Garmin Varia RCT715 Camera + Radar In-Depth Review

 It’s been 7 years since Garmin introduced their Varia radar. Similarly, it’s been 8 years since Cycliq first introduced their Fly6 bike-focused rear safety camera. For years, people have been begging for a hybrid blend of those two products … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

COROS Rolls Out 10 New Features To Vertix Series, APEX Pro, Pace 2

While COROS skipped their usual seemingly unofficial monthly new feature updates last month, they’re back at it again this month with a pretty solid update – including both app and firmware features. Below I dive into everything that’s new, and … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Week in Review–May 16th, 2022

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 → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Garmin Adds 25+ New Features to Fenix 7/Epix/Instinct 2, Shifts to Quarterly Features Updates

 Ok, there’s a lot in this post. So hang on, it’s packed with details. First up, is that Garmin started rolling out this week an update for Fenix 7 & Epix series watches, including some 28-50 different new features … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Peloton Announces Rower Hardware, New Upcoming Features Outlined

Peloton kicked off their annual ‘Homecoming’ weekend event today, starting with a keynote of upcoming plans from their new CEO as well as existing Peloton instructors. This 21-minute-long keynote highlighted a slew of milestones over the past year, but also … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Zwift Cancels Smart Bike Hardware Plans, Announces Significant Layoffs

Just two weeks ago Wahoo announced a round of layoffs to mitigate the dropping (or rather, normalizing) of indoor cycling hardware sales, and prior to that Peloton did the same. Now Zwift is following suit with a round of layoffs … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Google Pixel Watch Announced: Everything You Need To Know

After more years than anybody can try counting, Google has finally formally announced their first ‘own’ watch, the Pixel Watch. Despite birthing the entire Android Wear (turned Wear OS) smartwatch platform, they never actually made their own watch. Instead, they’ve … Read More He … | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

DJI Mini 3 Pro In-Depth Review (Including Sports Tracking)

DJI has just announced their newest sub-250g drone, the DJI Mini 3 Pro –and this time, it’s a massive step up in functionality and hardware over the previous iterations. It adds 4K/60FPS shooting modes, up to 46 minutes of battery … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

The Giro’s Synchronized Trainer Cycle Dancing Performance: Analysis & Review

I just finished reading Iain Treloar’s excellent recap of the spectacle that was the 2022 Giro Teams’ Presentation. He ultimately gave the 1-hour and 50-minute extravaganza a meager rating of 4.5/10. I am no expert on such events, nor how … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Fitbit Charge 5 vs Garmin Vivosmart 5: A Ridiculously Detailed Comparison

I’ve just published the full Fitbit Charge 5 vs Garmin Vivosmart 5 comparison video up on YouTube. I plan to finish converting that into a written post, but in the meantime, this covers all those nuances in way more depth than | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Wahoo Announces Acquisition of RGT Cycling, Consolidated Wahoo X Subscription

Wahoo Fitness has announced today the acquisition of the RGT Cycling app (formerly Road Grand Tours), as well as announcing their new Wahoo X Subscription Service, which combines the membership for both apps under one umbrella. In short, subscribers of … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Hammerhead and Suunto Partner: Heatmaps on Hammerhead, Workout Sync to Suunto

Hammerhead and Suunto have just announced what they describe as potentially the first step towards a deeper partnership and collaboration. This first step puts heatmaps onto the Hammerhead Karoo series, while concurrently sending completed Karoo rides to Suunto’s platform (as … R … | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Garmin Vivosmart 5 In-Depth Review

It’s been nearly four years since Garmin last released a Vivosmart model – the Vivosmart 4. But the counter resets again today with the new Vivosmart 5, which brings incremental hardware changes to the model – including a button, a … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Garmin Fenix 7 vs COROS Vertix 2: New York City GPS Accuracy Test!

Over the last 6-8 months we’ve seen watch companies including Garmin and COROS add multiband/dual-frequency GPS chipsets to their watches, which have long-promised to be the holy-grail of GPS accuracy. As I’ve shown in my in-depth reviews though, that promise … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Week in Review–April 18th, 2022

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 → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

5 Random Things I Did This Weekend

Despite being a busy holiday weekend around these parts, we packed in quite a bit of sports tech and sportiness, with thankfully sunny weather to help keep sanity in check. Plus, tons of products in the hopper for upcoming releases … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Polar Pacer Pro GPS Running Watch In-Depth Review

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was the Polar Pacer watch. This was an era before GPS, before optical HR, and before countless other metrics that we didn’t even know would exist someday. Back then, … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

5 Random Things I Did This Weekend

This was probably about as close to a semi-normal weekend as we’ve had in a few years now. Plus, it was actually sunny – a change from a week of rain, snow, wind, and all of those somehow mixed together … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Week in Review–April 10th, 2022

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 → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

The New Stages Dash M200 & L200: Hands-On Details

Stages have just announced two new bike computers, the new Stages Dash M200 and L200. These3rd generation units are hardware upgrades to their predecessors, the M50 and the L50. In Stages Dash lingo, M simply stands for a medium-sized unit, … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Power Meter Pedal Buyers Guide: Garmin Rally vs Wahoo POWRLINK vs Favero Assioma vs SRM X-Power

 It’s been about five years since I’ve last done a power meter pedal comparison post. Mainly, because not much had changed in five years. The Favero Assioma will be five years old this summer (crazy, huh?), and while the … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Whoop Exporting to Apple Health: Here’s how it actually works

Back a couple months ago, Whoop started importing from Apple Health. While the data they pulled was somewhat limited, the goal was mainly to assist in activity recognition and categorization. The idea being that if you used a Garmin Edge … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Oura Outlines Missing V3 Features Plan (And It’s Not Good)

When the Oura V3 launched last fall, it was met with both excitement and frustration. First, was the excitement of a new product with a slate of new features, then there was the concurrent frustration of a new pricing model … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Week in Review–April 3rd, 2022

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 → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Sports Tech: The Best April 1st Tidbits

As always, April 1st tends to be one of the most challenging days to be on the internet. A constant rollercoaster of trying to figure out what are legit headlines versus not, and these days, the line is sometimes pretty … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

GoPro Volta Battery & Remote Grip Review

Today GoPro announced the new GoPro Volta Battery+Remote Grip, which is basically a selfie-stick that includes both of those features together, combined with a small pile of other integrated features. In addition, they also announced the new GoPro Hero 10 … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Zwift Rolls Out Wahoo Direct Connect Ethernet Adapter Support

Today is apparently the day of ‘Finally!’ in the sports tech world. First, there was Suunto with ‘finally’ adding structured workout support. Then there was Wahoo with ‘finally’ adding some sort of climbing feature, and now we’ve got Zwift with … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Wahoo Adds New Gradient Coloring with Wahoo Summit Feature

Wahoo has introduced what I presume to be the first step in a larger set of changes around climbing information, to compete with Garmin’s ClimbPro and Hammerhead’s Climber features. This first change adds gradient coloring for pre-planned routes (and re-routes) … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Suunto Announces SuuntoPlus Guides: An App Platform for 3rd Party Apps

It’s been just shy of a decade from when Suunto announced their first app platform, called the Suunto AppZone. At the time, it was the very first open to any developer watch-based app platform. Sure, Pebble had announced theirs slightly … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Suunto Rolls Out TrainingPeaks Structured Workout Integration: How-To Guide

 Finally, it’s here: The ability to sync a structured workout from TrainingPeaks to Suunto watches, specifically, the Suunto 5 series and Suunto 9 series watches. This is accomplished using the new SuuntoPlus Guides functionality (more on that here), which … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Tech Tidbits: New Stages Dash Models Soon, Garmin HRM-PRO Bluetooth Expansion, Zwift Clearancing Hardware

As we sail into the weekend, there’s some tech tidbits that are worth mentioning – covering the gamut of companies, as the sports tech world starts to heat up going into spring. Stages New GPS Bike Computers: Stages began teasing … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Hammerhead Updated CLIMBR Functionality No Longer Requires Route

There’s nothing more consistent than the biweekly drop of new features coming from Hammerhead to their Karoo series bike computers. And this update brings a huge one: The ability to automatically get climb information as you ride, without needing to … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Tacx NEO Motion Plates In-Depth Review

You know what I like about this product? It’s two pieces of plastic that wiggle, and install in about 15-20 seconds. There’s no electronics, no secondary applications or uses, no complex installation manual. It’s as simple as it gets, yet … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Best Bike Computer for Climbing: Garmin vs Hammerhead vs Wahoo

Long gone are the days of bike computers showing you just a single elevation profile for your entire route, or even just the near-term elevation profile. These days, the bike computers will automatically break down and even categorize the climbs … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Strava Reverses Course: Turns back on Apple Health Sync Functionality

Strava has reversed course on their recent disablement of Apple Health sync for 3rd party workouts (e.g. data from Zwift, TrainerRoad, Garmin, etc..), after abruptly disabling the feature last week without notice. That move impacted many Apple iPhone users that … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Strava Abruptly Ends 3rd Party Data Push to Apple Health

It’s been a few years since Strava has managed to irk the Internet, but over the last few days, they’ve unleashed a torrent of upset Apple users. If you’re an Android user, then this post probably won’t mean much to … Read More Here → | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

First Look at Garmin’s ECG Functionality, and Clinical Trials Details

Garmin appears to have included ECG functionality within their recently released Venu 2 Plus smartwatch, albeit without acknowledging its existence or including the feature at launch.  This is notable because there’s currently no Garmin wearable with ECG functionality on it, | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Just Getting A New Garmin Fenix 7 or Epix? Update it First.

If you’ve been around this site long enough, you know that one of my life-goals is to reduce the quantity of certain types of messages that end up in my inbox. Not merely the notices that I’m apparently heir to | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

How to Install Satellite Imagery on Your Garmin Fenix or Epix Watch (Fenix 5 Plus/6/7/Epix)

Long before the Garmin Epix (2nd gen) or Fenix 7 came out, Garmin has been selling maps. In fact, they’ve been selling maps for basically their entire existence. Lately these things are built into devices, but it wasn’t that long | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Zwift Racer Caught Cheating Using Recent Weight Changing Hack

Well, that didn’t take long. Zwift’s official race partner, WTRL, has seemingly disqualified their first individual for using the recently published mid-race weight-changing cheat. The individual cheated last night during Race 8 of this season’s WTRL Zwift Racing League event. | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Peloton Offers $300 Discount For Bike/Bike+/Tread Units (Plus Other Thoughts)

Peloton’s just announced a $300 discount for their base Peloton Bike, Peloton Bike+, and Peloton Tread units. However, this one is actually kinda interesting in how they’re doing it – for two different reasons. The first, is the fact that | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Fitbit Recalls Fitbit Ionic Smartwatches Due to Burn-Hazard, Offers Refund

Fitbit has announced a recall of their older Ionic GPS smartwatch, due to situations where the battery can overheat and cause burn injuries. The Ionic was introduced back in 2017, which was really their first smartwatch to support a 3rd | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

5 Random Things I Did This Weekend

Not only do we have a 5 Random Things again this week, but it’s even got skiing, cycling, and running. Plus – tidbits about postmen, as well as beer photos. What more could you ask for in a weekend roundup?1) | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Zwift’s Bans Cheat Whistleblower: A Deeper Dive Into the Issue

On the doorstep of Zwift’s biggest event of the year – the UCI sanctioned Esports World Championship, which is later today – Zwift has managed to get themselves into another cheating and rider ban debacle. This time, for the banning | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Lifeline Pro Trainer Desk Review: This Time with USB & Power Ports (and just 100EUR)!

In much the same way I have an apparently unhealthy obsession with USB charging cables, I also potentially have such an obsession with finding the perfect trainer desk. This is of course all started with the Wahoo KICKR Desk years | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Wahoo Trainer Lineup Sound Test: KICKR vs CORE vs SNAP vs ROLLR

Today’s post is one of those ones that’s best done via video. Or, at the very least audio. Thus, the above video.As the title of this post implies, this is a direct sound/volume/noise comparison between all of Wahoo’s current lineup | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Wahoo POWRLINK ZERO Speedplay Power Meter In-Depth Review

It’s finally here. After an 8 month delay (though tame by power meter pedal delay standards), Wahoo’s Speedplay based power meter is finally shipping and available. This marks not just Wahoo’s first bike-based power meter, but also the first (and | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago

Wahoo KICKR ROLLR Smart Trainer In-Depth Review

Wahoo has now formally announced their KICKR ROLLR smart trainer…err…smart roller. I’m not super sure how you classify it (Wahoo themselves officially calls it a “smart trainer” in their media release), but whatever it is - it’s here and now | Continue reading


@dcrainmaker.com | 2 years ago