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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.
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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!
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.
Are you planning a Mio Slice review?
Regarding garmin connect iq… Are you listening sporttracks and runscribe!?
What kind of GIQ App do you expect from Sporttracks? I can’t think of any tbh
I agree – the comment was aimed at rusncribe for the GIQ bit. I would love to see them broadcasting something like footstrike over ANT+ to a custom IQ field, and for sporttracks to pull this through from the fit file into their activity analysis. This would be theoretically be possible for all their metrics – pronation etc. and be dual-sides.
Whilst I review this information after the run on the runscribe dashboard, having it on the watch and alongside my GPS data would be a total winner for me.
Initially though, I’d even just like to see runscribe broadcasting as a footpod.. I could then ditch my cheap Adidas MiCoach pod and no longer have to strap 3 things to my laces when I do a treadmill session.
Hey Neil,
Of course, you’re right. That would be fabulous. I don’t have any of those new devices but I track all my stuff in SportTracks and I think it woul dbe great for all those new companies to support open standards. I think that would lead to a larger user base than restricting access to their own sites.
Fwiw, RunScribe is actually writing all their metrics to custom .FIT files you can download using developer fields. It’s just not open to the public yet.
Interesting…. Assume you mean they are recording into fit files on the device, and not broadcasting and storing in a fit file via CIQ integration??
It’s actually band-end, on the website side.
Hi Ray,
Checked my podcast feed for the latest Maker & Hobbs show but it’s only at DCR60. Is it coming soon? The anticipation!
Thanks as always. Doug
It should be up any moment now. Ben was just finishing editing it.
I would say you can’t get the staff but a stuffed toy tiger as a co-host? You should be able to improve ;)
Now that you can carry a phone it will at least allow your devices to leverage the cellular connectivity to provide live tracking. Also if your allow to turn it on in transition to track your run then that would solve the problem of your watch dying during the marathon and not having that data.
I’ve been loving the multi-sport fitness trend in StravistiX. The fitness, fatigue and form scores seem to agree with how I’m feeling. Watching the form score has been very motivating to getting outside and continue my training.
Stravistix is a GREAT plugin. I’ve donated twice and feel gulty of not paying a subscription. The amount/frequency of releases is incredible too.
Ray, will the POI feature the Suunto Spartan is getting soon calculate like the ambit series or follow a route you have in? I hate how the Ambit series calculates distance left by “how a crow fly’s” instead of following the imported route ?
I’m not sure…yet.
Hi,
Actually trainingpeaks and others such as sporttracks.mobi are already supporting ConnectIQ Developer fields. I have developed a pool swim app for the fr230 and data is synced since months. Even smaller sites like runalyze.com do support them. Funny that garmin themselves do not really support them: one cannot override native fields. Developer fields are shown, but they are not taken into account for summary, etc. And i still miss strava. Given that there seems to be a good relationship between both companies (beacon integration, f.i.), id expect this to happen, but it is taking time. I have a new feature idea in strava forums requesting this. You can vote for it if you are a garmin user who would like to see developer fields there. link to support.strava.com
Hmm… where do you see the ability to enumerate/show/graph/etc developer fields on TrainingPeaks?
I know they did some work for things like running power with Stryd, but in looking at it now I’m not seeing fields from a few different devices showing up anywhere in the analysis page.
hi Ray,
it is transparent to the training peaks user if the fields shown are native or calculated by the developer. i do not know how to share a training peaks activity, but you can take a look at the user guide of my app: link to danipindado.github.io
in page 38 you’ll find some training peaks screenshots. please note that the distance is calculated by me: the fr230 cannot measure distance in a pool. the developer (me) has to set a “NativeFieldId” which tells the 3rd party site, which field to override (my app overrides distance and stroke rate, for instance. Stryd app should override power, I guess). Otherwise trainingpeaks does not know what the developer field actually means. and they won’t be shown.
Great to see the podcasts coming. One of my favorite “DCR” part.
“While WKO4 is a natural starting point for this, hopefully we’ll see Training Peaks (which owns WKO4) and others quickly adopt it.”
As you know, it has been supported in GoldenCheetah for a while.
Curiously waiting for your take on the Arofly power meter !!
Me too!
Well, attempt #1 today didn’t go well. My unit is apparently defective. They’ve got a new one already on the way according to the UPS shipping info I got.
However, I think that’ll be the least of the issues to be honest.
A) As of today, you can’t lock the phone. Oh, and yes, you have to have the phone app running. It’s a private data channel.
B) As of today, I see no way to export and power data. So it’s just a random number at the end of the ride (or mid-ride, if the phone is on your handlebars).
I’ve asked for clarification on both of those, in case I somehow missed something.
Oh.. That’s unfortunate…
I too saw that the connection happens on their own network and not like ANT+ or BLE where a head unit can be connected.
However, I plan to use this on a trainer or short outdoor activities where I can keep a check on the FTP levels.. Lets see how it perfoms
Glad to hear phones are being allowed a bit more (even if still not as a bike computer). The whole reason I started looking for fitness watches/bike computers is because I couldn’t use my phone on my first triathlons – even though it’s more than adequate as a bike computer for most purposes.
Would you know if smartwatches that can store mp3 files are now allowed? Like the TomTom Spark lineup? I asked the people at the two sprints/oly’s my family now does yearly together, and they said no since they can store mp3 files (even though they’re incapable of playing them without extra equipment in the form of bluetooth headphones). It made me wonder if that was a factor in why Garmin STILL didn’t put direct music playback functionality into the Fenix 5 or 5x.
For now, I’m leaning towards a Garmin figuring that I’d rather be safe than try to play lawyer with the judges on race day. Also I should probably start exercising without music so I’m more used to it come race day… but seeing this gives me hope for what devices will be allowed later.
I have to comment on the Wiggins case after reading the article for a bit… It seems like even if all the arguments made by the team are true, they have their standards wrong.
1. If you’re so ill you need special injections that are normally not admissible in the sport, you’re too ill to race. So don’t race!
2. If you need medication on a structural basis for therapeutic needs, you’re not fit to be a pro athlete. Regardless of whether this is admissible medicine.
I’m sorry, you just don’t have what it takes to be at the top then, just accept that and go on with life. Pro athletes are supposed to be the best of the best, so there is no shame in not making it to the absolute top (anymore). Take your loss and try to find another way to make a living using your passion.
So basically, it doesn’t matter whether the package was mysterious or not, administering anything to help with race performance is non-sportsmanlike in my vision.
They should make cycling like bodybuilding though. Make a “clean league” and a “non-clean league”, so everyone who likes enhancement drugs can go right on ahead and inject themselves full of whatever they want and compete in the non-clean league. Also, one single slip-up in the clean league and you’re out for life.
When do you think your full review of the Garmin Fenix 5 will be posted? Longing for that one.
I’m waiting for clarity on the exact final firmware update. It sounds like that’s imminent. Once I get clarity on that, then I’ll decide on the in-depth review. The last update or two have had only the tiniest of changes, so I won’t likely need to reset from a data standpoint, since my data is both relatively good and extensive.
I had initially targeted mid next week, but I suspect it may slide to early the following week – unless they drop a final firmware in the next day or so.
That sounds great. I bought the Polar V800 after tour review and later the Fenix 3. Didn’t think that F3 Hr was worth the update and now I hope that the wrist HR sensor is good enough for my everyday use and training. im aware that its a compromise but I think its a good choice anyway, I do hate HRM on my chest and a device that can do what my loyal F3 have done and in a smaller package with wrist HR would be perfect.
keep up the good work Ray!
Also for Garmin Edge 820 release 6.20 is now a fact
link to forums.garmin.com