Top all-time · #548
DC Rainmaker
Personal blog · dcrainmaker.comhardwarehealth
DC Rainmaker is a personal blog at dcrainmaker.com about hardware and health. Since 2010, 106 different Hacker News readers have linked it 182 times, most often “DC Rainmaker: Apple Watch Ultra In-Depth Review”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
Sometimes recommended · 7 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Ray Maker's DC Rainmaker for in-depth, detailed reviews of fitness and sports tech. It is valued for accuracy, and for impartiality since the reviewer returns products to manufacturers.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures.
Most-linked posts?
- /2020/05/whoop-3-platform-review.html3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-08-27
- DC Rainmaker: Apple Watch Ultra In-Depth Review3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2022-09-25
- Shimano Forces Hammerhead to Remove All Di2 Related Functionality From Karoo3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-06-03
- Diving with the Apple Watch Ultra and Oceanic+ App: Everything You Need to Know3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-11-28
- /2014/07/hands-on-backtracker-radar.html3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2014-08-03
- Coros Confirms Substantial Watch Security Vulnerablity: Says Fixes Are Coming3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2025-06-30
- /2025/03/komoot-acquired-history-says-this-wont-end-well.html3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2025-03-21
- Astounding Data Stream Hack Gets UCI World Championship Qualifier Banned2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-12-08
- Strava cuts off leaderboard for free users, reduces third party apps2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-05-18
- EU regs get Garmin to add encryption to HR strap data2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-01-07
What Hacker News says?
Calls? Or just emergency texts? The closest thing to what you probably want is the Garmin Forerunner 945 LTE: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/698632 Discontinued, but young for Garmin devices and still available if you're willing to pay irrational amounts of money. It doesn't make audio calls out, but can receive audio messages (to Bluetooth headphones) and send/receive "emergency" text messages either to the Garmin…
Comment linking /2021/06/garmin-forerunner-945-depth-review.html
on “Two new PebbleOS watches”Submitted Strava cuts off Relive as a story · 414 points
HN discussionThat's hardly true, the two devices have very different purposes. I couldn't run an ultramarathon (or even a shorter trail race) in an apple watch. That's before we even start talking about features. The battery would die long before I finish. The FR945 that was released this year has far more features than the apple watch (including the emergency features). Even comparing the Apple Watch 4 to my FR935 (released in…
Comment linking /product-comparison-calculator?type=watch&ids=91895%2C102074%2C72457%2C97965
on “Bike crash left Spokane man unconscious, so his Apple Watch called 911”Submitted Shimano Forces Hammerhead to Remove All Di2 Related Functionality From Karoo as a story · 257 points
HN discussionhttps://www.dcrainmaker.com/ - DCRainmaker is THE run/bike/swim tech reviewer. Extremely in depth reviews with lots of pictures of any and every major tech device that hits the fitness world. https://weatherwest.com/ - In depth explanations of mostly California weather phenomena and medium term predictions.
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Favorite Blogs by Individuals?”Submitted 2021 GPS Accuracy Issue Impacting Some Garmin, Suunto, other GPS Devices as a story · 227 points
HN discussionTimex makes a $120 GPS Ironman R300. It's apparently a Huami/Amazfit backend. I've been very pleased with it. Great battery life, even with GPS while running. I found it comparable to Garmins in that respect. The chunky looks could turn people off, but I prefer ugly retro-looking stuff :) Edit: here is DC rainmaker's review https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/06/timex-r300-gps-smartwatc...
Comment linking /2020/06/timex-r300-gps-smartwatch-review.html
on “Open Source Smartwatch”Submitted Strava cuts off leaderboard for free users, reduces third party apps as a story · 149 points
HN discussionPlenty of mass-market devices with round screen. Heres a 3+ year old Garmin watch with touch and pixel-based round screen: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/images/2011/04/IMG_0486A-720x479....
Comment linking /images/2011/04/IMG_0486A-720x479.jpg
on “Moto 360”Submitted The Begining of the End for ANT+ Wireless as a story · 109 points
HN discussionFrom the canonical source of all questions fitness watch related: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/04/suunto-ambit2-review.html > Note that the ANT and ANT+ transmission protocols that the Ambit2 utilizes to transmit heart rate don’t transmit well underwater (about 1-2”), thus, you won’t get any heart rate data. I believe Polar's ultrasonic sound transmission is still the only one which works reliably underwater.
Comment linking /2013/04/suunto-ambit2-review.html
on “A Watch Guy's Thoughts on the Apple Watch After Seeing It in the Metal”Submitted Strava abruptly ends 3rd party data sync to Apple Health as a story · 94 points
HN discussionI trust DC Rainmaker's reviews of fitness tech products because he always returns products back to the manufacturers after writing reviews. So there's no conflict of interest based on free products. https://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-reviews
Comment linking /product-reviews
on “Search engines and SEO spam”Submitted Apple’s satellite emergency SOS feature: A review and deep-dive explainer as a story · 63 points
HN discussionTo give context to nailer's succinct answer: some of fitness technology covered by DCRainmaker [1] works well with iOS/Android apps like Garmin Connect or Fitbit. This covers both continuous trackers that do not have GPS as well as the very large ecosystem of BLE sensors for runners/bikers/hikers. I also need/want a device capable of 911 emergency calls for both away-from-home and electricity/Internet-outage scenari…
Comment linking /
on “Palm – The best small phone for minimalists, athletes, and kids”Submitted Strava Just Sued Garmin: Demands Garmin Stop Selling Devices as a story · 38 points
HN discussionRead reviews on DC Rainmaker. I've purchased several devices based on reviews there. They're very detailed and accurate in my experience. https://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-reviews/garmin
Comment linking /product-reviews/garmin
on “Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit”Submitted Strava's Big Changes Aim to Kill Off Apps as a story · 14 points
HN discussionThe other side of that is that there are many non-Alzheimer's causes of dementia in elderly patients. If a patient has dementia symptoms (along with a bunch of other problems) it can be really difficult for doctors to diagnose the root cause. For example my grandma's mental capacity was slowly deteriorating and they eventually determined it was because her bone marrow wasn't producing enough red blood cells, thus re…
Comment linking /2016/09/bsx-announces-kickstarter-for-new-lvl-band-wearable-hydration-sensor.html
on “Why I’m Digging Deep Into Alzheimer’s”Submitted Strava Bans User for Running in North Korea as a story · 13 points
HN discussionI'm also a fan of Garmin smartwatches, they have some amazing functionality and are serious tools for athletes and outdoorsmen. But they are handicapped by glitchy software. https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/06/competitor-software-inst...
Comment linking /2019/06/competitor-software-instability.html
on “Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?”Submitted Strava bans user for running in North Korea as a story · 11 points
HN discussionYes, and better than that, most new Garmin watches can also store several GB of music on the device itself and play it over Bluetooth headphones, no need to carry your phone with you. Watches are a strange sort of luxury good, where some people will pay thousands of dollars, and Garmin aggressively price-segments their products. Use this comparison tool to see the different features: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/prod…
Comment linking /product-comparison-calculator
on “Over 16k people still use a Pebble smartwatch”Submitted Zwift Cancels Smart Bike Hardware Plans, Announces Significant Layoffs as a story · 11 points
HN discussionI believe the Fenix 2 has already replaced it - http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/03/garmin-fenix2-multisport....
Comment linking /2014/03/garmin-fenix2-multisport.html
on “The Apple Watch”Submitted Strava Raises Prices but Can’t Tell You How Much It Costs Anymore as a story · 10 points
HN discussionStryd, Boulder, CO, Techstars Boulder 2015 | Hardware/Firmware engineer http://www.stryd.com Stryd is a talented, multidisciplinary team that is enthusiastic about creating the future of wearable technology for runners. By using Stryd, runners can train effectively, race strategically, and unleash their full potential. We just released a new product that detects the air resistance the runner needs to overcome during…
Comment linking /2019/06/testing-in-the-wind-tunnel-with-stryds-new-running-power-meter.html
on “Ask HN: Who is hiring? (July 2019)”Submitted GoPro Announces New ‘Open GoPro’ API for 3rd Party Apps/Devices as a story · 7 points
HN discussionDCRainmaker has a specific guide for a range of Garmin watches and machines - https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/07/how-to-upload-your-garmi...
Comment linking /2020/07/how-to-upload-your-garmin-workout-during-the-outage.html
on “On Liberating My Smartwatch from Cloud Services”Submitted 85% of Komoot staff being let go after being sold to Bending Spoons as a story · 5 points
HN discussion
