The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter and Facebook, this is a better forum for sending it on to y’all. Most times these different streams don’t overlap, so be on the lookout at all these places for good stuff!
So with that, let’s get into the action!
Sports Tech Deals:
There’s a number of strong sports tech deals out there right now, primarily tied to Garmin’s ‘Birthday’. Which, is also phrased as ‘Right, Fitbit, Apple, and everyone else have just released devices, let’s steal some sales. I mean yes, Birthday. Either way, money savings for you.
This is the go-to sale price for the Fitbit Charge 6. It happens often, but it still doesn't take away from the fast that it's argueably the best bang for your buck fitness tracker out there.
This is a good deal, especially since it's gotten virtually all of the Edge 1050 updates, and then a boatload more. That said, it wouldn't surprise me to see this drop further to $449, as it did this past summer.
⚡⚡This is the lowest price we've seen on the Garmin Edge 540 to date, which has gained virtually all of the new Garmin Edge 1050 features as well. This is kinda an insane deal for this unit.
⚡⚡This is the lowest price we've seen on the Garmin Edge 840 to date, which has gained virtually all of the new Garmin Edge 1050 features as well. This is one of my main units I use daily.
⚡ This is the lowest price to date for the Garmin Epix Pro series, likely due to the Fenix 8 coming out a few months back (Epix as a brand was merged into the Fenix 8 branding). Still, if you don't care about diving or voice bits, this is an incredible deal.
⚡⚡⚡ This is a crazy super strong deal. Note the Epix received all of the software updates of the Epix Pro. This deal keeps floating between $399 and $429 - frankly, at either price it's an awesome deal.
⚡ This is the lowest price to date for the Garmin Fenix 7 Pro series, likely due to the Fenix 8 coming out a few months back. Still, if you don't care about diving or voice bits, this is an incredible deal.
This is the first time we've head a meaningful sale on the Forerunner 165, released earlier this year, down to $249 for the Music edition, and $199 for the non-music edition.
This is Garmin's mid-tier running watch, and is a very polished option with good multi-band GPS, and of course, a boatload of running metrics. This model also includes offline music such as Spotify and Amazon Music.
This is one of Garmin's most popular running watches, and it's down to a very strong price. I often use this in my accuracy testing comparisons when validating other watches, due to it's very strong GPS performance. Note this is the base edition without solar. It'd be hard to find any better deal in sports watches today, from any company (given this has full mapping, tons of new features even this week, etc...). I say '$100ish', because it's usually been on forever sale at $499, so $399 is a strong price, though, it dipped to $319 for Amazon Prime Day.
This is the lowest price we've seen ever on the Forerunner 965, since it's launch. It's still Garmin's top-end Forerunner watch, and I expect it to stay that way for a while. It's one I often use in comparative testing as a reference device.
This is a solid deal. Garmin Instinct 2X - $100 off!It's best thought of as an Instinct 2.5, as it has almost enough features to really be more of an Instinct 3 (which doesn't exist at this point).
This is the largest discount we've seen to date on the Tactix 7 Pro unit. Note the other Tactix 7 Pro units/variants are also on sale for 20% off too (this link takes you to all of them).
The new Hero 13 just came out, which mostly just adds a bunch of new accessory options. If you don't plan to purchase those accessories, then this is a solid deal.
This is a great deal for this tiny little thing, which should really be named the Go 4, given how many new features it has (including 4K). It also has all the Insta360 sport integration features with Garmin & Apple, to overlay your Garmin/Apple data automatically on your footage.
This is something I use frequently when shooting out and about and I need to re-charge a crapton of drone batteries, action cameras, or just cameras and such. I also use it on trips to Eurobike and elsewhere to keep equipment charged. I've even bought a solar panel to hook up to it (surprisingly effective). Heck, I've even powered a KICKR trainer ride from it!
I mean, I guess. Really, I don't see why anyone would buy this trainer at any price above $299. With the JetBlack Victory at $399 being more accurate, quiter, including WiFi, including Zwift Cog support (or mechanical cassette), including dual-Bluetooth, including Race Mode, and...one could go on and on.
This is the go-to sales price for the NEO 2T, though has become more frequent over the past year. It's still an incredible trainer, and is the top-end non-moving trainer from Garmin/Tacx.
This package includes the KICKR CORE with the Zwift V2 Cog, but notably now also includes the Zwift Play controllers. Basically, this saves you about $100 or so, and is the first time we've seen them bundle it.
⚡⚡ This is actually a very solid deal, and the first time we've seen this discounted. In fact, frankly, this is the first time in years it feels like Wahoo is actually doing a legit sale on something. Kudos.
This is lowest we've ever seen the KICKR SNAP priced. While the trend has moved towards wheel-off/direct drive trainers, this is still really solid deal if your budget it tight. That said, if you're in Europe, Decathlon has the D100 on sale for $199 also, and in my testing, I'd go with that almost every time.
DCRAINMAKER.COM Posts in the Past Week:
Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page this past week:
This past week was definitely the calm before the September storm. Hold on tight!
YouTube Video This Past Week:
Here’s what hit the tubes over on the You of Tube, definitely don’t forget to subscribe there to get notified of videos the second they hit! Note, this upcoming week would be a strong week to have that notification bell hit too…just sayin’.
Stuff I Found Interesting Around The Interwebs:
Here’s a not-so-small smattering of all the random things that I stumbled on while doing my civic duty to find the end of the Internet. Also, there’s a few things this week that were actually from a week or two ago – I’m just catching up on this list:
1) DesFit and I Go To the Alps to Review Watches: Actually, we went to the Alps for Eurobike. But we hiked/ran/rode nearly 30 hours worth in less than a week (plus squishing in two days at Eurobike). Des has his video up first, comparing the Fenix 6 to COROS Vertix 2, but it’s more of a VLOG style video – complete with dueling baguettes and plenty of fun behind-the-scenes tidbits. I’ve got a companion video between the Enduro & Vertix 2, plus a pile of other videos on other devices (announced and otherwise). In the meantime, enjoy this one:
3) When Building Plans Give Away Product Plans: Granted, there’s very little doubt Peloton is building a rower, it’s just a matter of when. As an aside though, as with Zwift rowing, I remain skeptical on how big that market really is (in the US especially) for people to own home equipment. Every time I do napkin math on it, it just doesn’t even come close to bikes and treadmills.
4) VanMoof becomes most funded e-bike company in the world: The company raised another $128M in its most recent round. No doubt it’ll continue to easily expand, though if Amsterdam bike paths (home to VanMoof) is any indication, then the competition is quickly catching on. I’ve seen a notable increase in share of other hip e-bike companies in the last 12 months among the younger crowd.
6) The FR310XT – 12 years ago: For fun, here’s the review I wrote on the FR310XT some 12 years ago this week. It’s interesting to see how things have shifted, and in some cases, where they haven’t. Either way, it’s crazy to think that little orange is 12 years old now. Doesn’t feel that long ago – but at least we don’t have to deal with the ANT Agent anymore!
Sports Tech Device Firmware Updates This Week:
Each week I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software, and website service updates that I see go out. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one-liners are perfect, or Tweet it at me is even better) and I’ll make mention of it here. If I don’t know about it, I won’t be able to post about it. Sound good? Oh – and if you want to get a head start on things, this page is a great resource for watching Garmin, Wahoo, Polar, and a few other firmware updates.
hey ray, some of your posts, (i think the ones with tech deal columns) show up very weirdly on my feedly reader. maybe i am the only one still using a blog reader?
Huh, you’re right. That does look like crap in Feedly. Let me dig into it in the morning with the developers. I suspect something it’s being closed correctly in the first column.
Hey Ray, any idea when a new Edge 1040 or whatever they’ll call out may get released? My 1030 battery is far from what it used to be but the 1030 Plus seems like not enough of an upgrade right now. 😕 Anxiously awaiting the opportunity to give Garmin more money! 😂
FYI, September is usually “New GoPro” month. The rumors show the usual upgrades (e.g. higher FPS at higher resolutions). You may want to hold off on GoPro 9 until the 10 is released just in case there is some feature you need.
Ray – It is awesome you got to go to the Alps but I am *very* envious! I’m heading to Sea Otter in October. I’m in SF so not a big effort to get there. :-) You expect a lot of stuff to be announced or was Eurobike the place for it? Or will US companies likely use Sea Otter to launch?
I don’t expect much to be released at Sea otter, unfortunately. And also, unfortunately, Eurobike wasn’t really the place for it either. Gonna be a mostly quiet remainder of the year.
Awe, 12 years old! I just moved big orange from my wife’s desk drawer to the retired Garmin box this morning. It still works and in many ways better than the Apple Watch she replaced it with.
Trying to decide between 945 and 945 LTE. Would jump at 945 if discounted! Have just seen a new 935 for 243euro though! Decisions decisions……. Still think I’ll hold for 945 sale
I’d be semi-surprised if we don’t see the FR945 on sale around Black Friday. Here’s (attached) the historical FR945 deals (mainly US, but that’s mainly where we’ve seen deals).
For anybody wanting a 310XT, $89.95 with free shipping. It’s a Garmin refurb.
Bands and charging clips also available. link to g.factoryoutletstore.com
With the 19.20 firmware, the Connect App gained a new sleep score “card”, providing detailed score on the several components of sleep score. Seems actually quite interesting. In my case, I started to see a pattern of bad deep sleep, which might mean I need to put aside my phone earlier :)
…still prefer ANT agent over a Garmin Express…
but due to protocol discrepancy, two laptops are a must.
One with ANT agent for 910XT and Tanita Scale.
Second with Express for Edge, 920XT, Drive, and guest devices upload…
started here with 310XT, because Ray’s review was more useful than reading the manual from Garmin.
Just like Ray, it was fun to record flying without a barometric altimeter (activity/51776686).
I agree that the indoor rower market is small, but there is a place for them. Nordic Track seems to be doing well with their rowers and the iFit app workouts, so maybe Peloton see some competition and market share they are missing out on.
Note, I am slightly biased here, but with the Concept 2 rowers being the gold standard around the world that is going to be who they want to beat. Now, the rower who want the Concept 2 erg and those that desire the Peloton experience may be different. I guess we will see
Hi, all the newest watches seem to have a recent update. The 55, 245, 745, 945 and fenix 6. For when the 945LTE will have a update too? Nothing since the 14 of july. You have some news about that?
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
You'll support the site, and get ad-free DCR! Plus, you'll be more awesome. Click above for all the details. Oh, and you can sign-up for the newsletter here!
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.
Want to compare the features of each product, down to the nitty-gritty? No problem, the product comparison data is constantly updated with new products and new features added to old products!
Wanna create comparison chart graphs just like I do for GPS, heart rate, power meters and more? No problem, here's the platform I use - you can too!
Think my written reviews are deep? You should check out my videos. I take things to a whole new level of interactive depth!
Smart Trainers Buyers Guide: Looking at a smart trainer this winter? I cover all the units to buy (and avoid) for indoor training. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
Check out
my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
Get all your awesome DC Rainmaker gear here!
FAQ’s
I have built an extensive list of my most frequently asked questions. Below are the most popular.
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.
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.
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!
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, some of your posts, (i think the ones with tech deal columns) show up very weirdly on my feedly reader. maybe i am the only one still using a blog reader?
thanks!
Huh, you’re right. That does look like crap in Feedly. Let me dig into it in the morning with the developers. I suspect something it’s being closed correctly in the first column.
Subscribe newsletter.
Surprised that there’s a big discount on the 745 but no discount on the 945 ?
Yeah, a little bit. Sometimes Garmin just mixes them up for the sake of mixing them up I think.
Garmin released Firmware 19.2 this week. A pretty substantial pile of improvements and features.
Hey Ray, any idea when a new Edge 1040 or whatever they’ll call out may get released? My 1030 battery is far from what it used to be but the 1030 Plus seems like not enough of an upgrade right now. 😕 Anxiously awaiting the opportunity to give Garmin more money! 😂
that will take at least a year, 1030+ is finally what the 1000 and 1030 should have been with the latest updates. It’s good.
In Italy the 1030+ is also part of the birthday sale at 459.99€
btw, when Ray doesn’t answer these questions sometimes means he already testing the device and he’s on embargo, so can’t reveal it :)
FYI, September is usually “New GoPro” month. The rumors show the usual upgrades (e.g. higher FPS at higher resolutions). You may want to hold off on GoPro 9 until the 10 is released just in case there is some feature you need.
Ray – It is awesome you got to go to the Alps but I am *very* envious! I’m heading to Sea Otter in October. I’m in SF so not a big effort to get there. :-) You expect a lot of stuff to be announced or was Eurobike the place for it? Or will US companies likely use Sea Otter to launch?
I don’t expect much to be released at Sea otter, unfortunately. And also, unfortunately, Eurobike wasn’t really the place for it either. Gonna be a mostly quiet remainder of the year.
Awe, 12 years old! I just moved big orange from my wife’s desk drawer to the retired Garmin box this morning. It still works and in many ways better than the Apple Watch she replaced it with.
Indeed, it’s still a machine when it comes to workouts (assuming of course, the ANT Agent is feeling up to the task that day…).
Hi Ray,
Have you gotten hold of the Fuego 1.0 trainer just released with crazy claims compared to the price of the unit?
No, not yet.
Trying to decide between 945 and 945 LTE. Would jump at 945 if discounted! Have just seen a new 935 for 243euro though! Decisions decisions……. Still think I’ll hold for 945 sale
I’d be semi-surprised if we don’t see the FR945 on sale around Black Friday. Here’s (attached) the historical FR945 deals (mainly US, but that’s mainly where we’ve seen deals).
For anybody wanting a 310XT, $89.95 with free shipping. It’s a Garmin refurb.
Bands and charging clips also available.
link to g.factoryoutletstore.com
Does it support Connect IQ?
Sadly not.
With the 19.20 firmware, the Connect App gained a new sleep score “card”, providing detailed score on the several components of sleep score. Seems actually quite interesting. In my case, I started to see a pattern of bad deep sleep, which might mean I need to put aside my phone earlier :)
…still prefer ANT agent over a Garmin Express…
but due to protocol discrepancy, two laptops are a must.
One with ANT agent for 910XT and Tanita Scale.
Second with Express for Edge, 920XT, Drive, and guest devices upload…
started here with 310XT, because Ray’s review was more useful than reading the manual from Garmin.
Just like Ray, it was fun to record flying without a barometric altimeter (activity/51776686).
Ray, loving your work as always. How would you compare the Garmin 935 and 745? Good deals on both in the UK – £220 for 935 and £300 for 745. Thanks
I agree that the indoor rower market is small, but there is a place for them. Nordic Track seems to be doing well with their rowers and the iFit app workouts, so maybe Peloton see some competition and market share they are missing out on.
Note, I am slightly biased here, but with the Concept 2 rowers being the gold standard around the world that is going to be who they want to beat. Now, the rower who want the Concept 2 erg and those that desire the Peloton experience may be different. I guess we will see
Hi, all the newest watches seem to have a recent update. The 55, 245, 745, 945 and fenix 6. For when the 945LTE will have a update too? Nothing since the 14 of july. You have some news about that?