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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.
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.
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.
Does the tempe sensor work with other garmin devices ? (i.e. FR310, FR910, Edge 500/800)
Nope, at this time only Fenix. I’m really hoping we see it added to others, and that it becomes a common sensor across most watches – just like a speed/cadence/HR sensor would be.
Nice post, thanks Ray.
The fenix Footpod confuses me. Why not release a new Footpod containing temp & cadence which is also compatible with their well recieved ‘triathlon’ devices like 910xt?
Maybe garmin are planning a surprise Christmas stocking filler…
I ask only because I’m curious. Was there a discussion about naming it a “Cupcakery” instead of “Petit Gateaux”? It seems like between the website and the banner, you’re pretty english centric for a french first business. I know the world is flat and all that, but still, in my experience the French seem the most sensitive to that kind of thing.
Hi Woody-
We did indeed look at that a bit. The thing we found is that surprisingly most everyone here understands ‘cupcake’. It was actually funny, recently The Girl was working on the shop scraping paint. Out of nowhere she hears this gaggle of screaming girls – similar to if they had just seen Justin Beiber or something. Turns out, they had understood the word ‘cupcake’ as part of the little piece of paper she placed up in the window. That’s it. They were ecstatic.
The other item is the location is heavily touristed (being only about 75 yards from Notre Dame). We want to attract both locals and tourists, and many tourists wouldn’t recognize Petite Gateaux, whereas popular culture has made ‘cupcake’ more known (even to others in other countries).
As far as the website goes – we’re definitely aiming to offer it in both English and French. By chance volunteering to help translate? :)
For your Noise Level meter set-up, I would advise you to:
– use always the same relative position of your mic vs the trainer because noise can be very direction-dependant… e in steady condition –> obviously what you plan
– use A-weighting as it should weight the noise as your ears are doing
I would myself do the following:
– different speed, different torques (depending of the availalbe test time…)
– 3 measurement points (rear, left and right)
– display the results as a pic from above with color-scaled dots showing the noise level)
Enjoy and thanks again for your articles. I hope you enjoy France!!
B.
PS Should I recommand you to come cycling in the french alps in summer?
B.
Hi!
For me, the BaseCamp for iPhone App crash, every time I try to connect it to my fenix.
Is it just me, or does anyone else have the same problem.
I’m using i iPhone 4S (iOS 6.0) and a fenix (s/w 2.60).
Hi
More interesting toys :-).
How’s it looking for a full-on review of the Fenix? And when you do is there any chance you can look at how well the route-following works in the extended (60 secs) GPS mode. I can’t see it working too well, and on a twisty mountain track it could possibly be dangerous, taking a straight line round a gully rather than going round it, for example, if this came in the middle of the 60 seconds window.
I’m trying to work out well it would work for long, navigated ultras or whether I’m better staying with my 310/PowerMonkey or etrex/spare AAs solutions.
I’d also be interested to see how the latest Ambit software handles it too as that provides another option.
Not asking for much, am I!
Cheers
flanker
You don’t raise any eyebrows coming through customs with all those “new toys”?? OR is the import duty limit pretty high?
For the trainer noise test, I would put the meter in your neighbors house and get a reading =)
I’m sure some of your readers would appreciate the noise impact that trainers have on neighbors.
Regarding cupcake travel options, there’s a place in NYC, Sweet Revenge, that drops each cupcake into it’s own to go cup with lid. Works really well for bumpy transportation. And while the frosty does get a little crumpled, it’s much better than trying to manage a box with them semi-loose.
This pic isn’t the best, but shows what I’m trying to describe:
link to s3-media1.ak.yelpcdn.com
I can’t wait for the trainers test (planning to buy one soon). As noise is important, i would suggest you to add additional test point: in other room, behind the wall and with closed door. Mark has a valid point, it would be interesting to see how much noise each trainer emits a few meters and walls away.
@anonymous… As a EU citizen you can bring to the EU (via airplane) goods in the value of around 430 EUR, while via post you can receive only goods in the value of around 22-23 EUR. For the higher value you have to pay VAT and/or import duty,. If you have for example a computer with you in a value of 1000 EUR and travelling to the US it is wise to register it with customs, to avoid problems when returning. If you are stopped at the customs, you have to provide the proof, eg. copy of the custom registration or proof of purchase inside of the EU. Otherwise you have to pay import duty + VAT. Even if article is used! However, it depends on the airport how much they check the passangers! I live in Slovenia, and on our airport you have extremly high chance to get checked if you have US check-in tab on your luggage. When I used to live in Paris, i never got stopped there when coming from the US or outside the EU. Regarding Ray, i would say he has easier way, as he is not a citizen of the EU, but only a resident… It is easier to get through at the airport (i guess he can just say this is for personal use and intended to be exported back outside the EU), but he is subject to procedure when getting goods through mail…
Ps: i apologize for all typos and grammar mistakes… Ipad keyboard is killing me ;-(
@Micke I’m having the same problem here. I wondering if Ray just has the magic touch or if there’s a trick to this.
Hmm, I wish I had a good answer there on the Fenix crashes (I’ve seen others note it as well).
I’m on 2.60 on both Fenix units I have, and running the latest App available on the AppStore, plus running the IO6 on an iPhone 4S.
I first go to the Basecamp sharing option on the Fenix, and then it shows the Bluetooth symbol as it’s waiting. Then from there I open up the app and connect to it.
Eek, I wish I had a better answer! I’m sorry!
Hi Ray, I am a French expat, currently living in Toronto, CA. I would be pleased and happy to assist with translation efforts if you and your wife need help. I am sure that you’ll likely have plenty of local volunteers to do so, but I’d jump at the opportunity to repay, in any way I can, you for the amazing content of your site.
In all your research, what is the best power meter for swapping between multiple bikes? Assuming you have a road bike for training and a tri bike for racing (with a set of race wheels). The iBike or a set of Garmin Vector pedals would be the best bet, but I’m not a fan of the iBike and the pedals aren’t coming out anytime soon!
Thoughts?
Hi Neda!
That’d be awesome. If you could shoot me your e-mail address, that’d be great: Ray@dcrainmaker.com
We just have a few minor things to translate right now, so nothing big. Thanks!
Hi Peter-
It depends, the quickest swappability between road and tri is definitely a PowerTap. You can get a wheelset at under 1K these days. Beyond that, I can swap the Quarq Cinqo pretty quickly. The Power2Max seems to take me a big longer to swap out.
It would take me longer to swap the Polar Pedals, than either crank system. Unknown on Garmin Vector swappage times.
Hope this helps!
email sent :)
I spent some time at the Moxy booth and decided to test the unit in variety of environments. Having compression garments helps a ton, since no straps are needed.
This is basically a beta version and much feedback is needed. Will touch base with them before Twin Cities Marathon.
This may be a great gadgets for optimizing workouts.
Would you do a comparison of the Tempe in the shoe vs on the laces? Thanks..
Sorry, can you clarify when you mean ‘in the shoe’?
Hi Ray,
I really expected the Tempe to work with the Forerunner watches for better training data since it should be a software update unless I am missing something. I would pick one up for $30 as a no-brainer to go along with my foot pod. Since the foot pod is still working I would say that I prefer a separate cheaper unit for my other shoe versus combining it with the footpod which may make technical and business sense. I wish all my gadgets were built to last like the footpod. It just keeps going.
Ray – any new info on the Moxy testing?
I sent back the prototype units back in January/February, as they were moving onto the next iteration of it. Right now it’s a bit expensive I think for widespread adoption.
Ray – Any word from Garmin if they are going to implement Tempe in fitness devices? I would really like to see support for the 910xt as this is the device that I have.
I think we’ll unfortunately continue to see limited adoption within Garmin fitness devices. You won’t see a FR910XT update for it unfortunately.
Hi Ray. The subject of water temperature is of keen interest to openwater sea swimmers such as myself. I think it would be great to see a review of how accurate the wrist worn devices are and wether body heat affects their reading despite the vasoconstriction effect of cold water around the 6 to 12C range. And then to compare those devices to the Tempe. I’ve just started wearing a Tempe attached to my tow float and I get a slightly cooler temperature than my wrist worn 745 gives but I’ve no idea which is most accurate, I would hope the Tempe is very accurate as that is its sole purpose in life.