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Week in Review–July 1st, 2017

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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–June 25th, 2017
Monday: DJI Spark In-Depth Review
Tuesday: 5 Random Things I Did This Weekend in Sardinia
Thursday: Polar M430 In-Depth Review
Saturday: Tour de France 2017–The Trainers, Power Meters and Gadgets of the Pro Peloton

Sports Tech Deals This Week:

With the start of July brings a fresh wave of new sports tech deals.  More interestingly, some of these are actually Europe-specific, which is a rarity around these parts!  I’ve noted which ones specifically are Europe-focused.

ProductSale PriceAmazonOther siteSale Notes
Apple Watch Series 10 - $50 off
$399/$499 (cellular)
$349
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium - $75 off$725This is a nice little deal for this unit which just came out.
Fitbit Ace LTE Kids Activity Smartwatch - 22% off$179This was just announced this summer, and is their first full smartwatch focused on kids activity tracking and gamification.
Fitbit Charge 6 - 38% off!
$159
$99This 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.
Fitbit Inspire 3 - $30 off$69
Fitbit Sense 2 - $70 off$179
Fitbit Versa 4 - $40 off$119
Garmin Edge 1040 Cycling GPS - $100 off!$499This is a good deal, especially since it's gotten virtually all of the Edge 1050 updates, and then a boatload more. That said, it wouldn't surprise me to see this drop further to $449, as it did this past summer.
Garmin Edge 540 - $100 off$249⚡⚡This is the lowest price we've seen on the Garmin Edge 540 to date, which has gained virtually all of the new Garmin Edge 1050 features as well. This is kinda an insane deal for this unit.
Garmin Edge 540 Solar - $100 off$349This is the lowest price we've seen on the Garmin Edge 540 Solar to date, which has gained virtually all of the new Garmin Edge 1050 features as well.
Garmin Edge 840 - $100 off$349⚡⚡This is the lowest price we've seen on the Garmin Edge 840 to date, which has gained virtually all of the new Garmin Edge 1050 features as well. This is one of my main units I use daily.
Garmin Edge 840 Solar - $100 off$449This is the lowest price we've seen on the Garmin Edge 840 Solar to date, which has gained virtually all of the new Garmin Edge 1050 features as well.
Garmin Edge Explore 2 - $40 off
$299
$269This is a great little unit, though, with the sales on the Edge 540 and 840 series, you might want to look at those instead.
Garmin Epix Pro Series - 20% off!
$899/$999
$649⚡ This is the lowest price to date for the Garmin Epix Pro series, likely due to the Fenix 8 coming out a few months back (Epix as a brand was merged into the Fenix 8 branding). Still, if you don't care about diving or voice bits, this is an incredible deal.
Garmin Epix Sapphire/Titanium (Gen 2) - $400+ off!$449⚡⚡⚡ 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, this is otherwise the lowest price we've seen it sustained at.
Garmin Fenix 7 Pro - 31% off (All Variants)
$799+
$549+⚡ This is the lowest price to date for the Garmin Fenix 7 Pro series, likely due to the Fenix 8 coming out a few months back. Still, if you don't care about diving or voice bits, this is an incredible deal.
Garmin Forerunner 165 Music - $50 off!$249This is the first time we've head a meaningful sale on the Forerunner 165, released earlier this year, down to $249 for the Music edition, and $199 for the non-music edition.
Garmin Forerunner 255/255S - $100 off$249This is Garmin's mid-tier running watch, and is a very polished option with good multi-band GPS, and of course, a boatload of running metrics.
Garmin Forerunner 255/255S Music - $100 off!
$349/$399
$299This is Garmin's mid-tier running watch, and is a very polished option with good multi-band GPS, and of course, a boatload of running metrics. This model also includes offline music such as Spotify and Amazon Music.
Garmin Forerunner 265 - $100 off$349This is the first time we've seen the Forerunner 265 on sale, and it's solidly priced right now at $349
Garmin Forerunner 265s - $100 off$349This is the first time we've seen the Forerunner 265 on sale, and it's solidly priced right now at $349
Garmin Forerunner 955 - $100ish off!$399This is one of Garmin's most popular running watches, and it's down to a very strong price. I often use this in my accuracy testing comparisons when validating other watches, due to it's very strong GPS performance. Note this is the base edition without solar. It'd be hard to find any better deal in sports watches today, from any company (given this has full mapping, tons of new features even this week, etc...). I say '$100ish', because it's usually been on forever sale at $499, so $399 is a strong price, though, it dipped to $319 for Amazon Prime Day.
Garmin Forerunner 965 - $50 off!$499This is the lowest price we've seen ever on the Forerunner 965, since it's launch. It's still Garmin's top-end Forerunner watch, and I expect it to stay that way for a while. It's one I often use in comparative testing as a reference device.
Garmin Instinct 2X - $100 off!$349This is a solid deal. Garmin Instinct 2X - $100 off!It's best thought of as an Instinct 2.5, as it has almost enough features to really be more of an Instinct 3 (which doesn't exist at this point).
Garmin Tactix 7 Pro - 20% off$1,049This is the largest discount we've seen to date on the Tactix 7 Pro unit. Note the other Tactix 7 Pro units/variants are also on sale for 20% off too (this link takes you to all of them).
GoPro Hero 12 Black - $100 off!$299The new Hero 13 just came out, which mostly just adds a bunch of new accessory options. If you don't plan to purchase those accessories, then this is a solid deal.
GoPro Hero 13 Black - $60 OFF!$399This is the first time we have seen the newly announced GoPro Hero 13 Black on sale. Solid deal, this is my daily use action cam!
Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm) - $70 OFF$279Click to add $70 coupon into the cart. Bringing price down to $279!
Insta360 Ace Pro Action Cam - $50 off$299This is the previous edition, as the Ace Pro 2 just came out a few weeks back, but this is still a very solid camera from a year ago.
Insta360 GO 3S Tiny 4K Action Camera - $60 off!$239This is a great deal for this tiny little thing, which should really be named the Go 4, given how many new features it has (including 4K). It also has all the Insta360 sport integration features with Garmin & Apple, to overlay your Garmin/Apple data automatically on your footage.
Jackery Portable Power Station - $60 off!$199This is something I use frequently when shooting out and about and I need to re-charge a crapton of drone batteries, action cameras, or just cameras and such. I also use it on trips to Eurobike and elsewhere to keep equipment charged. I've even bought a solar panel to hook up to it (surprisingly effective). Heck, I've even powered a KICKR trainer ride from it!
Tacx Flux 2 Smart Trainer - $200ish off
$899
$499I 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
$899This 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.
Wahoo KICKR CORE Zwift One (COG V2) + Play Controllers
$499
$499This package includes the KICKR CORE with the Zwift V2 Cog, but notably now also includes the Zwift Play controllers. Basically, this saves you about $100 or so, and is the first time we've seen them bundle it.
Wahoo KICKR MOVE - $300 off!
$1,599
$999⚡⚡ This is actually a very solid deal, and the first time we've seen this discounted. In fact, frankly, this is the first time in years it feels like Wahoo is actually doing a legit sale on something. Kudos.
Wahoo KICKR ROLLR - $100 off
$599
$499
Wahoo KICKR SNAP - Lowest Price Ever
$499
$199This is lowest we've ever seen the KICKR SNAP priced. While the trend has moved towards wheel-off/direct drive trainers, this is still really solid deal if your budget it tight. That said, if you're in Europe, Decathlon has the D100 on sale for $199 also, and in my testing, I'd go with that almost every time.

Also of note is that ELEMNT $80 rebate for the larger unit.  Helps to equalize the price compared to the smaller BOLT.  Both contain the same software, though the larger unit has an additional LED stripe.

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) A Breakdown of of a Tour de France Team Bus: Neat little look at what it costs to run a TdF team bus. (via My Dad)

2) Fitbit Sleep Study: Pretty cool charts and breakdowns of how much and how different millions of Fitbit users sleep on average, divided up by age groups and all assortment of metrics. (via Ernesto R.)

3) I’m over on the latest Cycling Maven TDF Vlog!  Boom, now I’ve made it!  Awesome to run into him while running around.

4) Tour de France massive infographic: Ok, this is the week of infographics – but if there’s any infographic to look at, it’s this incredible four-page one put together by Le Tour themselves.  I think I read through it for 10 minutes.

5) Science people – please stop doing this: Yet another study doubles-down on doubling optical HR sensors per wrist.  Just don’t.  Really, don’t.

6) Yes, EPO impacts sports performance: Why do you ask?

7) The Pain Cave: A look into an apparent obsession with it and everything about it.

8) Using drones to study America’s Cup Riders: This is pretty crazy. Though, it doesn’t surprise me.  Just this week I got asked questions about which drones would be best for doing form studies on rowers. (via Robin Crimp)

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: A couple more new features, and a boatload of tweaks/fixes.

Polar M430 Firmware Update: Fixes some bugs, fully implements GPS-A caching

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Thanks for reading!

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17 Comments

  1. Thomas Wylie

    Any chance you could ask Garmin why the 935 preferentially syncs via (slow) Bluetooth rather than (speedy) wifi even when I’m 10 feet from my router? I end up turning off Bluetooth just before saving to force it. Damn annoying!

    • I believe it’s supposed to search for WiFi for 5 minutes after ending a workout, then shuts that off to save battery since it’s a pretty big drain.

  2. rehmn

    Erythropoetin doesn’t have immediate effect, like other hormones (adrenaline, ADH, Oxytocine, etc.). It is stimulating the bone marrow to produce red blood cells. This production takes time.
    If you read somewhere, that during a race Lance applied an EPO to go faster or in the mentioned study/experiment users noticed difference in performance, it is a lie!
    If you want to increase your haematocrit (ratio between bood cells and plasma), you must plan long term. By means, you must calculate the buffer dose and the maintaining dose as well, the time intervals you need to apply EPO and also the level of concentration of the red blood cells you want to reach without side effect (like, avoiding thrombosis).
    This is a proof that Lance was using EPO for years and his physician set up the intervals, because he couldn’t do it alone…
    And by the way, EPO is used as supplementary treatment at breast cancer, because the cytostatics used for treatment are destroying the bone marrow and as the result, the number of Erytrocytes are decreasing.

    That’s all you need to know.
    Every other publication round EPO are empty words… blablabla…

  3. JCRunner

    Maybe Garmin can start focusing on fixing the Fenix5 Ant+/Bluetooth and GPS accuracy issues. I can’t even use a Garmin HRM chest strap, let alone my $200 Stryd footpod, which is currently sitting on my desk due to Garmin dropouts. Of course I really wouldn’t need the Stryd anymore if the GPS and instant pace were more in line with the past Garmin devices I’ve own.

    Garmins response everytime: “Please wait for updated firmware..”

    • The Stryd thing is a known of course, but the HR strap thing shouldn’t be happening. I’d push back on Garmin support to either replace your HR strap or your watch.

    • JCRunner

      Thanks for the advice. Garmin is remaining firm that my device is fine, and the ANT+ / GPS issues will be addressed in future firmware updates. Unfortunately, this isn’t my first rodeo trying to get a replacement. My FR235 had a faulty oHRM, and it took me nearly two months to get it replaced.

      Based on my recent conversations with the Stryd folks, they seem to believe this is a hardware issue with a weak signal. I wonder if Garmin could implement a “High Accuracy” mode on the Fenix, which will sacrifice some battery life to boost the hardware signals. I would be more than fine with that.

      It bums me out that Garmins flagship device, at $700 USD for my Fenix 5 sapphire, is still having issues. I’ve been using my wife’s FR235 for the more important training runs and races.

  4. peroni

    OT: Is there any cycle computer or gps watch compatible with Galileo satellites?
    I checked http://www.usegalileo.eu but no sport device is listed.

  5. Tom Carter

    One of the Rowers here you spoke to about the Drones – In the sport we are starting to see more and more used to get some cool shots, my own video which I filmed a few weeks back came out really well for example

    link to youtube.com

    That was a Bebop 2 using a follow me app on my phone, cam out rather well

    The main concern is landing/crashing into the water but there do seem to be more waterproof drones appearing which would be more suitable

    • Gotta say – that footage is astounding, especially for just being 720p.

      Well done!

    • Tom Carter

      Thanks! One of those days where the conditions were just perfect for getting good quality footage, even as an amateur.

      This last week the Henley Royal Regatta has just been and gone which has a much more professional set up and has fully embraced Drones, 360 cameras etc – check it out here

      link to youtube.com

      A good example of the drone footage is in this video from 5mins in where you can see the crews racing and the people on the river and bank enjoying the event. The Drone is a specially built drone carrying a Sony P1 and livestreaming over UHF for the live youtube video – amazing stuff

      link to youtu.be

  6. Mike Richie

    In fairness, in your “Science people please stop doing this …”, they were not testing optical HR, but activity trackers (including 2 phones on belt) and were also switching locations, so I’m not sure that it wasn’t a perfectly good approach (there is no link to the full study). The tweeter, however, seemed to have problem with it, but I’m not sure he isn’t just wrong.

  7. Struan Lownie

    The clever training UK discount doesnt seem to be being applied to an Edge 1000, Its shows as £439.99 on Clevertraining but only £325.59 on Amazon.co.uk.

    Am I missing something?