The Week in the Review is a collection of both all the goodies I wrote over the internet over the past week, as well as a small stack of links that I found interesting – generally related to endurance sports. I have often wondered what to do with all the cool stuff people write, and although I share a lot of it on Twitter and Facebook, this is a better forum to send it to you. Most of the time these different streams do not overlap, so be on the lookout for good games in all these places!
So with that, let’s get into action!
Sports technical offers of note:
Ok, not much left this week. Sort of lul. But hey, if you need a GoPro Hero 8 Black as AirPods, it’s still for sale!
| Product | Sales price | Amazon | Clever Training | Other page | Notes for sale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Apple Airpods (2nd Gen) – $ 25 off | $ 134 | Amazon | N / A | With wireless charging case | I use AirPods primarily when I am traveling to listen in airports, airplanes, etc. I do not use these tendencies for workouts because they fail. Also with the wireless charging case for $ 50 off. Personally, I just use the base model. |
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Apple Airpods Pro – $ 30 short | $ 220 | Amazon | N / A | Yup, these are the new mufflers that do not fall out of your ears. I have not tried them yet, but many people seem happy with them. | |
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Apple Watch Series 3 (38mm) | $ 169 | Amazon | N / A | This is the lowest price we have ever seen for the Apple Watch Series 3. While the Series 5 is the new one, the Series 3 has almost all the same features (and still gets all the updates). It has been dipped a few times to $ 179, but only once ever for Black Friday up to $ 169. | |
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Garmin Instinct – $ 100 discount | $ 199 | Amazon | N / A | This is a solid deal on a solid watch. It’s here and there with $ 199 flirting at various retail prices, but with the Instinct Solar coming out last month, this may be the new standard. Either way, it’s a solid price. | |
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Garmin Instinct Tactical- $ 103 Off | $ 197 | Amazon | N / A | This is the lowest that this watch has been ($ 100 off, and after $ 197). Note that this is the non-Solar version, so keep that in mind. | |
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GoPro Hero 8 Black – $ 100 short! | $ 299 | Amazon | Clever Training | . This is a great deal – and the lowest we’ve ever seen the GoPro Hero 8. Of course, I do not expect a new version soon (GoPro always releases late September / early October). But, the Hero 8 is my go-to cam today. |
DCRAINMAKER.COM Posts Last Week:
Here’s all the goodies that have been on the main page this past week, as noted last week, I plan to be pretty quiet for this past week as I prepare for this coming week
Monday: Week in Review – August 17, 2020
Wednesday: Garmin demonstrates Smart Trainer integration on Fenix 6 & Forerunner 945
Friday: Suunto launches new popular routes and starting point app features
So hold on tight, people, we’re in for a wild week ahead …
Stuff I found interesting around the interwebs:
Here’s a not-so-small smattering of all the random things I stumbled upon while doing my civic duty to find the end of the internet (and in this case, some of these are the past few weeks to clear the backlog):
1) Ghost Pacer Heads Up Display Augmented Reality Glasses for running: These glasses use augmented reality to see a virtual pacer overloaded on the real field. It’s also probably easier to watch her video on her Kickstarter page. I have a long history of trying different glasses / glasses / etc for sports. I think this is a tough tone, less because of the tech, and more just the Kickstarter timelines. Delivery of July 2021 is basically said in Kickstarter lingo ‘Maybe early 2022’, which … is like five pandemics of now.
2) The Tour de France kicks off next week – But should it? Of course not, but that will not stop it. I will not be going this year – for the first time in almost a decade. I just do not think it is right to go at this point and add to the 3,000+ staff / riders / media / support organization situation that is taking place thousands of miles across France. Even with access limited this year (no access to team buses even this year for media), there is not much reason to go for what I cover (the tech). There’s always next year … hopefully.
3) The case of the top secret iPod: This is just geeky interesting. Plus, do you remember Nike Running on the iPod with the old foot pod? See, now it’s vaguely related to sports technology.
4) Zwift registers ambassadors for paid support level: This can actually make sense. While these people do not have access to personal information, they can easily help with the nearly million million questions about what a burrito is, and how to place your ANT + dongle.
5) Apple Watch continues to dominate Smartwatch sector: Although, Garmin now takes almost 10% of the market, and comes in at # 2 – above Samsung and others. As a reminder, the official and singular definition of a smartwatch is simply “one that supports 3rd party apps”. At least according to IDC, who is not the publicist of this study, but hopefully at least these groups can coordinate this definition this year. As always, that definition changes on an annual basis, perhaps to support any agenda that research company wants to pursue.
6) Early findings from Fitbit COVID-19 study with 100,000 participants: Like the other portable business studies I’ve linked to, this does not mean they can predict if you have COVID-19, but it’s still interesting to see what businesses do in this space. In this case, these specific metrics would do more or less the same for numerous other diseases. Their detailed symptom tracking of the 1,000 people who tested positive for COVID-19 was also super interesting (more of this data linked above).
7) 2022 Tour de France Rumored to have 1-week Women’s Edition: This would be an important step up in the last few half-hearted variants. Although, I would prefer it to run at the same time, as at the end of the Tour de France for men, the media covering such events simply do not give up. Running at the same time (maybe on week two) would make media coverage easier.
8) Random Tidbit Time: During the 1989 Cycling Tour de Trump (an actual cycling event), one of the Dutch teams was sponsored by a brothel. No kidding. Photo of that team (completely safe for work) on the Tweet above.
Firmware updates of sports equipment this week:
Every week I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website services I see coming out. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – give me a quick comment (only single lines are perfect, as Tweet it to me is even better) and I’ll report it here. If I do not know about it, I can not post about it. Sounds good? Oh – and if you want an up to date on things, this page is a great resource for viewing Garmin, Wahoo, Polar, and a few other firmware updates.
Garmin Edge 530/830/1030/1030 Plus Firmware Update: A boatload of fixes / tweaks, new feature of workout menu, as well as several other minor changes. However, it is an enormous list.
Garmin Forerunner 45 Firmware Update: bug fixes.
Garmin Forerunner 245 Firmware Update: bug fixes and added LiveTrack course Display, plus other tweaks.
Garmin Forerunner 945 Firmware Update: Same as FR245, but also added Smart Trainer integration as noted in my main post earlier this week. Also a bunch of other fixes / improvements.
Garmin Instinct Firmware Update: Mostly minor tweaks.
Garmin Instinct Solar Firmware Update: Added a few small things, including battery% in the main menu (previously shown only when charging)
Wahoo ELEMNT / BOLT / ROAM Firmware Update: Stability Improvement and Wheelbase for LEV
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With that – thanks for reading!
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