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–July 17th, 2017
Tuesday: Wahoo Rolls Out ELEMNT/BOLT Live Tracking with Data & Routes
Wednesday: Xert rolls out free real-time FTP app on Garmin devices
Thursday: Garmin Acquires Cycling Aerodynamics Company Alphamantis
Thursday: Hands-on: Airdog’s new ADII sports-tracking drone
Friday: Wahoo’s New 2017 KICKR SNAP Trainer: Hands-on
Friday: Strava will now fix your Garmin or phone when you break it riding…or not.
Sports Tech Deals This Week:
Below is the current list of deals in the sports tech realm. Of note is the addition this week of the Cycliq Fly6 (back-light/camera combo) and Fly12 (front-light/camera combo) at $97 and $199. That’s a solid deal, especially for the Fly6.
| Product | Sale Price | Amazon | Other site | Sale Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Fitbit Ace LTE Kids Activity Smartwatch - 22% off | $179 | Amazon | This was just announced this summer, and is their first full smartwatch focused on kids activity tracking and gamification. | |
 | 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. | |
 | Fitbit Inspire 3 - $30 off | $69 | Amazon | ||
 | Fitbit Sense 2 - $70 off | $179 | Amazon | ||
 | Fitbit Versa 4 - $40 off | $119 | Amazon | ||
 | 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, this is otherwise the lowest price we've seen it sustained at. | |
 | 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. | |
 | Wahoo KICKR CORE Zwift One (COG V2) + Play Controllers $499 | $499 | N/A | Zwift.com | This 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. |
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.
Oh…and ProTip: Swing back by this page sometime mid-morning on Monday US Eastern time for a very time-limited deal on some products.
YouTube Videos I Published:
Here’s some YouTube goodness that I published this past week, don’t forget to subscribe!
DCR Podcast:
By the time you read this, another episode will hopefully have dropped. If not, I suggest keeping an eye out on your feed. We recorded one Friday night so it should be out as soon as Ben finishes golfing or something.
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) It’s dead, Jim: This will come as no surprise, but Intel has killed off their wearables division. What remains slightly unclear is if Recon is technically part of that or not. Of course, they previously pseudo-killed Basis by recalling the product and then shutting down the site. It’d be interesting to know how this impacts New Balance, who worked closely with Intel on their Run IQ Android Wear watch, whereby Intel did much of the work (including ongoing updates).
2) Alaska Airlines now charges $25 for bikes: Sweet! Far more reasonable than the $150USD (one-way) that United or others charge. I still have really good luck with my bike bag, but if you get pinched, I’d rather only pay $25. (via Race Radio)
3) Well that was cold: I was looking forward to seeing how the Alaskaman triathlon (first year) went last weekend. The pics don’t disappoint!
4) A different look at the Tour de France live tracking platform: A week or so ago I showed you a behind-the-scenes on Dimension Data’s live tracking platform. This past week Cycling Maven put together a video during his TdF Vlog about it. Cool stuff.
5) What’s on Team Cannondale-Drapac’s bike computers? Ask and you shall receive. Each rider lists what data fields/pages they use. (via Harald)
6) Why ‘the unicorn’ shouldn’t be used for health startups: Interesting perspective on health startup valuations from a business angle.
7) Tesla is paying employees to commute by bike: File this into the list of things you didn’t expect.
8) Update on this: GoPro water bottle mount: Last week I mentioned this, and my skepticism that it would arrive within the previously stated August timeframe, or that it might arrive at all for the price. Astoundingly it actually came on Wednesday this past week. Seriously, fastest crowd funding thing ever for me. Quality seems just fine, though I haven’t really done any super detailed testing.
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 FR735XT Beta Firmware Update: Added swimming countdown timer, also some other tweaks/fixes.
Garmin Varia Radar Firmware Update: Radar and LED improvements, some other bug fixes.
Garmin VIRB Edit update: Minor tweaks and fixes.
Garmin Vivosmart 3 Firmware Update: Actually a whole pile of tweaks and new things.
PowerTap P1 Firmware Update: Minor bug fixes, some additional fixes for the P1S
Wahoo Fitness ELEMNT/ELEMNT BOLT Firmware Update: Added live tracking and a few other tweaks (discussed in full post up above).
—
Thanks for reading!
Participating in the Alaskaman race was an amazing experience! Every swim stroke, pedal revolution, and running then hiking step was a challenge. The course was very well organized, despite being an inaugural event in a relatively remote location. Weather was great. Views were breathtaking. Ahhh… Hard to believe it’s been a week since my husband and I crossed the finish line.
Podcast still hasn’t dropped.
Either Ben is a poor golfer, or he’s stuck on the 19th. I suspect both :)
Good report on Alaska trithlon… The race is now part of the X-tri world tour, with 2 more newbies…
Hi, I’d be interested in your thoughts on the ongoing Withings/Nokia debacle. It seems a textbook example of how to upset customers for no discernible benefit.
Yeah, it’s been on my list to look at, just been travelling a bunch lately w/o a lot of access to my scale. As of this morning I have no more travels till the end of August, so going to dig into it more.
But I do agree, they really seemed to have F’d this one up in an impressive way.
Do that many people actually use the withings app rather than integrating the data within 3rd party platforms? My scale still measures my weight, and other bits bobs, and squirts the details to sporttracks.
I used to use the Withings app a lot as I have a number of pieces of Withings hardware (Go, BP, Scales, Thermo) which I bought as it brought everything together on one platform. The weight graph was particularly useful as it allowed a quick check of trends (or for inspiration/reassurance). The new graph is useless as it isn’t possible to set axes to meaningfully depict the data. All very basic stuff. It should also be possible to fix very quickly once they accept the problem exists.
Do you know if the Fly12 discount will be available in UK/Europe?
Just asked… will post back when I hear.
Any word on when F5 will get the Stress tracking update?
Good question, I’ll shoot them an e-mail today on it.
While you’re at it , please bug them about their progress on the ANT+ connection issues. It would be nice to know what is going on there. The most recent beta builds seem to be focused more on dog tracker than anything else.
Any luck getting an ETA?
Thanks
What bike computers could be traded-in by Wahoo Element?
Must it be GPS computer or any type?
I could not find this information anywhere…just found about the condition of the computer must be.
Great link to the Alaskan tri Ray. Your Week in Reviews are among my favorite posts.
I wonder how much the RunIQ debacle has contributed to the final downfall of the intel division. What will New Balance (and TAG Heuer) now do with their new digital division?
Interestingly, we still have not seen a DCRainmaker RunIQ review yet! For a while it sounded like it may be released any moment and it would be an epic fail. While I like New Balance (they are helping maintain running trails in the Winter in Boston!), I was looking forward to the review, out of pure schadenfreude :))) Ray, any chance for a RunIQ review being published?
Yeah, I may take another look at it now that it’s on Android Wear 2.0 (I’d guess about 30-40% of the problems were attributed to AW1). But it’s not going to solve the dismal optical sensor they borrowed from Basis (via Intel). That’s not a sensor for workouts, it’s for non-fitness use.
Is the mid-morning on Monday deal the wahoo sale?
Yes.
Seems the @recon twitter account is gone (or I’m going mad)
Wow, you’re right. It appears totally gone. Don’t find any record of old tweets under a newly named account, nor does my following show it named as something else. Poof.
Basis still has a Twitter account.
Randomly out of interest I pinged one of their pro-triathletes – he was under the impression they were BAU.
More soon on this from me. But yeah, they’re dead.
Killed off their Facebook presence also.
Ray
The alaskaman was a lot of fun, the swim was not all the bad but I had my longest t1 trying to get my arm warmers on as I couldn’t close my hands enough.
The longest part was the hike up the mountain twice
Fun times for sure.
Chris
Hi Ray,
Power2Max have some fairly big discounts on their type S line at the moment.
Ray – Fly6 or Garmin Varia?
I like the price point and the camera feature of the Fly6 is nice but it’s not a deal sealer for me… I feel like the radar feature of the Garmin unit is far more useful. Thoughts?
If you live in the city, I’d go Fly6, if you live more in the country (or plan to ride there), I’d go Garmin Radar.
For me, the radar is totally useless in the city (just too much traffic), whereas it’s at its best out on the countryside.
Did the podcast ever get posted? I still can’t find it..