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
My Thoughts On The LIMITS Power Meter
Update – Nov 10th, 2015: I’ve recently posted quite a bit more details on where LIMITS stands. I’d highly encourage you to check it out, via this link. Ok, I wasn’t planning on doing a post on the LIMITS power … Read More Here
The Mid-Week in Review–April 23rd, 2015
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 DCR Podcast Pilot Episode is Now Available!
Back about two weeks ago while in Austin I spent the morning recording the first few episodes of the DC Rainmaker Podcast with TRS Triathlon. And now, after much technical hand-wringing (read: we dug out of our inboxes) – the … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Here’s what I was up to over the last few days. 1) Friday Afternoons at The Studio TGIF takes on a slightly different tack at the Cake Studio than most other days. As is often the case for companies aligned to … Read More Here
Power Meter Pricing Wars: Let The Games Begin
The Winds are a Shifting: Over the past few weeks there have been a number of notable price drops by power meter companies. While some of these price drops may seem reactionary to news from PowerTap’s new products, or that 4iiii … Read More Here
Quarq introduces new $799 RIKEN AL power meter
Overview: Just another day in April 2015 – whereby power meter companies continue to drop the hammer in the battle for your bucks. Today SRAM’s Quarq has announced their lowest cost entrant to date, the $799 Quarq RIKEN AL. This … Read More Here
Recon Jet starts shipping, a look at my first month with it
Earlier this week Recon Instruments started shipping their long-awaited Recon Jet heads up display for sports, to real-life actual consumers. Completing a journey that began just over two years ago upon announcement of the product. In fact, a few DCR … Read More Here
Garmin announces Vector2 (and 2S), also upgrade kit for original Vector owners
Overview: Today Garmin has announced their next iteration of the Vector product line. This relatively minor update aims to simplify installation, as well as make the unit more durable and easier to move between bikes. Most notable however, is that … Read More Here
ROTOR announces new INpower power meters, starting at $779US
Overview: ROTOR has as of today somehow managed to accomplish the near-impossible in this day and age: Putting a brand new unseen power meter on pro rider’s bikes in major events for months…and have nobody notice. Stepping that up: Having their … Read More Here
Power2Max goes to $599 – Joins Quarq, Pioneer in April power meter price slashing
Power2Max Price Cuts Today Power2Max announced price drops of about 21% off of their existing units, dropping the base price to a mind-boggling $599. This is ahead of the bike industry event this weekend, Sea Otter, where we’ve seen a … Read More Here
A Doha (Qatar) Nighttime Runaround
I landed in Qatar rather late Sunday night, about 11:30PM or so, making it roughly 12:30AM by time I got to the hotel. For the super-quick geography reminder, here’s where Doha is: With work meetings taking up most of the … Read More Here
The Ashton Instruments Power Meter: An Early Look
Last fall I sat down to meet with the folks behind Ashton Instruments, an up and coming power meter company. At the time we sat down in a random hallway at the Mandalay Bay convention center on horrible looking carpet … Read More Here
Garmin announces new VIRB X and VIRB XE action cams
Today, Garmin announced two new action cameras – the next in their VIRB action cam lineup. These two cameras continue in the footsteps of the Garmin’s first generation cameras by focusing heavily on sensor data and internal metrics that can … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Here’s what I was up to this weekend. Or rather, all of about 24 hours of it while at home. Had to squish things in a bit! 1) Flew home from NYC While it may seem as a bit of … Read More Here
Behind the scenes on my Spring 2015 FOX TV NYC Gadget Segment
On Friday I had the opportunity to return to the FOX TV New York City studios to do a live segment as part of FOX NY’s morning broadcast. I’ve made a few appearances on the station previously, including one about … Read More Here
The DCR US Roadtrip: The Crazy Week That Was!
Here’s what I’ve been up to the last 5 days, with just a mere single photo per company or function. For the companies, you’ll see more detailed ‘Behind the Scenes’ type posts in the coming weeks as I dig out … Read More Here
Garmin Vivoactive In-Depth Review
Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Garmin announced a slew of wearable devices including the new Vivoactive. The Vivoactive was designed as a merger between Garmin’s mid-range fitness watches (i.e. the FR220) and the … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Another crazy weekend in the books, one packed with lots of photographs for upcoming reviews and various product posts in the short-term queue. Here’s what was on the agenda! 1) Indoor trainer rides…over and over again I spent considerable time … Read More Here
Week in Review–April 5th, 2015
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 Power2Max Type S Power Meter In-Depth Review
It’s been a touch over two years since my last Power2Max product review, for their now-named Classic edition. About a year or so ago they came out with their Type-S editions, which would make for their 3rd generation unit. I’ve … Read More Here
DCR & TRS Triathlon Team Up For Podcast World Domination
And by world domination, I mean the worldly domination of the endurance sports technology segment. Which based on our detailed multi-pronged collaborative research study is 12 people (8 if you don’t count both our parents). No worries, we’re going to make … Read More Here
Garmin quietly introduces automatic sleep detection to existing activity trackers
Over the last few days Garmin has enabled automatic sleep tracking on all of their sleep capable activity tracker devices. They did so not as part of any firmware update that you have to install, but rather on their backend … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Here’s a roundup of the weekend gone by. Lots of fun city stuff the last few days. 1) Rented an entire boat on the Seine Back about a month ago two local friends of ours got married, but did so in … Read More Here
Week in Review–March 29th, 2015
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
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Here’s what we’ve been up to over the last few days here on the home front. 1) A bit of a long run Saturday afternoon I headed out for my long run. In this case it was about 1hr and … Read More Here