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.
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Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
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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.
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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 2024 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.
Author Archives: Ray Maker
TrainerRoad now pulls in outside rides, adds training log and load analysis
In the growing battle of not just trainer platforms, but training log platforms, TrainerRoad just took a big step forward. As one of the original pioneers of device-agnostic indoor training apps, they now allow you to account for your outdoor … Read More Here
Tech Tidbits: Withings becomes Withings again, Favero’s Assioma 1% Update, AIRhub Core, and FirstBeat HRV Summit
There’s been a handful of interesting announcements or things this week that didn’t (or don’t) quite need their own post, but I wanted to briefly touch on since I’ve seen some questions on them. These cover everything from the crazy … Read More Here
Week in Review – May 6th, 2018
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 … Read More Here
Garmin inReach Mini Satellite Communicator In-Depth Review
For those that have been around the DCR block long enough, you’ll know that I’m always looking for tracking solutions for my worldly activities. Especially ones that don’t depend on having a mobile phone nearby, and even more so for … Read More Here
First Ride: Everysight Raptor Cycling Heads-Up Display
In many ways, the Jetson’s vision of cycling Tomorrowland seems to always involve some form of heads-up display. And numerous companies over the last half a decade or so have tried to get us there. From smaller entities like Recon … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Back fresh from a week in the states at Sea Otter, I was ready to get back to enjoying all Amsterdam has to offer, and no better time to do that than this past weekend. 1) King’s Day in Amsterdam … Read More Here
The April $500 DCR Gadget Giveaway Winner!
Last week I held the $500 gadget giveaway. I considered it somewhat of a celebration of the upcoming Sea Otter Classic bike show and festival, where I was checking out all the latest bike tech. A whopping 5,743 of you … Read More Here
Sea Otter 2018 Tech Roundup: Rylo Cam, K-Edge, Notio Konect, Velocomp AeroPod, Inflation Products and more
Here’s the next installment of Sea Otter related sports tech tidbits. As a reminder, here’s what I’ve covered thus far: Sea Otter 2018 Tech Roundup–Power Meters: SRM Pedals, 4iiii Podium, ROTOR INpower, and more Plus all the standalone posts: Hands-on: … Read More Here
Today’s Plan Adds Triathlon Support (Cycling/Running), and Connect IQ Apps
Every once in a while I wander into the software/platform/apps realm for a post. I usually do so sparingly because this category of sports tech changes so quickly that any post I write quickly becomes out of date. That’s less … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
With an exactly 7 days trip to the US complete (almost to the minute in fact), I’m working my way back to Europe as we speak. But here’s what I was up to, spending the last few days in warmer … Read More Here
First Look: The IQ2 149€ Power Meter
(Note: Please, please, please read the entire post before ‘investing’. Especially my concerns in the last two full sections…not paragraphs, sections.) As each year passes, we continue to see drops in power meter prices. One only needs to look at … Read More Here
Sea Otter 2018 Tech Roundup–Power Meters: SRM Pedals, 4iiii Podium, ROTOR INpower, and more
With all of the pre-planned Sea Otter announcements taken care of last week, it’s time to dive into some of the on-site announcements and tech tidbits. Most of these are smaller, henceforth why I didn’t cover them in dedicated stand-alone … Read More Here
Hands-on: Quarq TyreWiz Cycling Pressure Sensor
Today Quarq announced their latest creation – the TyreWiz, which monitors your tire pressure on your bike. These small sensors attach to Presta tire values, so basically most bike tires that this target market would care about (mountain, road, fat … Read More Here
Hands-on: New $299 AeroPod Aerodynamic Sensor
A few minutes ago AeroPod launched for purchase on Kickstarter, though, the company is hardly new to the aero field. In fact, one could argue that nobody as has much experience (manufacturing or practical) with aerodynamic sensors in the industry … Read More Here
Garmin Edge 130 In-Depth Review
The Edge 130 aims to blend a mid-range GPS bike computer with the size of a more typical budget GPS computer. Does it pull that off though? I dig into all the details on this simplistic but feature filled unit. Read More Here
Garmin Varia RTL510 Radar/Cycling Light In-Depth Review
[FYI May 2020: A newer version of this product has been released – the RTL515 – you can find that in-depth review here.] Yes, it’s a bike radar. But no, it’s not the first bike radar Garmin has made. And … Read More Here
Hands-on: Garmin Edge 520 Plus with Mapping
Today’s multi-pronged release of cycling gear by Garmin is probably the company’s most decisive yet at fending off competitors to its lucrative head unit business. And in some ways, they’re probably even undercutting their own high-end head units to stave … Read More Here
The April $500 DCR Gadget Giveaway!
This could alternatively be titled – ‘Pre-Sea Otter Cycling Event $500 Gadget Giveaway!’ Or, it could be titled ‘Crap, I meant to post this on Friday and therefore this is your consolation prize for it being a Monday…nobody likes Mondays. … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
With our second full weekend in the Netherlands in the books, here’s what we were up to. I think we’re settling in quite nicely! 1) More DCR Cave V2 Office Visits Out of all of the complexities of moving countries, … Read More Here
My 6 Favorite Action Cam Accessories I Use Daily
Virtually every day I use action cams to get shots for all assortment of things: In-Depth reviews, general posts, Strava pics, and even Instagram (ok, I suck at being daily there, The Girl is far better). Over on YouTube I’ve … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Phew! This weekend flew by. I just got in the door two minutes ago from the airport, after a whirlwind day that didn’t actually involve any flights. Here, let me explain. 1) We drove to Paris We kicked off things … Read More Here
Hands-on: Waterfi’s Spotify Streaming Swimming Music Player
I’m a Spotify person. Sure, there are many audio services, but the one I listen to virtually the entire day (and at night with the kids) is Spotify. Largely because it works anywhere I am in the world, without funky … Read More Here
Bikes Abound: I’ve Moved to Amsterdam!
This past weekend when we touched down back in Europe after three months away in Australia, we arrived home to a slightly different land. Rather than say Bonjour to immigration officers, we were instead saying Goedemorgen. That’s because we now … Read More Here
Shimano Dura-Ace R9100P Power Meter In-Depth Review
It’s been almost two years since Shimano first announced their intentions to sell a power meter developed in-house, launched in the lead-up to the Tour de France in June 2016. That summer, a handful of pro riders would be seen … Read More Here
Week in Review–April 1st, 2018
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 … Read More Here