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
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend in the Netherlands
It continues to be a busy summer, even more so with a bunch of products on the radar to get reviews knocked out as announcements occur coming into the start of the Tour de France next weekend (the weekend after … Read More Here
Stages Dash L10 Bike Computer In-Depth Review
Update Nov 2020: Note that Stages effectively renamed the original Stages Dash to the Stages Dash L10, when they announced the new L50 and M50 models. As such, to make it clear for folks, I’ve updated the title of this … Read More Here
Fitbit Alta HR In-Depth Review
In what may seem like a sea of Fitbit models, the Fitbit Alta HR attempts to strike the balance between what folks want as a straightforward activity tracker, while making some nods towards basic workout support. I’ve been wearing a … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Nice to be back home for the weekend, especially as the temperature heats up as we ease into summer. Here’s what we were up to! 1) Special delivery You know those small mailbox supply stores you see in strip malls … Read More Here
Dîner en Blanc 2017– Still the best night in Paris!
It’s that time of year again for the best night in Paris. For the last four years in Paris we’ve been lucky enough to attend the famed Dîner en Blanc (Dinner in white) event, which is a massive flash-mob like … Read More Here
Thoughts on the wearables studies (including The Stanford Wearables study)
As might be obvious these days, publishing a study on wearables is the fashionable thing to do. There seems to be a new major (or at least noticed in the mainstream media) wearable study published every month. Sometimes more often. … Read More Here
Polar A370 In-Depth Review
Just over a week ago Polar announced their latest wearable – the Polar A370. This new unit took the hardware of the Polar A360 that was released about 18 months ago and plopped in a few new features like continuous … Read More Here
Week in Review–June 4th, 2017
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
A few quick thoughts on the bePro Gen2…err…Favero Assioma
Earlier this week bePro announced their 2nd generation power meter. Well, actually, they didn’t. A company called Favero announced something called the Assioma, which is the successor to the bePro power meter pedals announced almost exactly two years ago. See … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Here’s what we were up to on this extended weekend edition of the 5 Random Things! 1) Off to Canada we go! We started off the weekend with a mere 8 hour flight to Toronto…followed by a four hour layover…and … Read More Here
Week in Review–May 28th, 2017
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
The Day in May DCR $500 Gadget Giveaway Winner!
Last week was giveaway time! A rather respectable 7,467 of you entered the giveaway to pick up anything you wanted with a $500 credit to Clever Training for a gadget of your choice. Which appears to smash the previous single-giveaway … Read More Here
Garmin VIRB 360 5.7K Action Cam In-Depth Review
Today Garmin jumped into the 360° fray by introducing their own 360° action camera – the VIRB 360. This camera one-ups everyone in the specs department by mic-dropping 5.7K resolution alongside being completely waterproofed with GPS built-in. Not to mention … Read More Here
Week in Review–May 22nd, 2017
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
The Day in May DCR $500 Gadget Giveaway!
It’s a day in May. No, not May Day. That, according to Wikipedia is May 1st. Rather, it’s May 20th – which I reason is 20 times better than May 1st (albeit, less awesome than May 5th). Why’s it better? … Read More Here
Giro d’Italia 2017: Spectating and behind the scenes!
My day at Stage 10 of the Giro was jam-packed. It basically couldn’t get any more packed. I arrived into the small town where the stage was starting from around 10:30PM the night prior, and by 4:17PM the next day … Read More Here
Giro d’Italia 2017–The Trainers, Power Meters and Gadgets of the Pro Peloton
Yesterday I spent the full day at the Giro d’Italia checking out all the sports tech goods the pro teams had on hand. In the case of this stage, it was an individual time trial – which means that each … Read More Here
The DCR Analyzer Is Now Available For You To Use!
And by now…I mean like 5 months ago. But no matter, I’m finally getting around to telling you about it in some manner that might be noticeable. Or even semi-formal. But wait – what’s the DCR Analyzer? You know in … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
The weather continues to get warmer here in Paris – and this weekend was quite nice. Here’s what I was up to! 1) A quick lunch run I headed out Friday midday for a short lunch run. It was part … Read More Here
Week in Review–May 14th, 2017
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
Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR In-Depth Review
Last summer (2016) amidst Suunto announcing the Spartan series, they made note of a planned optical heart rate enabled version that would be released down the road. Fast forward to this past January (2017) and at CES they did just … Read More Here
ROTOR 2INpower In-Depth Review
Over the last few years, ROTOR has been slowly increasing both the quantity of power meters they make – as well as the types of power meters they make. It first started with the original ROTOR Power LT some three … Read More Here
Thoughts on GoPro’s new Fusion 360° 5.2K camera
A few weeks ago GoPro sorta-announced a new action cam. Sorta being the operative word here. Unlike most GoPro announcement occurrences, this was more of a formalized naming and acknowledgment of existence. It included roughly as much information as an … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
It was a whirlwind weekend, largely because I spent much of it on an airplane. So since the weekend technically extends till Monday here in France, I’m going to go the other direction and encapsulate the end of last week … Read More Here
Week in Review–May 7th, 2017
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