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 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.
Muoverti’s Tiltbike Looks Cool: But It’s A Long Ways Away
Muoverti managed to capture the excitement of cycling news sites everywhere this afternoon, announcing their upcoming Muoverti Tiltbike indoor smart bike that kinda looks like a real bike, while also apparently being able to lean fully (and theoretically without tipping … Read More Here
Scosche Rhythm+ 2.0 Gets Multiple Bluetooth Connections Update
Scosche has released a firmware update today that enables multiple concurrent Bluetooth connections for their Scosche Rhythm+ 2.0 armband optical heart rate sensor. Previously it allowed unlimited ANT+ connections, but only a single Bluetooth Smart connection. With today’s update, it … Read More Here
Tech Tidbits: Xert Adds NPE CABLE Support, TrainerRoad Adaptive Training Leaves Beta
Indoor-focused trainer app news will be all the rage for the next while as companies try and pique your interest going into the colder seasons here in the Northern Hemisphere. Though, in this case, both companies also support outside workouts … Read More Here
Oura Ring 3: First Impressions After A few Days
Earlier this week Oura announced their new Oura Ring 3, both an upgrade in hardware as well as a shift in business models. For those not familiar, the Oura Ring aims to track your daily activity, as well as nightly … Read More Here
GoPro Announces Firmware to Address Hero 10 Overheating, New Enduro Battery Announced
Over the weekend GoPro semi-quietly announced that they plan to issue a firmware update that’ll give users more control over how the Hero 10 handles no-airflow conditions, enabling upwards of a 154% increase over recording times. For those that had … Read More Here
Ironman Acquires FulGaz Training App: Plans Ironman Training App
Ironman has just announced the acquisition of FulGaz, the indoor training app for cycling. As part of the acquisition, Ironman will create a secondary app that caters specifically to Ironman athletes. This new app will include full rideable courses and … Read More Here
Huawei Adds Dual-Frequency GPS to New Watch GT 3
Huawei announced their latest sport-focused watch today, the Huawei Watch GT 3, available in both 46mm and 42mm configurations. While the watch looks like many other AMOLED display smartwatches, it actually has substantially better battery life than you’d expect, with … Read More Here
Zwift Details Plans for New Neokyo Map, New User Interface, and Clubs Public Launch
For the first time in Zwift’s history, they held what would be akin to a product launch event, detailing their upcoming product plans. Albeit, one that was given in private to the media rather than publicly. But nonetheless, the resultant … Read More Here
DC Rainmaker State of Sports Tech 2021 Keynote
It’s up! The 2021 State of Sports Tech Keynote that was delivered last week, encompassing everything going well…and not so well, in the sports tech industry. From watches to indoor training sensors to action cams, and given this is an … Read More Here
Garmin’s Connect IQ Platform Updates: A Round-Up
Yesterday Garmin held their annual developer conference, officially called the Garmin Developer Virtual Conference (GDVC). This event is the successor to the Garmin Connect IQ Summit, which in turn is somewhat the Garmin-focused sibling to the once ANT+ Symposium. Albeit, … Read More Here
COROS Rolls Out Strava Routes Sync & Multi-Pitch Climb Support
When COROS announced their maps-laden Vertix 2 this past summer, one of the biggest criticisms from virtually every reviewer was that getting planned navigational routes onto the unit was cumbersome and time-consuming (at best). That was because it required you … Read More Here
Zwift Details Challenges With Building Their Own Hardware
CyclingTips today published a great ‘From the Top’ podcast episode about the history of Zwift, talking to both Jon Mayfield and Eric Min. Those two, being two of the co-founders of the platform, with Jon bringing the initial development/technical side … Read More Here
Cycling Esports World Championships on Zwift for February 2022
The UCI has announced that the Cycling Esports World Championship will be held February 26th, 2022, on Zwift. The last part being more notable than the date, as there was actually no guarantee it would be held on Zwift. In … Read More Here
COROS Expands Targeted Recall of APEX GPS Watches: An Explainer
Back in August COROS started issuing more widespread recall notices for “select” COROS APEX 46mm watches. Though, as each week went by, the recall seemed to expand further and further. COROS stated that certain watches have sent back data to … Read More Here
The Fascinating Reason Why The Garmin FR945 & Fenix 6 No Longer Shows Pool Temperature
Back in August Garmin released a minor firmware update for the Forerunner 945 multisport GPS watch. On paper, firmware update 7.80 was about as boring as they get. The release notes only contained a handful of items, none of which … Read More Here
Polar’s Vantage V2 SHIFT & Red Models + Unite & Grit X Features Firmware Update
In addition to today’s new Polar Grit X Pro & Pro Titan models that Polar announced, they also announced two additional Polar Vantage V2 models – the SHIFT & Red editions. Further, these models, as well as existing Vantage V2 … Read More Here
Polar Grit X Pro GPS Watch In-Depth Review
Polar has announced a handful of new watches today, but the main headliner is the new Polar Grit X Pro. It technically comes in two flavors – the base Grit X Pro which includes not only a new look, but … Read More Here
Week in Review–October 3rd, 2021
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’s Movesense Sensor Division Spun Off As New Company
It’s been almost 5 years since Suunto first announced their ‘Movesense’ developer program. The idea behind that was to enable 3rd party companies to leverage Suunto’s small sensor pod for various applications. It could be used as a heart rate … Read More Here
A Deep-Dive Into GoPro Hero 10 Overheating
If you’ve been around this site long enough, you know I occasionally go down rabbit holes. And by ‘down’, I mean I find myself a rabbit hole – go and acquire a large drilling platform, and go so far down … Read More Here
Tech Tidbits: Wahoo Adds Pan/Zoom, Moxy Kickstarter, and Polar Teasing
We’ve got three items to quickly run through on this mid-week edition of the Sports Tech Tidbits. Never quite as good as Timbits, but still good enough. Wahoo Adds Pan & Zoom: If your weather has turned crappy like mine, … Read More Here
Hands-On With Wahoo’s New SYSTM Training Platform
At first glance, one might just assume that Wahoo’s new SYSTM platform is simply The Sufferfest rebranded (Wahoo acquired The Sufferfest a few years back). And you’d be about 50% correct. The Sufferfest videos are still very much there, but … Read More Here
Fitbit Charge 5 In-Depth Review
Fitbit’s new Charge 5 aims to take their most well-known wearable series and catapult it forward with a revamped AMOLED display that doesn’t feel like a TI-82 graphing calculator that previous Fitbit Charge units have had, while still trying to … Read More Here
Strava Testing ‘Mute Activity’ Option to Reduce Feed Spam
Strava is testing a new feature to some 50% of their user base that allows people to mute an activity of their feed when publishing. The idea being that many of us might have more trivial workouts or even … Read More Here
Wahoo’s New ROLLR: Exactly what is it?
Wahoo has non-announced a new product over the past few days. Part roller, part Either way, whatever it is, Wahoo decided that secretive spy-shots of a product quietly being tested by a low-level pro rider in a small European village … Read More Here