Heads up! Here’s your massive list of sports tech deals! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $429, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium for $735, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, (or Hero 13 bundle for $339!) and plenty more! Go check out the full list here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
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You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.Want to compare the features of each product, down to the nitty-gritty? No problem, the product comparison data is constantly updated with new products and new features added to old products!
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Think my written reviews are deep? You should check out my videos. I take things to a whole new level of interactive depth!
Smart Trainers Buyers Guide: Looking at a smart trainer this winter? I cover all the units to buy (and avoid) for indoor training. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
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Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
Get all your awesome DC Rainmaker gear here!
FAQ’s
I have built an extensive list of my most frequently asked questions. Below are the most popular.
- Do you have a privacy policy posted?
- Why haven’t you yet released a review for XYZ product you mentioned months ago?
- Will you test our product before release?
- Are you willing to review or test beta products?
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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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
3runs: 8k, 10k, 9k and some sleep :)
Friday night 2 hours indoor climbing. Saturday morning 5K parkrun, afternoon and Sunday watching Six Nations Rugby on television.
Did the texel super sunday mountainbike ride(only the 50k not the 100) lot of mud and rain
5 minute walk, 5k run, and 5 minute cooldown with my dogs.
I skate skied both Saturday and Sunday. Birkie this Saturday!
Injured so no running. Three steady state, 3-hour bikes and two power/hill workouts on the trainer.
Does watching kids play basketball all weekend count as training?
I was at the pool doing some swim sets this weekend.
Ran some hard interval repeats (4x 4min hard, then 3min easy) plus shoulder presses on Saturday, then back squats (297.5 for 10 reps!) on Sunday). Standard weekend activities.
Brick on Tuesday (hour long bike on trainer / 20 min run)
Long Run Wed (hour for about 6.8 miles)
Recover bike Thur
Swim – Friday (apx 3500 yards)
Good idea to fly away to Mallorca, because last week-end was quite rainy here in Paris
18,5km run on saturday avoiding the puddles around the Versailles Grand Canal
50K road ride on sunday between two showers
Did 26k run on Saturday and was supposed to do an easy jog on Sunday, but got some company after a couple of k’s that pushed the speed so I don’t think it was so easy that it was supposed to be…
I ran 6 miles on the treadmill and rode 20 miles on the trainer. Gotta love winter training in Erie, Pa!
Busy Saturday with no time to train. On Sunday I made a nice 21k run in Collserola. Beautiful views of Barcelona from the top of the mountain
My husband paced me to a 1:28 half marathon. It was my fastest race in years!
Last weekend ! I work on weekend but still can do some training before my shift started my workout was 8x1km with 1km easy jog in between thanks
Return to running in the forest after 6 weeks of swimming in the pool, due to an injury. Just a 40min run to check everything was OK. Fingers crossed!
Saturday: 3*6´Th(rec:1´30´´) in 65´runing / Sunday: 65´<ccl
Did a 5km run with intervals.
Introduced a friend to road riding for the first time last weekend. Only did 30k, and she only fell once. Apparently her experience with clip-ins in spin class did not prepare her for more dynamic contexts (like a falling water bottle). :)
Then I lifted and ran.
Friday evening: yoga
Saturday: long run (for me) of 7miles
Sunday: recovery run 3 miles easy pace
20 km long run, waited till Monday because of very cold weather!
7.5 mile 1,500 ft climb tempo run
I did 10 mi on the bike trainer. It was -5ºF outside..so I stayed in the warmth!
I needed two long slow(ish) rides to kick off my spring training.
3.5 mile treadmill run with iFit
Got a bike on fathers day and have been riding 10 – 20 mi 3 times a week but not losing any weight. Decided to try high intensity intervals before work. Not sure I’m doing them correctly though, i puked about 3/4 of the way through.
On saturday i ran 12km intervals, and sunday a 36km long run
Sub zero in NH, no running, some skiing and ice fishing
A 2 hour trainer ride, 6 mile run, and a short easy hike!
Saturday: 25min strength weight session and 2h03 bike session power zone 2 and 3.
Sunday: 2h45 bike session power zone 1 and 2
I had a sufferfest weekend. Sat Morning – 50km bike ride – Coyote Hills Trail. Sat Eve- 2 hr gym workout – rowing, TRX, weight training. Sun Morn – 30 km long run – Coyote Hills Trail.
Did a fast paced Saturday morning run around the local lake
Sat 8mi moderate walk
Sun 9mi moderate walk
Galveston Marathon. Took the overall in 2:52:xx
Getting ready for CA70.3 event. I did a 38-mile training road bike ride then short run after.
I had a nice ride outside in the rain on Sunday. Saturday was a family day.
Did a 25 mile group ride with a bike shop in Phoenix.
Very cold cross country race on the Saturday, followed by a nice easy long run on Sunday!
Since I was volunteering for the LA Marathon SAT/SUN, my weekend workout consisted of standing for a few hours each day and about 25,000 steps.
My training log says “Trainer Road Steamboat”. That must be what I did.
A couple of short runs, some intervals, a longish run, a bike ride and a couple of trips to the gym.
I think i managed 50% of that…
I hammered myself through the rain for 3 hours on the weekly sunday club ride. The pitty thing was all teammates failled to show up.
:-( or after all :-)
Sufferfest. Oh, and more Sufferfest…
Emptiness in the training log due to a cold instead of the planned 5k race. Oh well.
Strength training mixed with conditioning. I need a GoPro and a new watch. Thanks for the giveaway.
Hi Ray.
Last week i trained karate on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tueday i ran 8 km and, on Thursday i did a crossfit class.
On Saturday and Sunday i Had to rest.
Thank you very much.
Scheduled: Sat: 45 trainer; Sun: 1 hour
Actual: Sat: 30; Sun: 0
Chest cold upgraded from excuse to reason. #SadPanda
simple run
Assuming that “weekend” means as soon as work finishes Friday arvo:
1.5km swim followed by 58km cycle
11km run
5km bushwalk
Thanks for the comps!
I went for my first 200K ride, solo and unsupported.
I started at home in SIlicon Valley, rode over the Santa Cruz mountains, up the Pacific coast on Highway 1, past the Golden Gate bridge, and returned following the San Francisco Bay to minimize time riding without daylight. It was awesome.
133 miles, 6000 feet, 9:37 moving out of 11:36, 442 TSS, .60 IF, 4147 kj
San Francisco added an hour of waiting for traffic, but was worth it.
A 2hr ride on Saturday then a 3mi run in 10degree temps on Sunday.
I went to the pool for lifeguard training with some special drills. also went to the gym on monday
120 minutes of steady state intervals on TrainerRoad.
Run/walk for 60 minutes on the treadmill – on the recovery train from an injury last fall.
It was post injury physicial therapy. I pulled my back in January and I’m hoping to be back on the bike by March. But right now I can’t even sit on the bike.
Punishing ironman training. 20 mile run on Sat followed by sme fun tennis and unfun hoovering. Sunday 65 mile sportive with 3000 feet ascent and so much crud on road I had to stop to clear my mudguards!
Valentine’s day, I proposed to my wife a romantic 10 mill run. Ended running by myself.
Slow recovery ride on Saturday and rest on Sunday!!
My girlfriend and I did a quick three mile run together on Saturday.
Six mile run in South Lake Tahoe.
I didn’t get any workouts in.. :( was busy spending time with the girl so that made up for it~
Long run with the double stroller.
Did a long climb and a long run.
Unfortunately my workout agenda was empty. Wintertime inversion was so thick it was like walking through those spiderwebs in those Indiana Jones movies. Did not want to be outside exercising in that unhealthy air. This weekend inversion is gone so a nice early spring 1-1/2 to 2 hour bike ride is in my plan for both Saturday and Sunday.
I had a Sprint Triathlon on Sunday, into a 30km recovery ride Monday. Tuesday was 10 x 400 m intervals with a running group, followed up by 3 days of gastro!! Great to get the racing weight down :(
I did laps in the pool on Saturday and biking (on trainer, sadly) on Sunday
cleaning house and drinking beer
Long run and weights!
I ran the Great Aloha Run on Monday (Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium, 8.15 miles), so my weekend was restful. On Saturday I did some taper repeats, 3 x 90 sec at race pace. On Sunday I joined my wife’s ride group for a bike tour of Kakaako urban art and the annual Ukulele Festival, 10 easy miles.
I am impressed by your ability to find so many random things to do. Impressed, and inspired to do more. My habit is to be routine, which eventually becomes boring.
Fri – 55 Miles on bike while climbing 7500ft of elevation!
Sat – Pilates class, 3,000Y swim
Sun – 4Mi run and 5500Y swim
Mon – 36Miles on bike
I’m tired now :-D!
It was a rainy week (and it is still), so i made only two running training; first was 10km under the rain, and second one was 400m intervals. Lack of nice weather make me to start popular insanity training which killed me and I realized that I have weak core so at the end there is some good from that rain. Running and insanity :)
Fri: 10 warming 8×1000 @4:40 2min rest 10min cooling
Sat: 20min row 20min abdominals 20min weight lift
Sun: 18 Km @5:15
Visited Liverpool for the first time and went for a run around Sefton Park on Sunday morning.
I ran three miles last weekend
This weekend we finnaly got some snow, so we went cross country skiing for 3 hours. This would translate into cardio and leg workout. Sunday was a rest day!
Hilly 10k with mates on Sunday. Really cold but good fun. Far from PB but still made it back for lunch.
As it was our anniversary, just had a 6k walk with my wife in the Jenolan caves
Last weekend was a solid Zwift workout on Saturday followed by a solid late night cross training workout on Sunday.
90 minutes spin on turbo with few TT elements.
I had to skip 90 minutes run on Sunday due to injury in the trampoline park o.O
got my first brick done this season! (thought it was quite short)
45 minute swim & 45 minute run on Saturday, 1 hour bike on Sunday
Strength session at the gym. Heavy Back squats and some box jumps, amongst some other stuff.
5mi and 12mi long runs as training sessions for an upcoming half marathon in May.
Just intervals on the trainer. Not much you want to do when it’s -30C out !
It was an 8k run that I had to do indoor due to Elsa from Frozen going berserk
Did some big gear repeats on the trainer on Saturday, followed by 2k swim with main set of 100’s on 2 mins. Sunday was a longer run day, 15k steady pace.
45 minutes of body weight exercises on Saturday, and a very easy 15k on Sunday since I was just getting over a brutal cold and hadn’t run in about a week.
Last Saturday was just my long run, 13.2 miles at easy pace. That plus walking dog etc got me 30,000 steps for the day on my Garmin 15.
Probably won’t get answered here, but since the checkbox is below, I did the $20 paid membership but still can’t sign on, despite sending my email address with Forgot Password. It says I’ll get an email confirmation to reset but never do. I’ve emailed Ray from here, to no avail. Suggestions?
On my log was to do at least 14 miles on my treadclimber. Walk my dog for at least 30 minutes every morning and to lift weights for 15 minutes every other day.
I had a little Hockey practice, followed by a light 5km run the following morning, and a pull workout of my push, pull, legs rotation. Counting down the days to get a little spring cycling action in.
plyo and run, then long run on. Beginning to get back into spring workouts
I rode my indoor trainer 3 times and did 3×3 intervals along with 15 minutes stretching.
I had a 3-mile run Saturday (treadmill, in a hotel fitness center because it was -10 and I don’t own any clothes for that weather, much less workout clothes), then Sunday I planned a long run but ended up sleeping through it because of jet lag and the sugar crash from two days in the Midwest. I did run Monday but my whole week has been off because of that.
Active recovery from cross fit on Friday. And lots of skiing.
This weekend I did swim drills for 45 minutes and jogged for 45 minutes.
I was icing my knee over the weekend. Injured washing the car.
I rode 8 miles on Friday. I ran 3 miles on Sat. And I missed the Sunday run.
I got about 80 km of riding in the coldest heaviest rain I’ve seen in a long time. Winter, please leave now!
Short hike and some painful foam rolling
race on Zwift and interval training