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The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter and Facebook, this is a better forum for sending it on to y’all. Most times these different streams don’t overlap, so be on the lookout at all these places for good stuff!
So with that, let’s get into the action!
DCRainmaker.com posts in the past week:
Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page of DCRainmaker.com this past week:
Sunday: Week in Review–May 14th, 2017
Monday: 5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Tuesday: The DCR Analyzer Is Now Available For You To Use!
Wednesday: Giro d’Italia 2017–The Trainers, Power Meters and Gadgets of the Pro Peloton
Thursday: Giro d’Italia 2017: Spectating and behind the scenes!
Saturday: The Day in May DCR $500 Gadget Giveaway!
Sports Tech Deals This Week:
We’re into the final push of solid May sales – with many new ones this week returning. As I’ve noted in more detail on my sales landing page, May sales are very common. One of the best deals here is the Garmin FR735 for $315 (normally $450). It’s still receiving Connect IQ and feature updates and is just barely one year old. Great little lightweight tri/running watch.
Oh – and for some weird reason an entry in the table for ‘All Suunto gear is 25% off’ isn’t showing up. I’ve got some techies trying to figure it out, but FYI. Note that the only watch excluded is the Wrist HR model on that one.
| Product | Sale Price | Amazon | Other site | Sale Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Fitbit Charge 6 - 38% off! $159 | $99 | Amazon | This is the go-to sale price for the Fitbit Charge 6. It happens often, but it still doesn't take away from the fast that it's argueably the best bang for your buck fitness tracker out there. | |
 | Garmin Epix Sapphire/Titanium (Gen 2) - $400+ off! | $449 | Amazon | ⚡⚡⚡ This is a crazy super strong deal. Note the Epix received all of the software updates of the Epix Pro. While we saw a slightly better deal at $399 for a day back in October for the black edition, the $449 is the lowest price we've seen for the white titanium unit. | |
 | Tacx Flux 2 Smart Trainer - $200ish off $899 | $499 | N/A | REI | I mean, I guess. Really, I don't see why anyone would buy this trainer at any price above $299. With the JetBlack Victory at $399 being more accurate, quiter, including WiFi, including Zwift Cog support (or mechanical cassette), including dual-Bluetooth, including Race Mode, and...one could go on and on. |
 | Tacx NEO 2T Smart Trainer - $200-$300 off $1,399 | $899 | Amazon | This is the go-to sales price for the NEO 2T, though has become more frequent over the past year. It's still an incredible trainer, and is the top-end non-moving trainer from Garmin/Tacx. |
All of the above links help support the blog!
YouTube Videos I Published!
Here’s some YouTube goodness that I published this past week, don’t forget to subscribe!
Stuff that I found interesting around the interwebs:
Here’s a not-so-small smattering of all the random things that I stumbled on while doing my civic duty to find the end of the Internet.
1) Kickstarter adds hardware studio offering to help creators: This is a good step towards trying to minimize the countless delayed hardware projects on Kickstarter. But a better step would be Kickstarter adding repercussions for hardware startups that don’t have realistic plans to begin with. You know, accountability and all that. Still far too many projects pass through Kickstarter’s supposed filters that just aren’t viable with the timelines they set out.
2) Secrets of a Pro Photographer: Maven has done some awesome Giro vlogs, especially in the last few days. Between this one and the one yesterday – he’s really finding his groove. I would say on the photographer one that yes, it’s a bit long. And it might seem a bit ‘cold’ earlier on in the first few minutes, but then it feels like Jered warms up a bit and the content is really interesting.
3) Tour of California Data Numbers: While many teams publish pro data as part of larger compilations, this blog series is actually fairly detailed with a Q&A with the rider themselves on different data aspects. Cool stuff.
4) Inside the Race Caravan at the ToC: Speaking of the Tour of California, this is an awesome piece by Neal Rogers written in real-time from inside one of the Team Sky vehicles. I think this could turn into a great series.
5) Sniper vs GoPro: And I now know how I’m going to justify any future GoPro purchases to The Girl: “But it could save my life!!!”. Seriously though, glad this guy is (mostly) OK. (sent in via Ken)
6) Tidbit on a Runners World vs Nike feud: Interesting post outlining what happened when Runners World published a piece that said Nike wasn’t the best shoe model one year. Looks a bit like Lance Armstrong tactics. On the flipside, when you (a publisher) bite the hand that feeds you (advertising)…and that’s what’s wrong with that model when it comes to reviews. (via Steve Magness)
7) Endless pool swimming file creator: This is pretty nifty. If you’ve got an endless pool you can insert your time and pace, and then the app will automatically determine distance. From there it creates a .TCX file you can upload to various swim platforms. Brilliant. Would love to see this in some sort of watch-app form as well.
8) Heli mountain biking? Why yes, I’d be happy to complete a detailed review of your rack (done in flight of course). I’m glad you asked!
Sports Technology Software/Firmware Updates This Week:
Each week I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website service updates that I see go out. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one-liners are perfect, or Tweet it at me is even better) and I’ll make mention of it here. If I don’t know about it, I won’t be able to post about it. Sound good? Oh – and if you want to get a head start on things, this page is a great resource for watching Garmin firmware updates.
Garmin Fenix 5/5S/5X/Chronos BETA firmware update: New features, plus some fixes.
Wahoo KICKR: Bug fix related to units locking up on performing a spindown.
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Thanks for reading, have a great week ahead!
With the big Suunto sale happening, for pure running (26.2 training) with a Stryd footpod and the occasional bike ride without a power meter, Suunto spartan sport or Suunto ambit 3 sport?
To clarify, the goal is to get pace and distance from the footpod while still being able to get a gps track after the run to view where you ran, i.e., ability to keep gps on. If the m430 is an option that is fine as well, but from what I understand the garmin 230 cannot get pace and distance from the footpod unless you turn gps off.
I thought the FR230 order of precedence is footpod if connected over GPS, no? I’ll have to double-check if something is different in recent firmware.
I dont know, im going with what fellrnr wrote and also what it seems the guys at stryd have told me. To me it is confusing because how would gps need to be shut off if you have footpod set to control pace/distance? Seems then that live track would also become nullified. That makes it pretty useless.
Disclaimer: I am with Stryd
Hi Josh,
The FR230 can be configured to always get pace from the foot pod. This means you can view and record pace from the foot pod whether the GPS is on or off.
However, the FR230 watch defaults to GPS for distance. It is necessary to disable GPS to force the watch to get distance from the foot pod.
Best,
Angus
Interested in the Sports Tech Deals however, how to order with these discounts and terms from Europe as do not wish to pay import duties and VAT upon delivery – thought Clever Training have European centre now for this but I cannot see this ?
International stuff is tricky (no matter the direction). Take the Garmin deals for example, Garmin only offers those to US retailers, and not UK retailers. And a company like Clever can’t cross-ship items from the US to UK to bridge that gap, it’s considered a no-no.
That said, I was talking to CT about this very thing today on how to potentially offer Europe-specific deals. There have been a few, but it’s challenging to get manufs on board.
Inversely though, within the US retailers have to get permission to discount, whereas the rest of the world considers that practice illegal.
Awesome to see that there’s finally a way to get a file for endless pool swims. Is there a way to get stroke info at all? I’m guessing not…
Still, cool stuff. I wonder if someday we’ll see a Connect IQ app for it – maybe the people from Endless Pool would be interested in making their own?
Also wow… I wonder if that GoPro still worked in any capacity, since they said (only the case got damaged). That’s crazy.
And heli-biking looks AWESOME, but I do wonder how you make sure that people don’t lose/drop their bikes holding onto them on the way down?
Thanks again for all the awesomeness. Good stuff.
Yeah, that’d be ideal. It’s funny, when I saw that I thought to myself: How on earth is this not a mode in a Garmin watch already? It seems like it’d be simple just like the Swimming Drill mode. Simply set the pace/speed and then press start. Then it automatically takes stroke and time information and boom – perfect files.
Considering all the silly sport modes we have, this seems like an easy one.
I have an Endless Pool, and this is how I use my F3HR to record my swims: I set lap length to 100m, and then I set Alerts to whatever pace I have the pool set to, ie: 2:15. That way after 2 minutes and 15 seconds, I get an alert on my watch, then I hit my lap button to mark 100m and continue on, repeating every 2:15 minutes. At the end of my swim, I get the correct distance, time, and stroke analysis, assuming I don’t pause and accidentally trigger a lap count.
But, if anyone ends up making a proper Connect IQ app for the endless pool, let me know! :D
Ray,
Any thoughts on a optical heart rate sports/running watch/tracker for a smaller wrist? The 13 year old could use one but the vivoactive HR and the vivosmart(s) look big on him. Wants to record his training runs, etc.
thanks,
Adam
Get him the Scosche arm band, it is so easy and comfortable to use. That way you can use it too!!
I’d agree, a Scosche under the t-shirt works great, along with a cheaper/smaller GPS watch. You can often find a Garmin FR15/25 on sale for about $60-$80.
Is the Garmin 935 likely to keep feature parity with the Fenix 5 variants? It seems that it is not included in the feature updates.
They actually have been maintaining feature parity to date. It’s simply that the Fenix team is releasing more betas than the Forerunner team. So it probably looks a bit skewed. But if you go back to the most recent FR935 update, it matches that of the corresponding Fenix 5 updates (though the release notes don’t quite match, the actual content does).
The Heli bike rack guys need to travel a bit – people have been doing it for several years in NZ, such as Helibke Nelson link to helibikenelson.co.nz (Disclaimer, this is a good friend’s company)
If you want to see how to move a lot of bike via chopper at once, here is a option ;-) : link to goo.gl
Any idea when the Tacx Neo Smart will actually be available? I’ve been following the seemingly predictable availability-delays on CT and a bunch of other sites, and am starting to lose faith that they’ll ever be back and available to purchase (not talking about the initially released model…talking about the “newer” one designed to address the initial bugs). I keep reading how it’s one of the best trainers out there, and the lack of an actual flywheel is a big plus for me (no vibrations), but I just can’t find where it’s actually available. Even your REI link says it’s not available.
Thanks.
Ray, I am a car guy. What did you think of your Fiat Abarth Spider 124? It is referred to as a Fiata because it is built at the same plant in Japan where the MX5 Miata ND model is built. Miata has NA engine while the Fiat is a turbo. Well that is enough about that.
Nick:)
Hi, really appreciate your reviews. I use Garmin products, i.e. Edge 1000 and radar. Do you know if Garmin are developing an accessory battery pack? I find the radar is good and useful, especially when riding country roads by oneself, but limited battery life. I envisage an external battery that has the male versions of the 1/4 turn mount on the back with the female version of the 1/4 mount on the front. Hope that makes sense.
Regards,
Blayne
Was just wondering if you were planning to review the new Favero Assioma pedals. The information provided available on the net is limited at best, however indicates that they should be easier to install (assumed like the P1’s) with the only information on pricing being a price hidden on a website but shown in Google for $1200 Australian dollars for the dual sided version. Should all of this be correct, they would have to be going to five the P1’s a bit of a shake.
Yup, though, it sounds like it won’t be till later this summer that it’s available.
The price will be the same as the BePro, 799€ according to their website. Sounds very promising, if all the description is true, it will definitely start a price drop among the pedal power meters
STRYD FootPOD got a new firmware update to!!
Stryd Firmware version 1.1.2 gives you improved power on downhills due to improved capturing of eccentric loading, giving you the power to attack the downhill!
Ray, what are your thoughts on the ( Decathlon) Géonaute Onmove 500 ?. It’s cheap ( €99.99) and apparentely has a philips OHR. For that price I can imagine it being an interesting choice for people in Europe. (I’d personally think this watch is probably crap… knowing previous geonaute watches… )
Hello Ray, can You answer this question about Geonaute onmove 500, can You test it? Or You do test only expensive trade marks like Garmin, Suunto, TomTom. Thank You for reaction. Richard
I don’t at present have any plans to test it.
The main reason is I try and focus on items that have global availability (or at least North American + Europe availability). Or planned availability anyway.
With Geonaute, it’s largely the arm of Decathlon, which is mostly just available in Europe. :(
Pioneer has a new deal, free computer with the power meter. Ok, same as the deal last year. link to pioneerelectronics.com