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.
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.
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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.
Re:For those curious, all photos in this post were taken with a GoPro Hero4 Silver
I didn’t know GoPro comes with such a long pole. The Island shots look incredible :-)
Enjoy the holidays.
Nice! Enjoy you break
Wow, flashback to what I did many years ago (before the tech was available to record it like this.) Where did you store the gopro while swimming? Down the swim trunks?
Yup, I just slide it up the leg of them, holds no problem.
Ray, is that some kind of HUD I see on your goggles?
Pretty much. Called the IOLite, I wrote up a piece about a year ago on a beta unit. This is the production version now.
Any idea if that kind of device is authorized during a triathlon?
Looks amazing – have fun!
You still worked! This is a workation I’ve been talking about.
That looks amazing, except for the whole shark thing. Thanks for sharing!
I’m amazed that track came out with the Fenix 3 _on your wrist._ Great! I thought as I saw the track that you must’ve worn the swim bag and kept the watch in there. Thought wrong; I’ve been contemplating getting a F3 for some time and this may be the push to get it. Looks like good tracking with just worn on the wrist.
Enjoy the vacation.
The Garmin units tend to track GPS pretty well in swim mode, I had a 910XT some time ago and it tracked a weekend of 8 x 1 mile swims with ease. All the time, on my wrist. My fēnix 2 is also pretty good. I imagine the fēnix 3 is better still.
Waow nice! Lucky you still being there. I was in Maldives a week ago but did not have the courage to do a swim around our island… But I did a few dives with sharks ;)
Since last year, Maldives are not anymore an option for me.
link to edition.cnn.com
Child can be sentenced to death in that country :(
i was lucky enough to get a free trip to the Maldives a couple years ago. The swimming was fantastic due to the buoyancy as a result of the salt content. I wouldn’t be a super strong swimmer but safely enjoyed hours of swimming around the island, taking a break and floating standing up whenever I needed to. Diving/snorkelling was incredible too
Did you encounter any Stingrays?
Did you see any stingrays? I’m about to leave Kanifushi (Maldives) on Wednesday. Got some great footage on the GoPro 4 too – turtles, stingrays etc etc. The sun is brutal though. Have you tried running on the beach?
Fantastic! Went their on honeymoon. Lovely part of the world.
Enjoy your stay at the island.
Great track, i assume Glonass is on?
What’s the longest run you can do?
We measured out about 1.25mi on a loop that goes out/back all the jetty’s, as well as the path inside the island. It’s the jetty’s that help quite a bit on the distance front.
So Ray, based on your start stop points, you stayed on or around #6 on the line of rooms? I believe that particular resort is amazing.
Indeed, the result is pretty nice. We got great weather, and nothing at all to complain about!
Hi Ray
I have done my first Thriatlon this weekend in San Andres Island, Colombia. It was an Olympic Distance and I used my Fenix 3.
I had an issue with the open water swimming distance, the watch recorded just 347 meters, it should be around 1700 m instead. The only thing that I remember during the swimming is that I swan a mix between Free Style and Breaststroke Style. Also, it stops measuring after the first autolap but the time was accurate.
Sorry if this is not the right place for this post.
Regards
Loved the Maldives when my wife and I visited. Awesome to snorkel around the islands with the black tip reef sharks – the stingrays I found way more scary!
Not knowing much about sharks anymore that would scare the jeepers out of me! Anyway. Looks like a great place. I think that place (or one of those) is on my bucket list …
Hey Ray, lovely photos! I’m new to using the gopro, could I know how you bring your gopro along for your swim? (or bike and run for that matter as well haha!) And also, what sort of settings do you use, say leave it turned on and in video mode, or time lapse/single photo with a remote?
Thanks a lot Ray! Love your blog :)
Hi Ben, thanks!
In this case, I actually just brought only the GoPro itself in the waterproof case on the swim. For the photos I put it into Photo Timelapse mode at .5s intervals. That way I can just leave it there for a few seconds and hope to get the shot.
Enjoy!
The Fiance and I are looking to go to the Maldives for a Honeymoon. How does this trip compare to the other times you have been to the Maldives?
We went to the Conrad previously, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’d say the main differences are that you’ll spend a bit more time getting from Male to the Hyatt, but in return, it’s far more isolated and quiet.
The Conrad (and we had stayed on the water villa island) is very nice. But you’ll also get quite a bit more kids/families. And we found the food of higher quality at the Hyatt. Same rough prices (all very high).
The house reef on both islands are regarded as the best ones in the Maldives (for a house reef), so you can’t go wrong there, though the snorkeling off the Hyatt villas was better, versus with the Conrad you’ll have to walk a little bit to the right spot. On the flip side, the Conrad has more aquatic life it felt like (bigger schools of fish for example), and endlessly looping Manta Rays at night under the docks, which is great.
I think if we were to return, we’d go back to the Hyatt again without a second thought – even despite the longer journey.
Thank you for quick reply! Incredibly appreciative of your input and value your opinion. As a younger couple with no kids, we value the quietness. Im aiming to find a balnace of romantic/fun/secluded at a good value. Although Maldives and inexpensive do not go in the same sentence, there can still be good value for the location…I hope.
Outside of some safari locations in Africa, I’ve never been to a quieter location than the Maldives Hyatt.
Check out the blogs ViewFromTheWing and OneMileAtATime, travel blogs who both just went to the Hyatt as well earlier this month and have posted trip reports. I didn’t disagree with much that either noted. Note that neither though tends to be very pro-Hilton, so you won’t necessarily get a good idea of their thoughts on the Conrad. For that, I’d probably head over to the FlyerTalk forums as the best place there.
Somewhat along these lines (redeeming points/miles for travel), are yours primarily accrued via flights and that airlines mileage program (your United, iirc)? Or do you use the Amex/Chase/Euro-equivalent method of transferrable points?
For the points, it’s basically all just via flight programs. I split my load half and half between United (Star Alliance) and British Airways (Oneworld). So I’m pretty flexible on redeeming. With butt-in-seat mileage between 250-300K a year, I get more points than I know what to do with (that’s redeemable bonuses).
On hotels, I’m a bit more scattered due to lack of hotels in all the cities I travel. So I just sorta pick based on what’s nearby the office in that locale. Thus I supplement with Chase points (via Sapphire card). I’m lucky in that I can book all my travel expenses on that and then get reimbursed, so it really adds up by the end of the year.