It’s all well and good saying how wonderful products are but I think the truth comes when someone is asked to either recommend something to a friend OR to say what they use themselves.
My current state of ‘personal use’ is in a bit of a non-automated data mess but “it is what is it” as I fumble around manually copying fit and tcx files everywhere. I can’t automate the links otherwise my clean data will get polluted very quickly when I mistakenly upload something somewhere it shouldn’t be uploaded to.
I’ll answer this question excluding any stuff that I am testing or generally playing with
Here are my sporting gadgets of choice which I suppose I would recommend in some shape or form. The 820 is the exception as it can sometimes be VERY naughty but it is VERY GOOD when it is being nice.
So nearly all of these rank very highly on the AWESOME scale for what I use them for.
Running
- Suunto SPARTAN Sport (non WHR)
- Polar H10 just as simple HRM
- Polar Stride sensor to get running pace
- STRYD to get just power
- Runscribe PRO
- Mizuno Wave Rider, Sketchers & New Balance Shoes
- Yep. No Garmin.
Cycling
- BePro – Dual Sided
- Garmin HRM-TRI
- Garmin Edge 820
- Lezyne Super GPS (reliable backup recording device and the battery lasts forever)
- MTB/Trails: Suunto Spartan Sport, Polar H10
- MAVIC Wheels (Owned by Suunto’s parent company)
- For long, complex navigation I have NO SINGLE DEVICE whose battery can last long enough.
Pool Swimming
- Mostly Polar M200 (I know, I know!!) but occasionally Polar M600 which I will probably use a bit more in the coming months than I have recently, just because it is cool and I also want to try to get the swim.com app working.
- Zoggs goggles? Do they make the Predator. Them.
- TYR, Speedo and other aids
- Free swim hats from races (I’ve never bought one)
- Yep. No Garmin.
Lake Swimming
- April?? UK?? It will be the 920XT tho in May with HRM-TRI
- I’m going to have a new wetsuit soon TBC
Sleep – QS EMFIT
Racing
- Tri: Garmin 920XT, Edge 820 + HRM-TRI, STRYD
- Duathlon: Garmin 920XT, Edge 820 + HRM-TRI (ie NOT STRYD)
- My upcoming Ironman – Garmin 920XT, HRM-TRI, STRYD, a simple bike device TBC (not the 820), and a PM (TBC 😉 )
Software
- SportTracks Desktop 3.1 (main source of my ‘clean’ data)
- Golden Cheetah – power, stress and interesting stuff
- XERT online – power, stress and interesting stuff
- Runscribe Dashboard – Running efficiency and interesting stuff
Bikes – I have 4x specialized bikes of various flavours ranging from carbon to sturdy aluminium and TT to MTB. I could just about name the models but not the years. I just ride them. Your bikes are probably better.
Helmets – I think they are all Specialized and yes I have paid for them all. I got the Evade one for Christmas…very nice (well bloomin’ expensive, although someone else paid for it)
Nutrition
- Lots of High5 stuff for fuel
- Non-branded protein powder (I don’t know the name off-hand) for recovery
- Lucozade Sport for Fuel
- Curranz DOMS/performance
- Beet-It for performance
- Proplus caffeine tabs for performance
- H2PROHYDRATE tabs for hydration
- A pint of milk before bedtime just like Laura Trott, look what happened to her!
- Water and food.
Clothing
- Actually I mostly don’t know or care too much what I wear. ASOS, Nike, Karimoor, Speedo, socks, random free stuff from races. Oh yes and compressport R2 calf guards. I wear my GB Age Group tri-suit to bed as it’s too embarrassing to wear it anywhere else and get overtaken by someone on a fixie.
And yes there are some things conspicuous by their absence.
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