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…
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 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.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!
Wanna create comparison chart graphs just like I do for GPS, heart rate, power meters and more? No problem, here's the platform I use - you can too!
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?
- Which trainer should I buy?
- Which GPS watch should I buy?
- I’m headed to Paris – what do you recommend for training or sightseeing?
- I’m headed to Washington DC – what do you recommend for training?
- I’m from out of the country and will be visiting the US, what’s the best triathlon shop in city XYZ?
- What kind of camera do you use?
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
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.
Thanks for sharing, just a non-descript backdrop eh?
Enjoy this fun traveling… its all going to slow down in sometime less than 9 months… :)
“I’m always looking for a quite side street for this sort of thing.” ==> quite should be quiet.
So little time and so much awesome food. Even if you fail to find the perfect spot for a watch shot, the food pictures readily makes for a fine substitute. Happy travels.
Your culinary adventures are really really exciting too! haha
Any recommendations on Airbnb in Rome? Heading there this summer.
Here’s the place we stayed: link to airbnb.com
It was very nicely located, and very modern/cool. No issues with it at all.
I always enjoy whenever you post something about your trips…I just wish you would actually say the name of the places you ate in :)
Yup – I included the link to the place that listed all the recommendations. We pretty much ate at all those places on the list. Da Enzo was solid, as was the gelato place Fatamorgana.
Everything else we ate at (not on the list), I definitely wouldn’t recommend. :(
Thanks! :) It was more of a general comment, in some other blog posts you don’t say where the place of the photograph is :)
Hi Ray,
been spending part of my summer holiday on a yacht in the harbor of Las Palmas. I did kind of same run you posted once. However later I reverted to daily just running down-and-up the boulevard on the East Coast, from harbor to some big statue and back about 20K. Another tip: just across the main road from the harbor is a little public sports park including a 1K running loop. Best atmosphere! If you’re still around go check it out.
BR., T.
International man of mystery!
Nice to see you were in Gran Canaria :-) The Canary Islands are a paradise for sports. They got very nice international sports challenges in many areas: Ironman Lanzarote, Transgrancanaria, Transvulcania, the most PWA’s places in the world (Pozo Izquierdo, El Médano, Costa Teguise) and many other (rock climbing, surf and bodyboard, downhill…). I just missing be there again :-P
Ray,
Are you gaining any baby weight? Really, it’s the fatherly thing to do. ;-)
-Ciao
Nah, staying pretty constant. I fluctuate +/- about 3 pounds on any given week. That said, happy I didn’t bring a weight scale to Italy…
What is that delicious hot pocket-looking item The Girl is holding in pic #10?
It’s called a suppli’. And yup, total hot-pocket awesomeness.
Its lunch time in Austin, TX and all these beautiful pictures is making me hungrier.
We were also in Rome on holiday last week before flying back to Paris. Hope your AirbnB experience was better than ours- we got burgled! Worse still, I caught a chest infection that looks to rule ended out of the Semi de Paris:-(
Still, the weather was great as was the food and wine.
Thanks for the links, we’re going in October, sadly not for a race. ( cure concert) did check out a few race sites to see if anything was on locally, is it obligatory as a foreigner to sign up for that card to be able to race any race or is it just the larger events?
It’s only for competitive events.
Often in Europe they do require a medical certificate. But you can get that signed pretty much anywhere (just print out and have handy). In France, I can re-use the same medical cert for 1-year.
Most of the time the ‘medical certificate’ is just used as a waiver for medical responsibility. I think there’s some phrase in an Italian law somewhere or something. Most of the time they just want your medical doctor to confirm that he has no prior knowledge of anything hampering your ability to join competitive racing. So your doctor should not even have to examine you, but just check your files for any contra-indication. Should be no problem, just formalities…
Good luck with whichever race you’re going to attend.
i remember those days; travel, vacations, care-free living. 2 kids later, not so much. Enjoy it while you can!