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!
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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:
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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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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.
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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 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.
Hi. about sporttrack.mobi being first major app to support running dynamics… Connectstats supported it before the 620 release date… But agreed it’s not a major app :):)
Pleased to see the SportTracks upgrade. Great piece of software.
The Leikr upgrade looks like a real improvement; the track still wobbles a bit, but the overall distance is within 1% of a Garmin on the same run, rather than 3-5% longer. Still has other issues for them to sort out, though.
I used my Leikr for the first time on Sunday, with my Garmin 610 on my other wrist for comparison. 12.70km on the 610, 12.94km on the Leikr, so 1.9% over-reading, and the graph for pace was super spiky compared to nice and smooth for the Garmin.
Great maps, but certainly not a race watch as the pace was also incorrect due to the distance.
Hi Ray,
Thanks, as always, for the great coverage.
Couple of things to note:
1. The Boeing model is insanely cool!
2. I have a Blade 350 QX with Contour HD camera that Ouse for similar filming in your surfing link. My friend has the DJI. We use them both to film paintball events. Personally, I’d take the Blade any day over the DJI. Better customer support from Horizon Hobby and I feel easier to fly. Shop carefully.
3. I’ve started my own blog. Check it out.
http://beatingbacktime.blogspot.com
Take care,
Don
Hi,
I would say it the other way round. I have the DJI Phantom 2 with the Zenmuse gimbal and the Gopro Hero 3+ camera. I think for 1000€ there is nothing that can beat this combo. You have an extremly well stabalized platform, you can use even in windy conditions. And with the Phantom 2 you get a fligthttime of round about 20 to 25 minutes! The only minor disadvantage I could think of is, that the Zenmuse is only compatible with the Gopro Hero 3 camera. But you could of course buy another gimbal if you would like to use another camera.
But I think with both copters you can really have a lot of fun.
Cheers from Bavaria
Yeah, I’ve looked at a few options for DJI gimballs if I were to go that way. One that’s as universal as possible on the action cam mount (I can convert from GoPro mount to anything) is key. But if the bracket is hard-set for a specific camera (versus the mount attach point), that’s tougher.
Falconeye – I completely agree with you.
My friend has the Phantom 1. That vs. Blade, I’ll take Blade.
I haven’t seen, nor wanted to spend that much on a Phantom 2 and gimbal. Glad it works great. Put some links up.
Don
Here is a nice example: link to vimeo.com
Falconeye – thanks for sharing!
That is amazingly stable!
How well does the live video feed to “see” where you are going work?
Don
Hello Don,
Just to clarify. This is no video I did (unfortunately), but it is from the region where I live and the equipment is the same as mine. It is only a example what is possible. I have my gimbal since one week, but because of the bad weather I was more or less only able to fly indoor:-(
Since I have no FPV equipment till now, I can not answer your question. But I think it is not really necessary to make a good video. Of course it can help you to see what you are filming especially when you have to tilt the camera during your flight or want to film something which is far away.
Ralf
based on the number of ER visits for guns that ‘just fire’ and are probably gang related, I’m thinking the runner is just more creative.
You can of course find an gimbal for the Phantom which you can mount different action cams on. But you will never get that quality of stabilization as with the DJI Zenmuse. This gimbal is developed specially for the Hero 3. You can’t even use the Hero 2 because it weights a few gramms more and this is enough to unbalance the whole system! So if you want to make really high quality aerial films, I think there is no better option at the moment. (Speaking of the 1000 € class. With 5000€ you can bring a DSLR in the air)
But believe me, with a little bit of experience you can really make breathtaking videos.
Now I go out and try to catch some good shootings of the fresh snow.
Cherio
While SportTracks.mobi i.m.o. still misses some features, they are getting there quite nicely. Their interaction with their stakeholders are profound and really enjoyable. The only thing I’m missing is a direct link from Polar devices to the ST platform, though probably such a link will never become realized.
Koen –
As Ray mentioned in his review of the Polar Loop (link to dcrainmaker.com):
“Polar says that an API is in the works, and that it should be available as early as the end of the month for Polar Loop data.”
This is somewhat promising that we may also have an API for sport sensor data. That would enable a smoother import of Polar data (perhaps even “automatic”).
On the other hand, the history of Polar with respect to software is frankly terrible. There have been some extremely novice mistakes done in the past. On example: writing a file that has a distance in kilometers or miles depending on the country it was created in, with no indication of which units it is while reading the file. Another: creating a file with an XML extension that doesn’t actually meet the XML standard (and so every standard tool to read it fails). I could go on.
The evolution of the website is hopeful; that they have brought some technical software talent into the company, or at least are working with a partner that has some tech skills. Making a pretty website vs. a bulletproof API are very different challenges.
We wait, hopeful, and eager to partner with any new API to really unlock their customers fitness data in new ways.
Thanks for the nice words re: sporttracks.mobi. We’re a small self-funded company, but we work tirelessly to make great tools for endurance athletes.
That’s exactly what I ment Aaron. That personal touch is what made me choose for ST.mobi. On the note on Polar: I didn’t knew that they are busy creating a (better) API. Though it’s great to hear, especially as I’m reading some frustrating about the ANT connecting on some Garmin devices (was something mentioned recently mentioned by several user of a Dutch forum). So for now I’m sticking with Polar, perhaps in the future I wil go into another direction. Anyway, thumps up for the ST.mobi platform!
Thanks for the link to the trisupporter site, triwivesclub. Had no idea this existed. I also didn’t know I needed to workout to cheer for my triathlete. Very funny….
A bunch of athletic kickstarters, but none seem all that interesting to me :(
For those who like to track things:
link to kickstarter.com
wool running shoes: (although do like the idea of using wool, seems like it would be hard for this shoe to be a well supporting running shoe)
link to kickstarter.com
forces you to exercise in order to unlock your tv or computer:
link to kickstarter.com
make your gloves work with touch screens like cell phones: (although guessing using a metalic thread may work better)
link to kickstarter.com
Ray – one for your site devs maybe, but when viewing on iPad (portrait or landscape) the embedded videos are often overlapped by ads on the left hand side. Not a huge issue always but sometimes means the expand to full screen button is covered, so makes video semi unwatchable.
Please don’t take this as a moan, just a bit of feedback, as you can normally click through rather than watch embedded anyway.
Cheers.
I meant right hand side, sorry.
Garmin FR 220/620 got a firmware update on the 23rd. Change history says GPS/Footpod problem has been solved and that wrist acceleromter pace/distance has been improved.
Looking forward to putting the footpod back on!