Heads up! Here’s your massive list of sports tech deals! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $449, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium for $735, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, and plenty more! Go check out the full list here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
Here’s how to save!
Wanna save some cash and support the site? These companies help support the site! With Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with either the coupon code DCRAINMAKER for first time users saving 15% on applicable products.
You can also pick-up tons of gear at REI via these links, which is a long-time supporter as well:
Alternatively, for everything else on the planet, simply buy your goods from Amazon via the link below and I get a tiny bit back as an Amazon Associate. No cost to you, easy as pie!
You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.
-
Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
-
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!
3
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.
4
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.
not running on the 6s “The app requires specific features not available on this device” :(
I’m guessing it needs the dual camera … 7 and above ?
iOS 11 is probably the upgrade you need for this app.
Yup, correct. No need for the dual camera piece (I just used a regular iPhone 7), but you do need iOS 11.
it’s running ios11
odd – restarted the app store and error message seems to have gone ?
Odd, that’s on the compatible list:
iPhone 6s and 6s Plus
iPhone 7 and 7 Plus
iPhone SE
iPad Pro (9.7, 10.5 or 12.9) – both first-gen and 2nd-gen
iPad (2017)
iPhone 8 and 8 Plus
iPhone X
:/
yep – must have been the app store having a “moment”
anyway – just crashes out when I connect account to strava –
oh well
Admire your ability to shoot such a decent video at a random Starbucks!
Not to dis on Ray’s mad camera skillz or anything, but the video image stabilization in the most recent crop of iPhones is amazingly good, especially considering how tiny the hardware has to be.
Painfully funny fact: That was actually the third time I shot that video – fourth if you count another one I did sans-audio in Amsterdam.
1) Initial video/photos shot in Amsterdam Starbucks last weekend – but didn’t narrate video, so decided against it. Used photos for this post.
2) Shot another video in Vegas Starbucks early yesterday morning, but audio came out like crap. Decided against it.
3) Shot another video in parking lot of a closed Dairy Queen using the hood of my rental car as my table. Audio came out great, but video was a bit fuzzy. Discarded it.
4) Went back to Starbucks this morning. Still cropped half my head off, but gave up on caring and went with it. :)
DAMN YOU ANDROID!!!!!!!!
Total insta-buy!
I’m hoping this will show the steep, punchy, terribly non-flat farm roads (10 to 20+% grades) around here.
Pretty neat! It … umm… could use a little help, though. Several times my map on-screen puts me in the middle of dirt and I have to manage to either one-finger or two-finger move around to re-establish my POV. Then if I decide I want to pinch-to-zoom at all, it resets itself in the middle of dirt again and resets the zoom level. I can also just walk closer or further away to zoom in or out, but usually wish to zoom in more for close looks than walking would allow. Like Ray alluded, it’s more of a novelty. I may take a look at more epic activities as I complete them, but that’s about it.
You really don’t want a link like that now that iTunes 12.7 is out. iTunes no longer does iOS applications, so Safari and iTunes on macOS traded the hot potato back and forth, neither knowing what to do I’m reminded again of why Apple’s address is 1 Infinite Loop. Tried to order on my iPhone 6 running iOS 11 and it wouldn’t let me. We have a few iPads that it might permit, including my daughter’s iPad Pro. (Their toys get more expensive with time.)
Here’s hoping that they realize there are seasons. I really hate looking at a cross country ski track displayed on a summer forest.
The pre-defined rides work on my 6s but the app crashes when I try to use my own Strava rides :-(
My Strava rides/runs don’t seem to have 3D terrain, just a flat satellite map (live in England). Has anyone else got this? The demos work fine…
Yeah, mine too – I don’t know if it’s just because the geography doesn’t have any extremes (i.e. mountains) so it just looks relatively flat (even though it doesn’t feel it when I’m cycling!).
Bit disappointed really, not as immersive as I was hoping for without any Alpe d’Huez-style rides under by belt. I wonder if it does Zwift rides?
Plus, for some reason it only shows the first 7 activities I ever logged on Strava, none of which were particularly exciting.
I’m not even convinced that this app will get much in the way of updates, it’s really just a very simple AR demo that’s been developed to be part of the ARKit early goldrush. Not that I blame the developers at all, good luck to them.
If only it was ok to use with a VR/headset? That’s the future!
Got to be honest, when I saw the title, I expected some kind of KoM virtual partner to display on a device like Garmin’s Varia Vision.
I could be climbing a hill, and see a Mario Kart style ghost riding a few metres ahead of me. That would be cool!
Can’t download tha app into a 6+ running iOS11. Keeps giving the error “The app requires specific features not available on this device”
I’ve rebooted the phone to see if that helps, but it did not. Weird.
Oh, OK just realized 6 and 6+ are not compatible. My mistake!
Your definition of augmented reality is not true. You described a smart video generator. The definition is in the phrase: augmented *reality* as in real, not recorded one. Such technology, seen in iron man’s movies, is existed in pilots helmets only. Beeing accurate is the most important thing to me, I really thought go gonna tell about a company that manage to deliver a true augmented reality experience, but got dissapointed.
I’d argue that this is AR, not the 3D rendition of the ride itself (VR), but the way it maps that onto a table or other object. Not exactly exploiting AR to the full, but AR nonetheless.
Indeed, as Neil says this is AR, just not VR. A lot of folks get those two mixed up. Just like people often mix up 360* with VR. There are layers of each technology, but this is as pure a definition of AR as you get.
What do you use to record what’s on your phone screen?
iOS11 now does it natively. You can enable it under Control Center > Customize Controls > Screen Recording. Then just swipe up and hit the dot looking icon.
One tip is to ensure you turn on the ability to record sound if you want it (by default it doesn’t), though I can’t remember off-hand where the heck that setting is.
Thanks!