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!
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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!
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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.
I do not own a Pioneer product, but I am very impressed by the user community with the way they are helping each other out.
Thank you to those awesome people! Oh, and Ray of course for talking about it :)
I come here for your insight, but your followers are the best.
Just discovered some info on the Shimano new web service – Due to launch 6/29
info is here: link to bike.shimano.com
Indeed, looking forward to poking at it tomorrow.
Q – got a 2nd hand Pioneer PM few months back. Never downloaded the software, and no head unit.
That still works – getting data on Garmin 520 etc. and on Strava/Garmin no problems…
How would I update or check firmware for PM though? That is no longer a possibility? Or a back-end way to do that?
Hey Conza, you could try emailing Pioneer directly. I originally did the same as you in 2017 buying a Gen 2 PM without a head unit. After I enquired with Pioneer Australia, they sent me a PC app embedded with the latest firmware at the time (now old). I used my PC with an ANT+ USB key to update the PM. Perhaps Pioneer can still provide this for your PM model. Cheers, Ben.
Hey Conza, you could try emailing Pioneer directly. I originally did the same as you in 2017 buying a Gen 2 PM without a head unit. After I enquired with Pioneer via cycle-sports@pioneer-usa.com. They sent me a PC app embedded with the latest firmware at the time (now old). I used my PC with an ANT+ USB key to update the PM. Perhaps Pioneer can still provide this for your PM model. Cheers, Ben.
Oooof, will do. Thanks Benjamin!
Low expectations, given they’re now Shimano? I guess?
I started the transfer process from cyclo-sphere this morning and got as far as logging into the shimano site before I got stuck. Let me know if you get past this step and what the trick is…
Yeah, I’ve been working through it this morning (now, afternoon). I got further than you, but it takes hours for any uploads to show up (still waiting actually for some new ones I uploaded).
Got the same error. Now I will try to delete my Shimano account at make a new one. Will see if that works…….
After several tries it worked. I think Shimano may have just put a new user interface on cyclo-sphere. Notice the “waiting for cyclo-sphere” message at the bottom of the page when uploading/analyzing workout files…
Yup, full post is up on it: link to dcrainmaker.com
There’s a quick look at things, for those that can’t get it to work (which, is about everyone).
Unfortunately, I have been unable to transfer FIT files off my CA600 to an Apple Mac using a USB cable. The computer doesn’t recognize the Pioneer computer. It seems the only way to upload FIT files via USB might be through a PC. Never worried about this in the past because everything uploaded via WiFi or the Control App on my phone. This Pioneer/Shimano fiasco is a real PITA. So many little features aren’t functioning properly anymore. I might have to jump ship to a Wahoo computer just to keep the pedaling metrics alive, but really I hope Shimano can come up with some sort of firmware update soon to maybe remedy some of these problems. If not, thanks for wasting my time and money, Pioneer!!
I tried to create the FIT file (I think I was successful at that step), but when I connect the CA600 to a computer nothing happens. I can’t access the file system and download the FIT file (or anything else). How did you guys get that to work? I tried several PCs running windows 10
I recently bought a bike off of a friend with a Pioneer power meter. She also gave me the head unit which I love but I have tried so many things (including what is posted) but can’t even get the data to my MAC computer (ie. it’s like my computer wont even find my Pioneer head unit). I also tried the Shimano and Cycling Metrics to see if that would help but again cant even get the FIT file I created on the head unit onto my computer….. I see others had the same issue.
Any recommendations?
Also, I do have an old Garmin 920XT – is that simply a better option than fighting with this?
Or what computer would work best with my Pioneer Crank as I know it can get a lot of data and I am sad cause so far I think the data I see on the head unit is super cool.
I appreciate any genius insight!