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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.
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.
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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
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Nice run. Wondering about the temp?
I have a Casio Mudman and this only ever shows the temp as my body temp (37c) unless it’s hung from a bag etc for about 10 minutes.
How does the Garmin do the air temp compared to Casio?
Would Ambit 3 (pre-ordered) be able to give accurate temp while on the wrist?
Yup, I had the Ambit3 on the other wrist. When I looked, it was roughly reporting within about 1*F of the Fenix2 (I unfortunately hadn’t configured a data page during the run, so just pre/post-run).
I’m waiting for Movescount to actually start working again so I can upload it and check out the during-run data to see how it compared.
Going through the pictures makes me wonder; Where is everybody?!?!!? it is all empty no single person on the street (walking/cycling).
Only other things you will see out and about in that temperature are ” Mad dogs and Englishmen”
The corniche is usually that empty at that time of the day. As soon as the sun goes down and the temperatures reach the lower 30°Cs it gets crowded, many people having barbecues on the few grass parts. Traffic is horrible. From where I lived it took at least one hour to get to the corniche during the evening.
I saw the same thing in Bahrain. People don’t sit in the sun during the summer, but the parks are packed at night. Not unusual to see families with small children in the park at 11pm.
Jeez kebab, it looks hot! I noticed from you pics that there were very little people on the side walks, obviously the locals are wiser than you!
Yeah, though to some degree I was purposefully not taking photos with people in them. But, as you can see that was pretty easy.
Interesting to look at the Strava file and see the huge effect of the heat on your heart rate. That sort of heat is extremely stressful and seems to have elevated your normal rate by quite a few beats despite the modest pace. I’ve just returned to Paris from holidays in (hot) Provence and noticed the drop in my own HR immediately.
Grew up in Jeddah. The city is the most humid place I’ve ever been to. 100% humidity is a good day there :)
pretty much unrelated but this week i got in a sauna with the same watch, it was colder (35 c°).
How was the humidity?
Humidity was the worse part – really really bad.
Here in Texas it is a similar heat and humidity profile, though certain to be a notch less extreme than your location in Saudi. Hydration is a real problem for athletes as it relates to cramping, and hardly a runner here is without some form of drink. Once it gets past 96 degrees it is a full switch over to the bike as the minor windflow is about the only thing that keeps ones head from melting.
You are welcome to come join us for the Hotter n’ Hell Hundred (known locally as the HHH) here every August. It’s like a 100 mile biking carnival of misfits in a extreme variety of bikes and outfits, and yes, it looks like most participants have lost their minds due to the heat. Surely a great way to heat train for the Australia off-season…if you are into that too.
I experienced similar temperatures and humidity levels in Kuwait. Worse than anything I’ve experienced in the state. Made me eager to get back to Baghdad (where I was stationed at the time) because though the temps were the same at least it was dry!
Curious, do you run with your passport?
No, definitely not. I leave that back at the hotel in my backpack. I have digital copies of it online in case it ever gets stolen.
Ray,
Was that temperature reading from the fenix2 itself or with the Tempe pod?
From the Fenix2 itself. I played around a little bit afterwards with putting it off to the side in the grass and didn’t see any change. I suspect if the temp was under 98*F, I’d see more change, but given it was above ones body temperature, it’s likely a wash.
Ha! so true. I hadn’t thought of that. Of course if it’s hotter than 98 degrees it probably is a wash.
I’m curious if you run with any sort of water/sports drink in those sort of conditions and if so, how do you carry it? I can’t imagine running in temps. like that for any significant amount of time without hydration.
Yup, I ran with a water bottle in my hand. I meant to grab my CamelBak, but forgot to pack it. I also didn’t think to take any sort of sports drink powder to put in (usually I have some stashed away in my suitcase, but none was left).
On hot days I almost always run based on heart rate rather than speed. Mind you I’ve never run in that kind of weather.
Hi Ray!
what kind of camera do you usually use when you go out to run? I thought you use you’re phone!
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Nope, no phone most of the time, here’s all the cameras I use. For this run I was using the first one listed – the Lumix: link to dcrainmaker.com
Do you have any insight about how the various calculated performance metrics (V02 max, recovery, race time predictor, etc) account for temperature? I run outdoors just South of Houston and the heat affects my pace by as much as a minute per mile when comparing my January data with my August data. Do you think those algorithms consider ambient temperature?
David
Fellrnr has a calculator for the maximum sustainable running pace in hot conditions, in case you’re interested:
link to fellrnr.com
Thanks Mr Nofish. Now I understand a bit more why I use to have such a hard time running in Singapore in May with 95F and 80% despite being tall-ish and skinny.
100° F and oppressively humid: do you know what the “real feel” or “heat index” was for that run? I went for a short run in Orlando a few weeks ago and it was 94° but the “real feel” was reported as 112° due to humidity, which seemed right as I was having to huff and puff just to maintain a slow pace.
Nice trip! I’m in South Florida and I run with a group from work during lunch twice a week. With the humidity it has easily been 105 ~ 110 degrees. It is almost unbearable but you kinda get used to it. We’re just hoping the pace gets better once less hot weather comes around.
Ray,
Do you ever catch the ire of customs agents when you have so many different devices?
Not generally. Because it was Saudi, I did actually pair-down a bit just to minimize potential for fail given the generally strict nature there. I usually have lots of random stuff floating around my bag/suitcase (sensors/charging cables/etc…).
That said, they didn’t even glance at me or my stuff.
You’ve been using the Fenix 2 a lot recently – any particular reason for just runs? I have the FR620 but as I am getting into Triathlons I am thinking about cashing it out and getting the Fenix – or waiting for the possible 910XT replacement….
The Fenix2 seems a rather chunky beast – does it bother you when running?
+1 to the sentiment.
I simply grabbed the Fenix2 because I knew the temp data might be interesting, wheres the FR620 that I’d normally use doesn’t measure temperature.
Beyond that, I’m doing some other testing on the Fenix2 that was specific to that unit. By next week I’ll be back to using the FR620 as my running watch. I don’t find it clunky though, perhaps if you come originally from the FR305/FR310/FR910XT world, then the Fenix2 seems kinda small…
Fwiw, you can see in today’s Fenix2 release some of the stuff I was testing out (and why I was using it).
Here in Fort Lauderdale if I don’t start running before 6AM it’s probably not going to happen. It’s amazing how much of a better runner I become in the Winter!
I spent the summer in Doha Qatar last year – I know exactly how it feels – yucky!
I would go out at 5:30am for a walk/jog – when you notice that the hotel windows are completely steamed up and running with condensation, you knew it would be bad – I would come back quite literally soaked through.
Max temp I saw while driving around the deserts there was 53c on the car thermometer…
Re: “camera giving up despite the full battery” I think that a some electronics won’t turn on or will turn off once they reach certain temperature. Not sure if they have some kind of thermostat that prevents them from overheating. When I was traveling through South East Asia my phone and a small point and shoot camera will turn off. I blamed the batteries at first but when going back to a hotel w A/C they would come back to life and will show an 80% battery or so.
Interesting to read about your time in Saudi Ray, just got back from 2 weeks in Riyadh which is hotter still but thankfully significantly less humid. If you’ve done any running there I’d be keen to hear your thoughts as I instantly scrapped road running on account of the lack on consistent pavements (read sidewalks) and the crazy driving that the locals seem to enjoy. Oh, and the heat of course too, so just spent the time on the hotel treadmill.
I’ve been a bit lucky in that both Jeddah and Al Khobar have some form of water (being on the coast) to run along. However, in the case of Khobar, I still had to run to it – which was a mile or two, and that was a little less awesome, as you described.
Yes – important to remember – no thigh visibility in the Middle East, boys.
It really depends on the country, and even within the country – the specific region. For example, in Saudi, it’s less ideal in Jeddah, but not that big of a deal in Al Khobar. In the UAE, it’s not a problem at all. Same goes for Oman and Bahrain.
Hi.. Iam living currently in Riyadh, please visit us and i’ll show you many running sites here :)
You are welcome