
We hid real hbes… no plastic ones in our house! found one a few weeks after easter and almost had my brother convinced that it would taste great….
Recently stumbled across your site, lots of really good info and I’m now hooked! I’m planning on doing my first triathlon in the next month, so I’ve been training for that. Happy Easter!
Well, this weekend I’ll hopefully be joining in on the Naked Run in Asheville, NC.
Not too much to celebrate the bunny this weekend, just having family come over and will probably eat way too much. Sunday morning is a 30mi bike with a 10k run afterward. Happy easter!
No hilarious Easter stories; I just biked on the trainer at 8:30pm after all of the family festivities. Somehow, my husband got the 3 hour outdoor bike/T-run workout in the beautiful morning hours while I had kiddo-duty. No, I’m not bitter. Not… at… all…
no training but managed to hide eggs for our kids!
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Well done, this was a great review!
Makes me want to have one of this Garmin Forerunner 610 to see how it really perform against my polar & Suunto toys… and how it looks when I uppload to sports-tracker.com as usual with my logs.
Boro
This past weekend I did a 1800m swim followed by 30 mile ride on Friday and another 30 mile with the g/f on Saturday. Then we ate sausage, eggs, borcht and a lamb shaped cake on Easter with the family. Happy Dyngus day!
Great review and looks like it has over 90% of what I wanted in my 210. The only thing I can see needed is tri/swim mode and better (not 610 specific) on-line Connect software.
Also posted link to review on the Garmin Forum. Should get extra ponts or at least a gold star for that. :)
I injured my knee on my 18 mile long run on Saturday morning, so I iced it back to health with the help of some dove chocolate bunnies and jelly beans!!!
I injured my knee on my 18 mile long run on Saturday morning, so I iced it back to health with the help of some dove chocolate bunnies and jelly beans!!!
Trying to make up for a multi-thousand calorie day (Easter Sunday) by getting 4 running days in this week.
Would LOVE to give this 610 a wrist to hang on. Been reading your reviews for months, deciding between the 210 and 410…then POW! The 610 shows up.
Really excited about having 4 data fields to display at once.
Hey DC,
I’m new to you and already have read all of your reviews!!! I gotta’ get me one of those blenders too! Training for Grandma’s in June and when the miles/hills get tough I have to remember what I’m running for – I run for MS. Hope your training is going well.
Thanks,
Run4MS22
Hey DC,
My funny Easter story when when I was 8 years old and my older sister decided to play a trick on me and painted an egg that was not boiled!!! Of course and I cracked it to begin eating it, the egg yoke and everything else went all over my lap and pants!!! From that point on and I’m not 28, I don’t like cracking any Easter eggs to find what’s inside them!
I’ll be running a half marathon this coming weekend, wish me luck!
Run4MS22
Took my daughter for a sloooow post easter lunch 5km…
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long brick saturday and bummed around eating food all day easter.
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whoww I’ll be very happy with a 610 for my runs :)
Imagining all I could do with that Garmin…
Nothing really spetacular for Easter (most of my workouts were scratched), but was able to run and go to the gym to help my knee return to his normal (pain due to weak ligaments)
Anyway, I am in for the 610
No funny Easter stories, but planning on doing some hiking in N. Georgia to celebrate the warm weather this weekend!
Forgot a giant chokolate easter egg in the back of my car a few years ago on a sunny day… Cleaning up was absolutely no fun! But when I look back at it now.. Oh well… :)
Just did my first Half and am looking for a good running watch. Am enjoying the reviews.
Sylvia H. – My Garmin 405 got stolen this past Monday. I have been training for half mararthons for 2 years. I have lost over 150lbs. I was set to do the full marathon training starting in June. I don’t know how I will do it without my Garmin. It has been a tough week without it.
shaven72@aol.com
I spent Easter with a pretty girl that runs! Don’t get better than that. Ran 5 miles of trails in the beautiful Cameron Park in Waco, TX. Running is fun as is but the company made the workout all the more amazing. Keeping up with a fast girl’s a workout i’ll tell you that!
Every year as a child we would have a large family get together with family friends and have a huge Easter Egg hunt on our family property. My father and his friends would hide us children upstairs in the library while they place 100 of eggs throughout our 2 acre yard. They would hide them everywhere, high in the trees, hidden in holes in the ground, in plants. One year my father the pranker he is decided to hide a slug in one and unfortanetly I was the one who found it. At that time I was deathly afraid of slugs and when I opened the egg I screamed at the top of my lungs! That cut my easter egg hunt short that year..
Easter was great for me because my parents would hide packs of baseball cards instead of eggs! Bo Jackson…check….Will Clark….check….Jose Canseco…check…..rock hard gum…you betcha!!
My planned workout his past weekend consisted of nursing an injury by sitting on a beach in Wilmington NC!
Easter was recovery from a 40+ mile multi-sport endurance challenge! (I’m also a follower of your blog)
No funny stories, unfortunately. Training plan for the weekend is to continue my taper for the Rotorua Marathon next weekend. Saturday is a club run, so about 12km medium pace. Sunday is 21km medium pace. Monday is 6km at recovery pace.
Signed up just in time.
Just saw this after rereading! Might as well throw my “slip” in, right? :) Did 12 miles Sat. and am thinking of trying a tri in August. Debating between 305 and 210 after returning my 405cx today.
Pick me, pick me! I need a Garmin for my Marine Corps Marathon training:)
My girlfriend hide me 6 eggs and gave gps locations with clues to find it, bu she give me wrong cordinates and i went all day and only found strange people in strange place if you know what i mean.
I can haz 610 pls?
I’m planning on my usual 50k bunch ride tonight if the insane NZ rain stops, then a 10k run tomorrow! WIN!
Design on the 610 looks great! I’ve been a Garmin fan for a long, long time. Love that they keep working hard on quality products. Thanks for such a great site and I would love to win your giveaway!
Went running with a Captain yesterday who asked first how long i plan to run i said 5-8 miles and he proceeded to say he could do a 16 min 5K which is waaaay to fast for me. “I’m quite swift.” He started the treadmill on 10mph then increased it to around 12mph. After a good steady 8 minutes, he brunt out. Funny stuff. He did finish in 20 mins though. It was like Pepe Le Peu and the cat in Looney Tunes. I’m just chilling and I’m just glad he didn’t faint.
Hey Ray,
Love the blog maybe I’ll win one of these some day. This weekend I did a 40 mile bike followed by a quick 2 mile run. Then a 8 mile run and 2400 yard swim. Good stuff.
4k swimming followed by a 2 hr ride on Saturday. 8.5 mile run on Sunday.
Spent easter preparing for my debut in national elite road racing! Can’t wait!
4k swimming followed by a 2 hour ride on Saturday. 8.5 mile run with a few intervals on the track on Sunday.
One year my mom decided to hid the Easter baskets instead of just leaving them out in the open. I think it was so that we would have something to do to keep us busy so that she could get more sleep. My dad decided to get up and help with breakfast. He made coffee and started to preheat the oven. He proudly let my mom know how helpful he had been when he brought her some coffee to help her wake up. She shot out of the bed and came hauling into the kitchen like a sprinter, flung open the stove and yanked and Easter basket out of the oven. She had hidden one of them in there the night before and forgotten to tell my dad. Don’t worry, the candy was fine and tasty.
Don’t have any funny easter stories, and didn’t do much exercise this past weekend. However, I did spend lots of time with my wife and kids, from an easter egg hunt to a horse faire to chruch on sunday, we had quite a packed weekend.
That watch would look sweet as a replacement for my ancient Timex.
No bunny, no workouts: caught a cold :(
No funny stories. I just remember eating reeses peanut butter eggs until I was sick.
Getting started on my beginner Marathon training!
BigSur marathon! That should count for something. Did Angel Island 15 miles last weekend… 3400 feet elevation gain. Should get me ready for BigSur.
I hide real eggs at church and some were not found until they smelled up the bushes.
Today was an recover day, tomorrow I plan to swim.
(My wife lost her Garmin in a move to the new house, hope to win this for her!)
BW
Run a 4 mile race in the rain…a slow 3-4 mile recovery run the day after…
Love your blog. Great reviews and very easy to understand –english is my 2nd language.
Would be awesome to upgrade from my 305
Our dog likes to find and fetch easter eggs, he´s our easter doggy!
3 hr brick session.. Who’s in?
I’m beginning to think my life is dull… No funny Easter stories for me.
I just found out how good peeps are. And I’m 50+.
I have been on the injured list since the week after Shamrock Marathon, so I am not sure if I can run this weekend. But if I do, I will run with my running buddies at 7 am Sunday morning. We all became friends as a result of training together for Shamrock so after the race was over, we continues our Sunday runs. Unfortunately I haven’t been up to par and have had to stop and wall every week until finally I took the day off on Easter. I am hoping to get at least get a few miles I’m! Wish me luck!
On Easter morning I did a 25 mile ride followed by a 5 mile run. Welcome in spring!
Laid up for 4 weeks with ankle injury. Looking forward to a late start to the season
there was never a bigger disappointment than grabbing what was thought to be an M&M out of the basket only to find it was a malt ball; however, now I love them!
Don’t celebrate Easter here. Guess I’ll take a hike, a long hike this weekend.
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Count me in!
I ran 10 miles on Saturday. It was the first time I’ve ran double digits. Followed it up with a 14 mile bike ride to burn off some Easter chocolate! We’re finally getting Spring in WI!
Had a great work out yesterday,800 meter beach run, 1000 meter open water swim, 800 meter beach run.
This weekend I ran an easy 4 miles at the beach. Then I ate too much turkey.
hi mr DCrainmaker!!! Im from the philippines manila and not from boston davao oriental. been very grateful about all your reviews regarding garmin watches….ive started running here since 2009 after weve been strucked by typhoon ONDOY and subsequently been flooded. this experience somewhat opened my mind that after this tragic event…..life must go on….ive lost a total of 15 lbs since ive started running and up to the present i do it 3 to 4 times a week. more power to you sir
No funny stories, unless eating my body weight in chocolate in one sitting counts. Also no big training plans – it’s all about Boston recovery for the new few days.
Thanks for the great review. Hope you had a great Easter.
This week is a recovery week for me with less milage and an easier speed workout. 10 miles planned for my long run.
Thanks for the great review. Hope you had a great Easter.
A slower week for me, not as much speed work and 10 planned for my long run.
Had a nice brick workout over the weekend! Keep up the great work!
The weather has been pretty crummy here in NE Ohio, so I just put a movie in the old DVD player and chugged away on the treadmill.