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!
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
Hey Ray, thanks again for your work. As I already asked in terms of the Garmin Enduro how does the Vertix behave concerning the calculation of the current running pace during a run on a road/ path with trees alongside. Garmin has ever since the lauch of the Fenix Watches the problem, that current pace suddenly drops down 30 sec and more once entering an area with trees alongside. Suunto 9 Baro does a perfect job in this matter maybe due to its addional fused speed etc. What can yo honestly tell here about the vertix 2? Thx a lot in advance.
I didn’t see pacing as an issue for me, including on paths with trees. But then again, I don’t tend to see the issue you describe on Garmin watches either. :-/
I’d appreciate a test of this as I think it is an excellent question. I’d love to see more reviews evaluating current pace during various activities. I have a Grit X and instant pace isn’t really usable due to fluctuation. I’ve assumed all watches with the Sony GNSS chip have the same issue but perhaps Suunto does a better job by utilizing the Fuse speed? And then what about non Sony Vertix 2?
This is a very interesting question to me too! I have the same problems with pacing here in my hilly area and it would be great if Coros could make a remarkable difference. What I think: If Coros could make power from the wrist nearly as accurate as a Stryde sensor, why not for pace? So: New chipset, dual frequency GPS-mode and reliable power algorithms MUST bring pacing to a new standard, isn’t it?
Wow, they really hard at work at Coros.
If they also work on custom watch face support and some form of watch payment platform say via partnership with Paypal or Masterpass, they could take serious market share away from Garmin.
Great review as usual. One thing I always want in a watch is to know the screens available when running races. My Fenix will show just exact pace, or pace plus distance etc. When I upgrade, I need a watch that will also do that, so I would appreciate it if you always added that to your reviews.
Thanks. I try and include the data fields in most of my reviews, though these days the available list of data fields is massive. Pace/distance/etc are on virtually every watch. Where we tend to see differences is things like cycling metrics such as normalized power, TSS, IF, etc…
Why Vertix 2 not present on FCCID ?
I don’t believe it has to be present until they start shipping.
Is it me or does the screen seem pretty dim?
It is a little bit dim, but it’s a little bit due to the fact that much of the video focuses on the menu system, and as a result is in the portions of the watch that are white text on black background. Whereas normal sport sections are black text on white background.
I think it is because of the sapphire glass! I have a F6S with sapphire and a F6X with gorilla glass. The difference between the sharpness and readability of the screens is huge. The higher scratch resistance of the sapphire must be bought by much less eye-friendly conditions of this material.
Garmin watches have the ability to adjust the backlight. Even on an old Fenix3 the sapphire is no issue since the backlight can be adjusted if necessary. Sure it affects the battery life, but having the option doesn’t affect the battery. But sapphire is Coros’ go to reason for it being difficult, rather than the limitation forced by their lockdown.
Thanks for the review, zooming in and out of the maps seems to be a bit slow on your video (at least it’s not instant from what i can see, there is a short lag between the button press and the result).
Can you confirm ?
Thanks; Pascal
Correct, it’s a little bit laggy in real-life across all geographies I’ve tried. That said, it’s roughly on-par with the lag you’d see in a Garmin Fenix or such.
I generally didn’t find the zooming/panning much of a problem in real-life, since you tend to rarely do that unless either actively lost or trying to go off-route. The main issue I discussed in my main review was the extra rotational bits, where it would take 6-8 seconds if running and raising your wrist, before the map would stabilize to your actual heading (and would rotate in circles till then). COROS says they’re working to fix that.
Hey Ray, thanks for this! Do you know if there are any plans for the widgets to make their way to the PACE 2?