Heads up! Here’s your massive list of sports tech deals! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $429, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium for $735, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, (or Hero 13 bundle for $339!) 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.
Hope you find the V800 and it’s in the giveaway basket, I like to go for it :-)
Ordered another Polar already, but delivery will be somewhere in Oct 2018 (have I been told..)
May i ask where you ordered your Vantage from? I can’t see where to order one from
Yes, be a good fellow reader and share Vantage pre-order link with the rest of the community!
Don’t buy a V800. There’s a replacement being replaced soon. That watch is 3 years old at this point.
There is no link, it’s a friend-to-friend thing…
I hope for a Garmin 945 musoc prototype too ;-)
Excellent.
Rhooooo, my favorite DCR time of the year!!
Looking forward to it!
As we also live in the same city now, looking forward for the next DCR open house/cave/office :)
Yeahhh DCR !!!
I’m waiting with impatience
Looking forward to this!
Yay!
Looking like a sleepless night then. Mind you with next doors 2yr old crying through the walls there wont be much difference ;-)
Please me too
woot!
me too
Nice to choose a somewhat major religious holiday to do the giveaway on…just saying. Decent amount of people might not have decent access to a computer….#justsaying
There’s always something. My specific thought process:
Sept 10th – The first free weekday on the calendar
Sept 11th – Not a day to tie something to
Sept 12th – Apple event and other launch
Sept 13th – Something else
Sept 12-Sept 21st – I’m travelling in the states for Interbike and other events, I simply don’t have the energy/connectivity to do a giveaway while travelling or in long meetings
Sept 17-20th – Interbike announcements
So otherwise, it would have held till at least Sept 24th. At which point, they’re other stuff on the radar.
Yea Ray, how dare you decide to giveaway stuff on a holiday!
I’m going to need you to reschedule your giveaway for a day I’m available.. Mmmkay!
Thanks!
I’m curious, what holiday it is? Nothing is happening where I am…
Rosh Hashanah i believe.
It’s a Jewish holiday called Rosh Hashana, which marks the beginning of the religious year. It’s a solemn event, and one of the major holidays on the Jewish calendar.
Correct – this is also Jewish holiday that many jews who aren’t that religious celebrate, and attend religious services. Even if your denomination doesn’t ban usage of a phone on the holiday, it’s highly inappropriate to whip out your phone in temple.
Ok thank you everyone, had no idea…
It would be akin to doing the giveaway on Easter or Christmas.
I’m not saying I need to be available for the giveaway, if it makes you feel better, I’ll abstain from entering but I did go back and look at the last few years and the event was previously in August and June.
I’m not all that religious but I am in Temple and with family on that day as many Jews around the world are.
I have no doubt about Ray’s intent, and it was certainly not my intention to troll or start a culture war. I also understand that Ray has to fit this into his schedule. I just wish a different day could have been picked.
So what you’re saying is this goy’s odds of winning have increased? ;-) Shanah tovah!!
That’s why they put bathroom stalls in temple. Every 2hours, excuse yourself. Your rabbi will understand.
With the right timing a 5 minute break every 4 hours is enough to enter in two give always – that is my night plan anyway ;-)
Yeah, I won’t be able to enter this year, so everyone else’s odds of winning just went up! ;-) With Ray’s crazy schedule, and all the Jewish holidays over the next month, eh, he would have had to wait until October. Them’s the breaks. There’s no crying in baseball. It is what it is.
Jewish New Year’s resolution: win one of the giveaways!
Time to Snuggie-up!
I’m starting tonight to wake up every 2 hours.
Giveaway extravaganza needs appropriate training!! :)
Note to self – do not click “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail”.
Haha…if I do each post right, that option won’t even appear. :)
I made the mistake once on a post that mentioned both Garmin and strava in the title – back in the day when that was like throwing food into a piranha tank! Always thought twice since then!!
Here’s hoping for one of the items to be the complete Wahoo Pain Cave package: Kickr 2018, Climb, headwind fan :)
I am sorry to say so, but Free Giveaway Extravaganza posting is not called Free Giveaway Extravaganza with one day only.
You lost me pal. There are more accurate and methodical ways to do so.
I even made a tool that is free and does what the Free Giveaway Extravaganza does. Compares gifts and shows differences between Extravaganzas even (declination)
Just a tip: Even if you run with 3 gifts of the same units you would have different results most of the times.
For that you need to repeat the giveaways and prove that a devices gift quality is consistent and not just a days celebration.
I am sorry if I offended you by my comment but I first expected something more concrete from you. Been a fan since 2015.
I have read all your reviews. But this one is not Free Giveaway Extravaganza testing.
The reviews are more close to what you call Free Giveaway salivating. Not this post man. Not this post.
BTW there is a nice Free Giveaway Extravaganza tool to show how many Giveaways were or will be available in your future giveaways.
Depending on this you can at least predict or “know” at what conditions the Giveaways will be performed.
What I mean:
On a good day and time that a lot of Giveaways Extravaganzas are available it must be easy for most, like perhaps your historical Giveaways and gifts that you mention.
On a bad day it shows which Giveaway Extravaganza is superior when less Giveaways are visible.
Check it out.
I am here to help perhaps “upgrade” your Giveaway Extravaganza procedures.
:)
I see what you did there! :-)
:) at least someone did
*slow clap*
Well-played.
Agree, slow clap is warranted.
Perhaps said tool can also include a calendar next time.
That is really funny.
Got to side with my fellow members of the tribe on this one, Ray. Your site, your choice, of course. Not to mention that this act of generosity is not one you have to do at all. But choosing Monday it does mean that a decent chunk of your faithful readers won’t be able to participate. (This would be true on Sept. 11 too for the more observant people as Rosh Hashanah is observed two days by Conservative and Orthodox Jews, but that group is far smaller than the group that cannot participate on Monday.) Not sure, of course, what you have going on in late September, but it would IMHO be a better choice to move it.
I’m gonna join the group with people that think monday is a horrible day for working people for this event. Having said that, since it’s the same day as my birthday, maybe I’ll finally win something this time ;)
Are there any D 850’s in the giveaway? Used is no problem. :.>
It is really hard to digest the notion that there are people complaining about the date.
Imagine the date was some crucial day for your religion — say, Easter. Also imagine that as part of your holiday you were forbidden from using your computer. It might bug you a little that you couldn’t participate, no?
Imagine if it gets moved to observe one religion and then fell on a day when you couldn’t participate. How is that fair either? No matter what day it is it will be inconvient for someone.
Find a friend to register you if the opportunity to receive a material possession for free is that important.
Then go check to see what your faith says about coveting material things I guess……
Geez…..
Twice a year, year after year he finds a way to give back to readers and supporters and asks nothing in return and just because a religion you made a personal choice to belong to conflicts this is suddenly a problem?
I know everything I’m writing is sounding challenging and offputting and I do not mean it to come across as an attack even though it probably does….but wow
Life sucks for everyone at times. I’m happy there is even an opportunity for this at all.
Ray:
Thank you very much for doing this! I have never won, but I so enjoy thinking about new toys and the possibility of free new toys is always great.
John
Nooooooooooo! It’s Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). Sadly I won’t be able to participate this year. Next time :)
And here we go again with 12 alarms set to go off on Monday.
I tell people to go to your site because it’s the best.
I know they don’t go to it every day.
I’m not going to tell them about the extravaganza to improve my odds.
It may make me a bad person.
I can live with that.
On this day, there are no other people. There are no friends. There is only me and… them! Foes! Enemies!
(Everything is fine, that’s just me preparing myself mentally. My doc told me that would help on the “giveaway extravaganza day”. He even has a name for this: GESD… The red pill helps too… MAN, I NEED TO WIN THIS!)
Well crap. Picked a bad day to fly across the US. But will login mid-flight I guess…extra points/entries for that? :-)
Never have I waited Monday this much
sitting back
crossing my fingers this time
thank you for what you do. I’ve been a follower since the very beginning.
Dislike the date and my inability to enter for free stuff on a very holy day :(
I really should make DCR my homepage again, I almost missed this! Thanks for all your work in setting this up (and for everything else DCR-related, of course) :)
Glad to see this now (and test a posting and find out my cookie-settings prevented me from posting) :)
Thanks for all your hard work setting this up, and for the site in general!
I’m still looking to repeat (won a Polar RCX5 in 2007)!
crossing fingers :D
I use a fake email in comments form, and don’t do twitter.
I’m sure I will win.
Can you text me?
great news ! will be joining the fun for sure
I am in!
wow, must set alarm for this time :)
Can’t wait!
Hmm, to be functional at work, or to have a chance at winning some sweet stuff? Monday’s are a write off anyways, right? ;)
one more time in the barre, fingers crossed.
Once again, I forgot to buy random.org!!! :)
Thanks again for all you do, Ray!
So do I just comment or do I need to somehow sigh in. Apparently I’m too dumb to figure it out! This is more of a test than anything. I already get the newsletter.
I guess that worked! Whoop whoop.
Amen.
Thanks for running the contest Ray!
Looks like fun
Testing
Great! Will set an alarm clock for the start :-)
Sure, while I am away on vacation.
Is Cleaver Training carrying pizza ovens yet? Could be a win-win ;-)
Haha…no, but Amazon is. ;)
Well time to obsess over another contest.
I can’t wait! Happy giveaway day for everyone!
If you wanna do the next one on Christmas it’s fine with me…
I can’t wait. Never knew you did this in the past
i cant wait :-)
Looking forward to this contest!
I think it’s a great option to target a major holiday. Less competition!!
I stupidly missed this last year but it’s in my diary this time!
Looking forward to this
Happy Panda!
Woohoo! Traveling in China so it makes the time zone management a bit easier.
Ray thanks picking 9/10 it’s my bday so I automatically win right? Haha, this really is the best 24 hours, so much fun. Thanks for all you do!
This year maybe…
:-)
Can’t wait planning to sleep for 2 hours, enter a giveaway, go to sleep again, enter the giveaway, etc.
Can’t wait!
Just testing the comment flow…
Testing 1,2,3. Is this comment machine on?
Yes ,
Count me in!
Thank you for doing this, Ray. You’ve been kind time and again. You rock.
P.S. I can’t believe people can actually complain about the date. The giveaway is FREE. And it’s a FREE world!
SpaceX rocket launch window starts at the same time, so I can stream that on my desktop while riding Zwift on one phone and posting comments/checking Twitter on my other phone. Popping a caffeine pill now! ?
I can’t wait to see what you have to give away! It’s going to be a long day at work tomorrow with all these alarms I have set in the early morning hours. It reminds me of the first few weeks and months of my newborn babies! Good luck to all and thanks for the hard work Ray!
Is it Monday yet?
One of the reader, who hopes to win ))
Alright… another Annual DC Rainmaker Giveaway Extravaganza!
That is a nice watch. I would like to have it.
I bet I don’t win.
Ok let’s get started!
Oh yes indeed! Watch is sweet
Greetings from Cyprus!
Yes its that time of the year!!!
Just woke up
Am I too early or too late? Need a watch
You’re right on time – just be sure to comment on the giveaway page for each product, not this one here. :)
Am I too late?
I want it!
Thanks Ray!
I want it too :-)
nie ma miłości.
;-)
Let’s do this! I’m in!
Yes, yes, YES!!!!
I would love to this Suunto
Hoping I win something this year.
I want it all! ;)
Nice
Well, this seemed to be a boring Monday. Not anymore.
Yes please
“Τάχιστον νους, δια παντός γαρ τρέχει”=Mind is the fastest, cause it always runs
(Thales of Miletus)
Would love to win for 1st time!
Would love to win ?
Wish me luck….
This is GGGGGGGREAT!!!
Lets have it already