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.
-
Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
-
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.
4
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!
5
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.
Looking forward to the Wahoo ELEMNT review.
I think it’s time someone started a campaign for ‘The Oatmeal for President’.
God no. He’s not funny.
Ray, it would be interesting to see road/triatlhon bike reviews, you had quite a few.
Yeah, I have same interest. On the last few years I saw Ray riding Trek, Giant and now Spz road bikes.
Looking forward to your Sram eTap review! ;)
Hope to see the wahoo elemnt review soon, it sounds promising from their site but the current reviews show that this device is still pretty buggy… but we only trust YOU! :D
The real trick with reviews around ELEMNT is exactly which firmware they were on. Things are really changing just week by week, dramatically so.
If I had written it 3-4 weeks ago – it’d be totally different than tomorrow.
Looks like The Girl will be testing the Fitbit Alta.
Cant wait for wahoo elemnt review!!
More light on the way home is great but it was dark again when I set off this morning. I think I’ll be getting up after sunrise again in a week or so though.
I solve that issue by avoid any time of the morning which may be dark. ;)
Just read a review on that drone. You go careful!
If You like Exploding Kittens, try “Kittens in a Blender” loads of fun :-) (with Wine of course)
link to amazon.com
Did the D5 come in yet? I saw somebody else showing off theirs on Twitter.
The D5’s starting shipping, but not yet the D500 DX’s. :(
Ahh, poor memory. My bad.
Some great photos in that lot… are you using the Gopro 4 silver for most of those ? If so, do you burst for a second or two and pick the best, or single-shoot ?
Sorry.. when I say ‘most’ I mean the outside ones. I assume you use the SLR inside….
Almost everything (aside from product shots, which are DSLR) was done via iPhone. The exception to that is the swim/bike/run shots, which were done via the Hero4 Silver.
Thanks. Finally went for a hero3+ Black at a great price. Played with it for the first time today, and got some great shots on my recovery run with the kids.
Very cool – came out great!
That 1910 flood line is truly crazy. My grandpa lives on a lake and we have various places on the shoreline marked where he’s seen the lake levels reach since he moved in the early 70’s. It’s interesting for sure.
Hi Ray,
While the P4 tracking is good when it works, so far it seems to hang on only in specific conditions, and then only most of the time.
You’ve already got the gadgets for a better tracking solution.
link to autoflightlogic.com
Specifically the “Airspace” option.
No affiliation with the company. I fly drones commercially and it is a rock solid piece of software.
best,
Steve
Yeah, I use Autopilot’s app from time to time, and Airspace is incredibly cool in terms of how they’ve implemented it.
Finally got some flight time in between rain squalls today with the P4. Active track was interesting, but as expected lots of gaps in it. Same for obstacle avoidance – I think the lack of top-side optical sensor is really the biggest issue in terms of flying upwards into a tree.
Any ETA on the DJI 4 review?
That will depend on a bit more cooperative weather. My hope though is that I’ll get that over the next 7-10 days. Which is fine, another 3-5 days and the trees will have bloomed, and it’ll be much prettier anyway.
My review will be somewhat like the Apple Watch review, focused purely on the sports/follow-me aspects of it (note: Not to be confused with ‘Sport Mode’, which is the high-performance mode).
Hey Ray, the DJI Phantom 4 is NOT a drone – it is a crib mobile and baby cam, right?
Correct. This new model includes additional optical sensors for monitoring objects in the crib – which is combined with Active Track to be a nanny of sorts. While the swinging components have been upgraded to be easier to untangle (mobile’s can be messy that way). Further, the camera being 4K allows super-crisp images of the baby.
link to en.wikipedia.org
On 28 January the water reached its maximum height at 8.62 metres (28.28 feet), some 6 m above its normal level.
Beautiful things :)
Hi, I am an enthusiastic reader of your blog.
I would like to know what is the model/brand of your bike (photo 4).
Thanks in advance and keep writing :-)
[]s
It’s a S-Works (Specialized) Tarmac. It’s just a loaner bike though for the SRAM RED eTAP system.
Given the Alta is a replacement for the Charge, is there any specific reason its more expensive compared to the Charge?
I think it’s the band swappability (focused on fashion), as well as the (in)activity alerts and auto-sport modes.
Training for an upcoming race? I may have missed it, but this is the first swim related session I’ve noticed in the past few articles (aside from the swim done in the indoor triathlon!)
I’ve got a few triathlons in May. The Versailles Triathlon & Paris Triathlon.
There’s an Exploding Kittens app – I have it for iOS, not sure if it’s on Android yet.
Will you be reviewing the fitbit Surge? If it’s here and I’m overlooking it . . sorry.
Also, would love to see a scope used for some of your reviews via Periscope (app). That would actually be really cool for your unboxings especially.
Yup, here’s the Fitbit Surge review: link to dcrainmaker.com
I have thought about doing a live unboxing. The trick there is that I take a lot of photos along the way. So, I’m not sure if folks might find that boring. :/
Regarding the exploding kitten game- I am also considering to buy one. However, I am not sure whether or not my better Half and those of my friends will find the NSFW edition as funny as I do ( big fan of the Oatmeal). Amazon reviews were not very helpful so I thought that you with your technical knowledge and systematical reviewing might help out a bit there. Are there a lot of feces involved? (Wouldn’t be very Oatmeal-esque)
I don’t remember all the cards offhand, but a quick look at Google Image search seem to show many of them: link to google.fr