Gadgets & Wearables

Christmas List – All I want For Christmas is…

I’ve already got world peace, health and happiness. So what more could be on that age-old Christmas List?

These really would be on my fantasy list (I emphasise the word fantasy):

  • At £5500 I would love a Cervelo R5 Dura Ace 9100 Road Bike 2018 (link to Sigma sport, non affiliate, just for the heck of it).
  • That’s too much of my imaginary rich uncle’s ill-gotten gains. So I’ll have to go for a sale item instead at £1500++. I’ll take a ‘this year model’ like the Zipp Super-9 Clincher Disc Road Rear Wheel 2017 (link to chain reaction, non affiliate)
  • Naturally a $600 PowerTapG3 hub (link to: powermetercity.com, 10% discount on most stuff with the5krunner10 code 😉 ) might find its way in the disc – I assume that’s compatible…not checked. And I might need a spare PowerTap for a day-to-day road wheel. Not much to ask for?
  • On the gadget front I’ve got all I need, I suppose. It might be fun to get an Edge 1030. I do NOT plan to get one but would love to moan about the touchscreen if I did. I’ve got bored about moaning about the Edge 820’s rubbish touchscreen. Although, on that note, I went into the aforesaid SigmaSport and had a play with the display models of each of the 820/1030…their touchscreens seemed OK. VERY different feel. Very strange.
  • I’m not too bothered about the Forerunner 645 that ‘may or may not’ be announced on December 8th. I’d be more interested in the 245 if it looks like a real sports watch…which it probably won’t.
  • Actually the ONE thing that I probably will get will be a PR/Loan of Hammerhead’s Karoo. I’m apparently on a list somewhere but probably behind Cycling Gadgets Weekly…or someone else who will have conveniently ‘lost it’ by the time my turn comes round.
  • As something to make my cycling life easier I would love some Shimano Di2s. Electornic shifting always sounds very modern and I’ve always been a bit old school. Then again I am getting laughed at quite a lot by ‘friends’ as I clunk through my gears. That might then force me to move to 11-speed cassettes too? That’s 8 more gears than my existing Sturmley Archers 😉

So back to the real world. Things that I really hope to get (aka I know as I bought them for me for others to give to me…sigh) and also some things that I’ve splashed out on this year that are actually quite good and inexpensive that I suppose I am recommending by putting in this list.

  • I’m actually getting one of these believe it or not.


This will definately recharge 10 cycling head units whilst en-route to somewhere over a 5 day trip without electricity. Actually I bought it as my car’s battery is going through a rubbish phase in its life and it looks like it’s also a portable USB charging stick (brick)

 

  • Injinji socks – these are gloves for your feet to run in. Super cool way to significantly reduce those blisters from long runs. Not cheap. Anywhere.

Injinji Running Socks – Finally curing the running socks debacle

  • A new strap – I pimped my 235 to become an imaginary 635 with a change of strap. It made me happy, don’t knock it!

  • STRYD – yeah, sorry. It has to go in the list. Although RunScribe is pretty cool. With RunScribe I’ve been looking at IMPACT forces across different shoes that I use regularly. My least favourite shoes have the lowest impact and might explain why I don’t get injured when I wear them. I think RunScribe have developed a massive database of how shoes affect injuries on certain types of runner. That should be a gold mine for some friendly VC out there.

 

RunScribe Pro Review – Old Model (v2)

 

STRYD Review, 10,000km Update – (Dual-) Running Power ⚡ Pod

 

Garmin Forerunner 955 Review Solar ☀️ the real deal for triathlon

  • Wahoo Elemnt (Review) – Probably the Best Cycling Computer (overall), in my opinion. I’ve finally made the switch and use the larger Elemnt 90% of the time and indoors I use the smaller  Bolt 8% of the time and ‘other’ stuff (2%) other times. Figures approximate, but you get the drift. I like the ‘proper’ cycling device nature of the Elemnt. It’s a tool and not a toy. I’m talking Draper not Silverline…DIYers will understand the analogy.

Wahoo Bolt Review – 2021 new ELEMNT 30 Facts for V2 buyers

 

  • Swimming. I have some interesting swim toys coming for next year. But they are not for this Christmas. More to follow on that later. So what do I say for swimming??? I’ve got some nice big TYR paddles and I like the occasional buoyancy trunk escapade. The HRM-TRI is pretty good if you haven’t got one. Other than that I’m still waiting for the perfect pair of goggles to be invented.

 

▷ Garmin HRM-TRI Review – Triathlon’s Greatest Heart Rate Monitor

 

  • Maybe someone could treat you to a STRAVA premium membership? That’s a handy thing to use some of cycling’s more advanced head unit features. I do get the occasional free 3 month premium membership for the5krunner but, to be honest, I never bother enabling them unless I do a review. I’m not sure I have enough time for STRAVA. Plus, the real reasons, I think that ALL of my obscure KOM/QOMs have now gone. Grrrrr. (I use STRAVA a little as ‘me’ and would pay for my own premium membership…if I had one)

 

STRAVA Premium – Hmmmm. Interesting Freebie

 

  • A Training Peaks membership could be good too. I might use that to create and sync workouts to the Elemnts now that I have mostly figured out how to do it in TP! But the more unusual membership would be for XERT. It’s a thought-provoking platform based loosely on your Maximum Power Available, sort of, rather than FTP. It made me think about power in a more nuanced way than I previously had.

Maximal Power Available (MPA) and Time-to-Exhaustion (TTE) – XERT CIQ apps (Garmin Connect IQ)

  • Oooh! Having just inserted that link for Xert I see it mentions 2XU, I realise that I do have a new pair of 2XU compression tights coming. I just think they look cool and mostly keep me warm. I got these as they have a pocket on the rear. That will probably dig into my back after 2 hours but I think the local burglars have figured out I would otherwise leave my key ‘under the plant pot by the door’

If you can wait for a cople of weeks I should be able to offer some discounts on KYMIRA Performance Compression gear. Let’s see.

  • Running Shoes.I don’t know where I’m going with this aspect of my training kit. I’m not going to write my Waverider 21 review this year and have been favouring New Balance (as mentioned earlier). I’ve tried the adidas Boston and only half got on with those. Further suggestions welcomed.

Mizuno Wave Rider Review – Detailed view of Waverider (* 20 *, 21, 22 similarities)

 

  • This is pretty cool at £140ish. Specialized S-Works Evade Helmet Black (link to: sigma sport again, non affiliate). Maybe as low as £125 if you REALLY shop around.
  • Sungod Sunglasses – Relatively cheap cycling-specific glasses. Lots of ventilation. They have discounts periodically but I guess not now before Xmas. The SunGod PaceBreaker version is the one for cycling.

Bit of a boring present I suppose. Having said that I REALLY have just bought a heated bed sheet. How sad! (But WARM!)

EMFIT REVIEW QS, Gen 2 HRV 💤 Sleep 💤 Monitor, Sleep Tracker [2022 version]

 

Happy Christmas. I hope you get world peace too, although it’s looking less likely by the day.

All together now:

Deck the halls with balls of holly…

Tra la la la la la la la la.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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12 thoughts on “Christmas List – All I want For Christmas is…”

  1. “Garmin 935 Review – I’m already on my second one. If you can afford it then it really is the best triathlon watch. Albeit the wrong shape.”

    I audibly laughed out loud at the “wrong shape.” I think the Sportwatch industry is secretly the Grinch and will never go back to square-faced watches.

    But who knows? The V800 replacement might go square…well more square as the v800 is more a rectangle.

    1. I do understand why you’d prefer a square watch for training … but as an average consumer at the low-end of the running spectrum, I’m quite happy with their decision of going round-shaped. In the 23.5 hours/day when I’m not running i couldn’t wear a square watch.

      1. indeed so.!!
        precisely why they have gone round.

        with all the ‘activity tracking’ and ‘connected’ functinality of a SMART watch (not a sport watch) then BY DEFINITION you have to want to wear the watch all the time. If it’s an ugly watch, aka 920xt, you simply wouldn’t wear it 24×7 and hence not use many of its features. personally i had no issues with the 920 for me as i ONLY used it for sports.
        so…people want pretty round watches and i agree they are prettier.
        just less practical in a sporty sense MUCH of the time for SOME people.
        garmin go for the large market of the majority. everyone else (apart from Fitbit/Polar) seem to have realised the same thing egTomTom realise it too. 🙁

    2. Yeah I’m going to stick with the Ionic just to prove a point

      (although we might argue what the point is 😉 )

      I was interested to read the comments against one of the CIQ apps that crams LOTS of metrics onto one page (i forget the name but it was super popular) Basically it’s awesome on the 920 but less so on the round ones…for obvious geometric reasons. but i think we don’t realise in normal use as 4 metrics are ‘alright’ to fit on either shape of screen.

      1. I use “HR Runner – fenix 5” as my CIQ for running/tracked walks and it crams something like 8 different fields in the watch face. The dev definitely took into account the round face as I personally find it aesthetically pleasing and functional.

        It’s also feature packed With Threshold pace/functional threshold power inputtable (and you can write it to the fit file as an option, though it’s not an option to view as a metric…still need a separate field for STYRD). You can change all the data fields around, display hrTSS, two different kinds of HR threshold methods the data field follows (Joel Friel/Garmin) and the ability to enable race pacing.

        It has never given me an issue….other than resetting the HR method when there has been a update (defaults to Joel Friel). The Hr Zone Shifts are also in real time and color coded with a descriptor to where in the zone you are (Ex: Lower end of your Z4 will display Low Threshold). I probably could use it for other running activities (like trail run or indoor track).

      2. that looks cool. i have to write a ‘best ciq apps’ post at some time. but probably won’t
        i suspect my seemingly failing eyesight could be factor too soon. You know its bad when you consider 3 metrics per page…slippery slope.

    1. a good read I like the app he lists but i wasn’t entirely convinced IN PLACES

      he says 200w is 200w …. it isn’t! I think even Hr Coggan would agree with that, tho lots of other people wouldn’t

      i would prefer to look at power and form power, showing how much total power is increasingly wasted on form as fatigue sets in. this looks much more at athlete specific issues – especially for ‘normal’/non-superhuman runner

      i found the best forecaster of performance was NOT FTP but rather a cp curve produced by GC (TP would be similar) where the main inputs were a good 5k effort, a 10 mile pb and a HM PB: but also all the usual 1/2/5 minute intervals from all regular trainign over the same period. The curve produced for me was pretty accurate (by definition?). IF I had used the FTP as a predictor then the longer run wattages would have been MUCH higher than i could achieve. same is true for me in cycling.

  3. Hi t5kr, long time reader, first time poster. Not sure where else to ask this, but hope my question seemed somewhat appropriate here as I’m trying to decide on a power meter gift for myself. My question is whether you think I would benefit more from dual-sided running power meters (i.e., RunScribe Plus) or a dual-sided bike power meter (e.g., PowerTap P1).

    Just some background about myself. I’m mostly a runner (most marathons, but I do do trail running and plan to get into some ultra running in 2018). I cycle and swim for cross-training and dab a little in triathlons as a result.

    I realize this isn’t much info to go off of, but hoping you could just give me your gut feeling about which would benefit me more. If money were no object, I’d get both, but alas I don’t have a money tree or a golden goose. I know that since I’m mostly a runner the RunScribe Plus might seem like a no brainer, but I’m a bit uncertain since it doesn’t measure force directly like cycling power meters. Hope you don’t mind entertaining my question.

    1. a triathelte would def benefit more from a bike PM. sounds like you’re run focussed so i’d go for a run PM. as of today STRYD is the only one with power and not in beta – if it’s not 100% of the way there its way ahead at 97% 😉 . personally apart from cadence i don’t get much out of the normal runnign metrics (actually same is true of cycling!!) but power IS usesful. if you are into the gait stuff buy runscribe, if you wnat a freebie wait 3 days and i hope you have a good garmin, chekc out compatiabilities. you didn’t say which watch u have.

      read this: https://the5krunner.com/2017/12/01/runpow-runscribe-stryd-review-comparison-features/
      and this: https://the5krunner.com/2017/04/30/stryd-is-it-worth-it/

      1. Thanks for your feedback t5kr! Just to add to my info. My GPS watch is a Garmin 920XT. I have a Wahoo Blue SC sensor on my bike, but no foot pod for running.

        Like you said, I am more run focused. And from your second link, you definitely believe running power is worth it, especially for tackling hills. I do quite a number of hills on my trail runs, so it seem the best way to go for me. (I guess if/when I get more serious about triathlons I can get a bike PM then.)

        From your feedback, it seems you believe STRYD is 97-100% of the way there, and in the first link you describe RunScribe’s power algorithm as being in beta. But in your “Go For Proven Tech?” section, you mention that RunScribe can update via firmware. What I’m wondering now is whether having separate power readings for each foot beneficial for training. So is your recommendation of STRYD more about having usable power readings now versus usable power readings soon?

        I also noticed from your second chart that RunScribe doesn’t take into account air pressure. Would you say that’s another mark against RunScribe? It seems to me that if I’m running the same pace with and without headwind, that with headwind would require more power.

        Thanks for letting me pick your brain! And I’m definitely willing to wait 3 days for whatever freebie you’re hinting at! 🙂

      2. none of them take into account wind ie the power figure will be wrong in wind. argument against that is that wind doesn’t make much difference anyway (i thnk Coggan was one pushing that line)
        the freebie is runpow as per the links. it wont work on your watch. garmin want you to upgrade.
        dual-sided power must ultiamtely be better. currently that runscribe power is only in beta.

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