Heads up! Here’s your massive list of sports tech deals! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $449, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium for $735, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, and plenty more! Go check out the full list 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.
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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!
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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.
Thanks Ray, you have an amazing webpage.
Thanks a lot.
Has Polar just fallen behind the times or are they dead and don’t know it yet?
DC use your influence and tell us the polar RC5 (with gps in watch) launch date!!
Ray great site!
I’m waiting on a RC5 also and if it has bluetooth or some open source protocol I would appreciate that as well. Garmin my have a new buyer if Polar can’t get it together.
@Loubas – Polar hasn’t been a huge player in running watches I think since Garmin hit it huge with their GPS watches. Garmin pretty much has a solid grip on that market. But they’re far from dead. If you go to a lot of fitness sites where people are focused on things other than distance/endurance training, you’ll see Polar monitors are HUGELY popular. The FT-series is seriously popular at MyFitnessPal for example. I’d say Polar is far from going away.
Ray, I’ve seen your complaints about PPT for a while and I have to admit I don’t truly understand the issue. I ditched my Timex Run Trainer for the Polar RC3 for several reasons, but a big one was that I liked PPT far more than Training Peaks. Now, my needs are pretty basic compared to some but from a UI perspective I find PPT easy to navigate and visually pleasant.
I’d be curious to see a side-by-side comparison of all the different logging sites so I can better understand why you feel PPT is so lacking. I do believe you, actually, I just don’t know what I don’t know so I assume I just don’t understand what I’m missing out on.
Codefox, i know where Ray is coming from with his complaints.
As a regular user of both Garmin (for run training, particularly intervals) and Polar watches (swimming, cycling and marathon distance runs) my complaints about PPT are that it’s user interface is clumsy – too many clicks required to do any in depth analysis and the basic information is also scattered.
It reminds me of engineering websites of the last decade and after using Garmin Connect then PPT my first reaction is always “hire a Gen Y web designer (poach one from Nike) and get the engineers to focus on hardware”.
Then there’s the restriction on creating intervals, I can’t remember what the limit is but it’s poor and useless for my training plans. Why the limitation? The hardware is capable!
But my biggest complaint by far is that PPT will NOT allow me to import an activity from a non-Polar device!
I can’t even import old Polar activities.
So for mostly for me, PPT only serves as an online backup of my Polar activities.
Hi Codefox!
Indeed, Thor pretty much summed up many of my issues. It’s part lack of graphical interface designer, but the majority is just lack of ability to really analyze any of the data.
It’s all presented in clunky data field text boxes without any true way to slice and dice. I can’t look at trending over time, nor anything around PR’s/Bests. It doesn’t integrate with any other data platform (even Garmin allows you to upload other device types as long as it conforms to .FIT or .TCX files, though they don’t advertise it). I can’t create and/or download courses to it, of course, that’s mostly a device issue at present. There’s no social aspect to it – no way to pull together multiple teams of people ala Strava or to look at how others are doing. It’s just a huge silo of sorts, a very stark feeling silo.
Thanks for the details, both of you. I think my training needs up till now are so basic that it must just not be something that affects me. I just got my mom an FR10 so when I help her set it up I’m going to have to look at Garmin’s website to see what the difference is.
I do agree about the silo thing. Socializing exercise is such a popular thing that it would be nice if they at least implemented that a little better. I guess at the end of the day, I just want to see a map of my run and my heart rate graph 8)
Actually there is a third party app that allows you to upload hrm files at link to rikara.blogspot.com there is also a version that will upload sport zones info. I got the updated version after contacting the author.
I mean I always use it to upload my hrm files exported from tacx trainer software
Sorry for posting twice
Dear Alper.
I also train on Tacx (i-Genius) and I have PPT (for RCX5)
Is it possible to copy the Tacx files into PPT ?
Friendly regards, Guido.
I’ve flip flopped between Polar and Garmin for about 4 years now, and having just started investigating Strava (probably one of the most motivating sites I’ve come across) I’m pretty irritated that Polar don’t allow easy export of a .TCX file from PPT. I’ve got a Garmin Swim, and it’s a delight to be back in the simple but (to me at least) very usable, useful Garmin Connect interface. The temptation to get back to an Edge 500 and a cheaper running watch is pretty strong.
Thanks Ray, for the crystal clear instructions.
I have attempted to research this myself to no avail; Do you know if Polarpersonaltraining records personal records automatically (like the Nike Plus and Garmin Connect websites) such as 5k, 10k, ?
No, it does not.
Thanks so much; I love your site. I have an old garmin 305 and cant decide between the polar rc3 gps or a garmin 210 (or maybe even 610). I love running but I do a lot of indoor gym workouts I’d love to monitor heartrate/calorie burn on which Polar seems better designed for… Your reviews have helped a ton! Thanks!
Given you already have a Garmin and presumably already have files in Garmin Connect, it would seem to make the most sense to go more towards the FR210 or FR610.
Hi There, After doing this tip, still dont have altitude.Did you know if I have to make another operation?
Thanks for you blog and for this help.
Eek, unfortunately not. I think there are some Polar Forums that might have a few tips as well. Wish I had a better answer, sorry!
Great site,
I too have both Polar RS800CX with GPS and Garmin Edge 800, both are great products but I find both PPT and Garmin Connect equally annoying.
Just to be clear I’m a cyclist doing long routes both on and off road.
Connect is great for mapping etc but I find the fitness analysis and training load planning pretty much non existent.
With PPT it’s the opposite, great fitness planning and analysis (yes the interface isn’t the easiest to navigate but it’s all there) but obviously no route guidance or planning.
Ideally I would use for recording Garmin as the Edge requires less faff and gives me the option of route guidance whilst training, and then download to PPT (I own Polar products so don’t think I’m being too cheeky heck I’d even pay a sensible fee for the facility).
Both Polar and Garmin record the data as TPX and GPX but as far as i’m aware i can’t import anything from non Polar products to PPT.
So in light of the above are there any 3rd party applications that might fit the bill?
Does the check box for altitude data need to be checked before the training results are downloaded to PPT? I am going through all the steps above but get the feeling the altitude data needs a place to go ( box checked ) or it won’t be downloaded. I will try an experiment to see if that is the case. Thanks
Hey! Do you know how can I change the axes of the altitude graph so it show’s me the km in the x axe? Instead of time? Thanks