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.
Tag Archives: Kickstarter
Let’s Talk About The Energym RE:GEN Smart Indoor Bike
Floating across my virtual desk this morning is a crowd-funded campaign for an indoor smart bike, the Energym RE:GEN indoor bike. Among its claim to fame is that you can charge your toothbrush with it. Also, it has a glowing … Read More Here
Moxy Launches Kickstarter for Training Portal Platform and Device
If you’ve been around the endurance sports tech scene long enough, you’ll know that Moxy has been around this connected sphere longer than most – even if you didn’t quite understand exactly what their product does, or how best to … Read More Here
First Look: Absolute Cycling One GPS Bike Computer
Let’s get this right out of the gate: The photos I took here are of hand-built prototypes. As such, they look a bit sketch – like, Elmer’s glue and Home Depot sketch. Also, these units are about 30% larger than … 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
Hands-on: The Marlin GPS Swimming Tracker
I mentioned yesterday in my Ibiza weekend post that I had used the Marlin GPS swim meter during one of my recent openwater swims. I figured I’d put together a short post to dive into a bit more detail on … Read More Here
Hands-on: New Totally Silent STAC Zero Trainer
As many know, when it comes to crowd-funded projects I have a very high level of skepticism. Mostly because most of them overcommit and under-deliver. They may have great ideas, but executing on those ideas often gets muddled once you … Read More Here
LIMITS Power Meter: Really cool or really fake?
It’s been nearly 6 months since the LIMITS power meter jumped onto the scene with a sub-$300 power meter, and plans to have units shipping by the end of the year. I expressed skepticism early on in the project, primarily … Read More Here
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
Hands-On with Backtracker: Radar for your bike
A few weeks ago a new product jumped onto the crowd-funded scene: Backtracker. This device is essentially a radar warning system for your bike. The idea is that it can warn you of approaching cars on a LED display on … Read More Here
How I evaluate Kickstarter and crowd-funded projects for rainbow-farting ponies
Each week I typically highlight a handful of crowd-funded projects within my ‘Week in Review’ series. These projects are almost always sports and fitness related, as that’s where most of my interest lies. In the case of these projects, the … Read More Here
Hands on with the IOLITE GPS-enabled swim goggles
A week or two ago a small company from Utah launched a new swim goggle on Kickstarter that’s aimed at openwater swimmers trying to swim straight. As anyone whose done an openwater swim will tell you that can sometimes be … Read More Here
Why I’m both skeptical and optimistic about The Dash heart-rate monitoring music headphones
It’s funny, as a general rule, I don’t like writing about Kickstarter projects where I haven’t seen or touched the product hands-on. I think that introduces too much risk where people assume that because I write about it, it’s a … Read More Here
First Look At Fly6 HD Camera & Tail-Light Combo
Yesterday I got to take out for a spin a new combination tail-light and HD camera that just launched on Kickstarter yesterday as well. The Fly6 camera is designed to act as a bit of a safety cam – recording … Read More Here
Hands on with the Sensoria sock activity monitoring system
(Quick Giveaway Extravaganza Note: First, I’m not giving away a Sensoria system, back to normal posts :). Second, winners will be announced sometime today (Thursday), as I’m working through cleaning up any duplicates and picking the winners. Thanks for the … Read More Here
Hands on with the new Leikr GPS sports watch
It’s been a touch bit over a week since the Leikr watch launched on Kickstarter. The Leikr GPS sports watch has become instantly recognizable due to it’s larger full color screen – one that essentially looks like a Motoactv on … Read More Here
Hands on with the Revolights system
It’s been approximately a year since I ordered Revolights off of Kickstarter. They arrived a few weeks ago, but I’ve been mostly out of town since then. So tonight I finally had a chance to sit down for a few … Read More Here
A hands-on look at the Mio Alpha strapless optical heart rate watch
NOTE: This product has since been released, and I’ve in turn published a full in-depth review of it here. Late last week I got a chance to try out the new Mio Alpha watch, which is a strapless heart rate … Read More Here
Kickstarter sports technology projects I’m backing…and why.
Last night, I had the chance to run with a recently announced Kickstarter watch. Now, I’m going to save my first look thoughts about the Mio Alpha for Tuesday, but based on some of the Twitter traffic after I tweeted … Read More Here
The Bia women’s GPS watch: My detailed thoughts
A couple weeks ago a new entrant to the GPS-enabled sports watch bounced onto the scene via Kickstarter, the Bia watch. This unit is forthcoming in being targeted and designed directly at women. So I’m first going to go through … Read More Here
In-Depth Review of the Quad Lock iPhone Bike Mount Case
There are numerous iPhone and cell phone bike mounting kits out there on the market today. They range in price from under $10 to nearly $1,000 (yup, really). Their capabilities, functionality an easy of use have just as extreme of … Read More Here
Week in Review – May 26th, 2012
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
Week in Review–May 19th, 2012
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