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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.
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!
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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.
This is the exact reason that most serious athletes use a Garmin watch over the Apple Watch. It’s a mess to use in situations like this. Scrolling the crown to unlock is painful, time-consuming, and cumbersome. And, once you get it unlocked, the screen doesn’t respond if your finger is wet (or the screen), which tends to happen WHEN YOU GET OUT OF THE WATER in a triathlon. I’m hoping this rumored “Pro” Apple Watch will address this. Garmin addresses this with physical buttons. If Apple added one more button, I think the functionality would be increased by so much more.
Yup, generally agree on all fronts.
I could actually see a blend of automatic+manual being ideal. For the most part, the swim is a pretty obvious one for algorithms to handle, and then into T1 is also obvious (algorithm-wise) once you start running, and again, so it the switch to cycling.
Where it got messy for me in my test was the specifics of T2, because running is running, and running in T2 versus running steady-state out onto the run is tougher.
Wahoo allows this blend, which is handy.
@Ray, Nice find on the manual transitions!
@Matthew, I agree with you on the scroll point. Apple has changed this in the new beta version and now unlocking is a case of pressing and holding the crown which is a big improvement.
I think it unlikely that Apple adds another button on Watch 8. We’ll soon see. It is already possible for Apple to entirely eliminate the use of buttons during workouts, instead using Gesture Controls (see the bio link for where I wrote about that a year ago…hope adding the link is OK Ray). Thus a fist clench could add a lap or progress to the next discipline in a triathlon.
IMHO, that would be quite cool and better than buttons…if it worked properly
Yes I’ll still use the 955 !
I don’t understand why they don’t use long press of the crown to switch to the next transition (it could even beep to let you know it is long enough or to clear the water). Unlike double button press it would be less fiddly in the midst of a race. And it can still clear the water when moving to T1 (or in any multiport after leaving the water). Auto detection could stay on for manual and if after some selected interval it detects you are in the wrong sport, it can change it (in case you forget or still manage to advance more than once). For auto mode – just set the interval to 0. Wouldn’t require significant change to their code either. And instead of manual or auto just set the interval for automatic change or never for fully manual.
In the latest beta, you don’t have to scroll to unlick but push a few seconds, at least when you have licked the screen to unlock.
Stefan
In the latest beta, you don’t have to scroll to unlock but push a few seconds, at least when you have locked the screen to unlock.
Stefan
Watch OS9 allows you to just push the dial for multiple seconds now rather than rotate the dial to turn off locked screen. Not great, but an improvement.
Watch OS9 allows you to just push the dial for multiple seconds now rather than rotate the dial to turn off locked screen. Not great, but an improvement.
Thanks for that! That’s a HUGE improvement for my use. I ditched my EPIX 2. I couldn’t take the innacuracies, bluetooth cut outs and lack of connectivity without a phone. I can deal with charging for 30 minutes a day to have everything I use my cell phone for, on my hand. And also a way to get help if something happens!
And a way to get real-time weather alerts (Carrot Weather can alert to nearby lightning strikes, which is quite handy.)
And a way to pay for food or drink, if a need arises unexpectedly.
And a way to summon emergency assistance from a fall or crash, should that be needed. (I’ve taken a couple of spills while trail running that triggered fall detection; fortunately I wasn’t hurt and was able to decline the watch’s offer of assistance, but good to know it works if needed.)
And a way to, e.g., open the garage easily on returning from a run or ride.
And so on.
Huh?
Garmin Pay and Incident Detection/Assist exist.
Never said they didn’t.
That was not a criticism of Garmin, just praise of the features available from the Apple Watch.
I actually don’t care if Garmin has similar features.
I would love to see the double button press as “next” instead of “pause” in the multi-sports mode, except when running, so you can easily pause once you hit the finish line. This also works when the water lock is enabled.
Is it possible to iterate between swim and run for repeated multisport like swimrun?
I tried a swimrun and the automatic transition is super bad
It only does T1 and T2 then it get stuck