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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.
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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!
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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.
Thanks Ray,
I’m developing an app to connect to trainers and sensors and I’d really would like to integrate to Garmin’s cycling/running dynamics data via BLE or ANT+. Are they releasing a new API?
Please contact me if you have any details.
Ant Wireless and the Ant+ Alliance have just released profiles for HR Running Dynamics (the HR straps like HR-Tri and HR-Run) and Running Dynamics (the RD pod): link to thisisant.com
Ant+ profiles for various cycling related profiles are also available on thisisant.com.
As noted, ANT+ has already released the running dynamics related updates earlier this year, linked above – or here’s a piece i wrote about it: link to dcrainmaker.com
Meanwhile, Cycling Dynamics was ‘released’ by Garmin to the Power Meter TWG (Technical Working Group), but it’s up to individual power meter companies to agree upon it and adopt it.
Hi. Good bye oxygen measurement (moxy, oxy4, bsx…)? Thanks.
I don’t think it’s dead per se, but I think without BSX pushing it along (despite the fact that Moxy did most of the leg-work from an ANT+ standpoint), it’s going to significantly slow adoption.
Though, the good news is core devices like Wahoo’s as well as Garmin’s either natively or via Connect IQ do support it – so that will keep it alive for a while.
Heart rate:
– Why no better integration of devices with recovery type HRV analysis? With ithlete, HRV4Training, etc Seems like with tracking style devices they would make it easier to take a measurement and do the tracking.
– You mention all the extra metrics on devices but how about post analysis? Seems like only one company uses HRV to do any post analysis work. Firstbeat killed off their Athlete product but they still have their high end product which is expensive enough to need to email them for a quote. Where are the competitors? LifeQ seems very quiet
For advanced power metrics:
– How good are the power meters at collecting the data? Your reviews only check power accuracy.
– Torque effectiveness and pedal smoothness only looks at power that is useful at moving forward. That seems like a limitation from being able to also show the force on the pedal that doesn’t help move you forward. (I think Pioneer and Powertap’s P1 pedals are the only power meter that do that)
– Are there any changes to the device profile to add more data that can be collected? (I know there are lots of issues with power meters working with headsets correctly over BLE but seems like BLE has more advanced metrics data like vectors on pedal strokes)
Video:
– Microsoft hyperlapse has been out for awhile now. Is anyone else doing that type of video smoothing for quickening up videos?
Muscle oxygen? Is this going to go anywhere? BSX is dead and moxy is still on their version 1 product at the same high cost. (Somehow the Fenix 5 is a muscle oxygen sensor link to thisisant.com )
Also as other future possibilities, any AI based training? By AI I mean some automated training based on what the user is actually doing impacting training plans. Seems like with everyone uploading all their exercise sessions someone would be trying to train a neural network and figure out what training methods work the best so so create personalized training plans that way.
All I’ve seen so far is link to xertonline.com for the bike with the way it uses power to calculate what your body can do to push you hard but doesn’t really plan what workouts to do (link to dcrainmaker.com) and a run training app I’ve never tried link to trainasone.com what says it figures out what workouts you should do but don’t vary during a workout.
Firstbeat SPORTS Individual Software is still available for $800 for a lifetime license; supports up to two (2) athletes. Could be worthwhile, if only they supported bike data (power), and had maOS and/or iOS version.
Really great overview, from high end/elite athletes to lower end/fitness types! Kind of amazed you got through it all without mention of Apple (except their product cycle), of course, they don’t do Ant+ (which really is too bad), and some might say they really don’t do fitness/sports very well.
Yeah, I didn’t actually touch too much one specific products in this presentation – but rather – more on trends and such. So while I may not have called out Apple Watch per se, there’s lots of inferences to it throughout the entire presentation.
hi Ray,
haven you spoken with / will you speak with the polar team about how they see their future on cycling related devices?!
I appreciate the presentation (viewed the Youtube video)! A nice overview of the interaction between tehnological advances and the consumers needs. I was a bit surprised that the majority of visitors of this website isn’t the prosumers, who are heavy into running, cycling, triathlon etc. In my circle (collegues, family) only those know this website. I presumed that for most of them the information provided in the in-depth reviews was to much.
I think part of it is the power of search (Google). I write just as often about low-end/mid-range devices, and do so in a way that ranks highly on search. Since more of those devices are bought than high-end devices, by extension I see more visitors there. However, those visitors don’t tend to be as ‘sticky’ as higher end unit visitors. If that makes sense…
Legend. Thanks for providing that distilled insight n’ trying to influence the companies to make better ‘cool shit’. Massive props.
Ray – Really interesting. A couple of questions about the collaboration between devices and user websites and also the better HR monitoring. First, I continue to be disappointed that I cannot get anaerobic calorie expenditures for my Fenix 3HR – is that available on another website that I can export my heartrate data to? Secondly, are the improvements in optical heart rate mainly do to sensors or to the software? I am wondering if my Optical HR measurements on my F3HR have kept up, or if I need improved sensors? Thanks again for all that you do!
It is good that after a cycling power meters, running dynamics came to the point where power is being measured as well. But I am more curious about power measurement at swimming…
On bike and run the environmental factors have huge impact on performance, wheres at pool swimming all environmental factors are constant (water density, temperature +/- 1C, no wind, no elevation, etc.). That’s why measuring power makes more sense. Measuring torque, to be precise…
What do you want to know? How strong are you, or how long can you keep your strength?
In a bench press if you lift 150kg 6 times, you are a king. The guy next to you lifts 50kg 30 times during a same amount of time.
He moved 1,5 tons, while you just 900kg, what means that his power is more then 1,5 times bigger then yours, even if you thought you are stronger…
That’s why in cycling when calculating power, the cadence is a key factor. As well as ground contact time and stride length in running.
Garmin has initiated some indicators on swimming efficiency with their SWOLF at Connect, but without the power meter portion. SWOLF is just taking into calculation the number of strokes per length and the time for that length…So I am looking forward to read a test about those, here on dcrainmaker.
And I hope it will be compatible with 920XT and not limited to Connect IQ 2.4!!!
One more thing on running power…very educational documentary, how perfect conditions doesn’t meet calculated expectations.(link to is.gd). Even if the result was an enormous achievement…
Pretty amazing timing that TomTom is on the way out and Garmin introduces an watch with music capabilities .
Can’t wait to read your review on the new garmin watches.
Wonder what device will use the new chipset for gps from broadcom. BCM47755
link to insidegnss.com
link to broadcom.com
(Garmin tends to use MediaTek)
I assume at 18:30 you meant Garmin and Wahoo, not Garmin and GoPro?
Yup.