16 Aug
Blog

Will Your Sport Survive the Pandemic?

When I've asked this question to others, the typical answer I get is always a resounding yes with little thought of a bigger picture. Their passion for the sport determines their response. They would never look at anything else to satisfy their need for training and competition.

Many sports rely on the main events to fuel the continuation of other activities. So what are you going to do now? The costs associated with hosting a race are high despite the opinion of those who pay the high racing fees. Logistically canceling a race still costs money. Some venues, city fees, and local businesses require money cuts and contract signing.

Sport is big business

They also have a business to run and bills to pay and collect. Some host cities may contractually not offer another year, so a rescheduling of the race should be considered. Is the cost involved enough to come from a slush fund or contingency plan without affecting the bottom line?

As a former race director for a non-profit triathlon, we would have been fine for a lot of small upfront costs, but we wouldn't have the same cost as a branded race. Let's say the big races will survive at some level, even if it's not the same as 2019.

Ask yourself this question after thinking about financial sustainability and potential venues issues. Can you continue to train for races that are not happening?? Look inside and evaluate the matter.

Have you fallen into quarantine 15 weight gain or have you been unable to swim at all inland with no pools open? There is potential here not to be racing again until 2021. Admit it. Can you keep exercising for another year without ever testing your fitness or having fun swimming?

Do something else

If you're still reading, you are probably ready to hear this. Do something different:

  • Take up a hobby or a new activity to stay active.
  • Now is the chance for a fresh start.
  • Rediscover the passion for some fun without a competitive advantage.

Imagine enjoying something without being limited to a watch.

  • You said you wanted to do more yoga.
  • You wanted to read more.
  • Try a new sport you didn't have time for before, like paddleboarding.

Do it and when you do something magical will happen.

You will find new joy, give your body a break from training and return to your favorite sport with renewed vigor and enthusiasm. Re-ignite your passion and then you can say your sport can survive the pandemic.

19 Jul
Blog

Why Is There Still Cheating In Sport?

Sports fraud is as old as the beginning of time. We all grew up with the news that a fallen superstar athlete cheated his way to shame, but usually it was always performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) that were the problem. Sooner or later people are always caught. Even Lance Armstrong was found out after many years of testing and denying.

We are now in the age of ordinary fraudsters. Of course, you can argue that the average Joe's uses PEDs, but doesn't get caught. At some events it is simply not logistically possible to test every single athlete – especially if the back-of-the-packers gain nothing by juicing. Nobody cares. Correct?

With all of the technology today, you have to ask yourself how people get away with it. It's also this technology that allows the scammer to find ways to do it – the New Age Lance Armstrong effect, if you like. A timing chip helps us see our race times and whether we have completed the stages of a race by crossing the electronic timing mat. It is not uncommon for there to be a time mat or malfunction of the chip, so the athlete's results will miss large periods of time. This will then be a welcome opportunity for athletes to shorten the course. We all know a man who knows a man who has done this. There's no way of knowing if a mat is out, but scammers aren't known to be honest, so they cut the course and blame the electronics. I suppose it makes them look good to their online peers and haters when they look like they have performed well. This year there was even the story of a woman giving her husband her timing chip and he ended the race for her. She even collected the finisher's medal! That has to be a step further than a "racial bandit" if we want to establish a scale of deception.

Please keep it legitimate

I once saw great Bart Yasso talk about some incredible running races he was involved in. While I was in awe of the first Death Valley race, it was the story of a marathon in a jungle, and it worked well here. He spoke of the indigenous children who stained them with colored dirt at certain points on the course, and when you crossed the finish line, they checked that you had all the colors. If you didn't, you were disqualified. Simple and yet effective.

Do we have to go back in time to make sure people are honest?? Do you care? As someone who has physically and emotionally trained for races and events for hours to undermine my hard work by someone who just looks good and wants to get the medal at all costs, it's annoying to say the least. The only benefit is that there are internet junkies and journalists who are now looking for and screaming for race scams – a little justice in the school yard on social media.

In a contingent pension system, athletes have to pay a fraction of their sports proceeds into a fund that they can only draw from after their career and if they have never been caught doing doping. In theory, this fund has two important advantages over traditional anti-doping measures such as bans and fines. It does not lose its deterrent effect as athletes approach the end of their careers (as opposed to bans), and it can solve the widespread problem that drug fraudsters are often found out much later after detection technology has caught up with doping practices.

-Wu et al., 2020

I have often wondered what the modern solution to this dilemma is. It may be a Garmin Connect report to race directors and finisher statistics, provided there are no problems with service area coverage or tunnels and overpasses. Perhaps a Strava-like app would work, as most people carry their phones for part or all of the race and submission to ensure accuracy. Whatever the solution, I have a feeling that fraud is not waning, it is escalating in ingenuity. Between PEDs, course reduction, chip manipulation and the extremely frequent drawing of bicycles, we reach epidemic proportions. So let's be part of the solution and not just cover our eyes.

reference

18 Jul
Blog

Why Is There Still Cheating In Sport?

Sports fraud is as old as the beginning of time. We all grew up with the news that a fallen superstar athlete cheated his way to shame, but usually it was always performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) that were the problem. Sooner or later people are always caught. Even Lance Armstrong was found out after many years of testing and denying.

We are now in the age of ordinary fraudsters. Of course, you can argue that the average Joe's uses PEDs, but doesn't get caught. At some events it is simply not logistically possible to test every single athlete – especially if the back-of-the-packers gain nothing by juicing. Nobody cares. Correct?

With all of the technology today, you have to ask yourself how people get away with it. It's also this technology that allows the scammer to find ways to do it – the New Age Lance Armstrong effect, if you like. A timing chip helps us see our race times and whether we have completed the stages of a race by crossing the electronic timing mat. It is not uncommon for there to be a time mat or malfunction of the chip, so the athlete's results will miss large periods of time. This will then be a welcome opportunity for athletes to shorten the course. We all know a man who knows a man who has done this. There's no way of knowing if a mat is out, but scammers aren't known to be honest, so they cut the course and blame the electronics. I suppose it makes them look good to their online peers and haters when they look like they have performed well. This year there was even the story of a woman giving her husband her timing chip and he ended the race for her. She even collected the finisher's medal! That has to be a step further than a "racial bandit" if we want to establish a scale of deception.

Please keep it legitimate

I once saw great Bart Yasso talk about some incredible running races he was involved in. While I was in awe of the first Death Valley race, it was the story of a marathon in a jungle, and it worked well here. He spoke of the indigenous children who stained them with colored dirt at certain points on the course, and when you crossed the finish line, they checked that you had all the colors. If you didn't, you were disqualified. Simple and yet effective.

Do we have to go back in time to make sure people are honest?? Do you care? As someone who has physically and emotionally trained for races and events for hours to undermine my hard work by someone who just looks good and wants to get the medal at all costs, it's annoying to say the least. The only benefit is that there are internet junkies and journalists who are now looking for and screaming for race scams – a little justice in the school yard on social media.

In a contingent pension system, athletes have to pay a fraction of their sports proceeds into a fund that they can only draw from after their career and if they have never been caught doing doping. In theory, this fund has two important advantages over traditional anti-doping measures such as bans and fines. It does not lose its deterrent effect as athletes approach the end of their careers (as opposed to bans), and it can solve the common problem that drug fraudsters are often found out much later after detection technology has caught up with doping practices.

-Wu et al., 2020

I have often wondered what the modern solution to this dilemma is. It may be a Garmin Connect report to race directors and finisher statistics, provided there are no problems with service area coverage or tunnels and overpasses. Perhaps a Strava-like app would work, as most people carry their phones for part or all of the race and submission to ensure accuracy. Whatever the solution, I have a feeling that fraud is not waning, it is escalating in ingenuity. Between PEDs, course reduction, chip manipulation and the extremely frequent drawing of bicycles, we reach epidemic proportions. So let's be part of the solution and not just cover our eyes.

reference

11 Jun
Blog

Stop Overdoing Sport Specific Training

For most lifters, specificity is an overused training philosophy. I know this is a controversial statement in strength training communities, but I'm still not sorry I said it. It's the truth, and this quarantine gives us a unique moment to test this theory.

Let's talk about what specificity is. In short, it is the training principle that states that you improve a particular skill by performing that skill, not other related exercises, but repeatedly perfecting that particular thing. If it is not yet clear, I believe that the specificity in strength circles has become too dogmatic.

When specificity is needed

But the people who benefit from the specificity are top athletes who have to be exceptionally good at their sport. This applies to elite weight lifters and powerlifters as well as elite sprinters and professional running backs. Most athletes that fit in this category already have solid overall strength, are genetically freaked out, and physically fit for their sport. The only thing left to do is to become more and more efficient with details.

But just liking a sport or even being good at one doesn't make you a top athlete who needs to be overly specific in your training. And I would argue that even the best lifters could benefit from spending some time building non-specific power. The problem is that they never listen.

When the gyms were closed

But one day when we Americans thought we had found out everything, the government decided to shut down the country, including our beloved gyms, and no dumbbells were found at once. There are no garage gyms here in NYC, so we all had to lift in our tiny NYC apartments. This meant that my gym had to transform from a barbell gym to a kettlebell, barbell, and odd object gym overnight. But that was a blessing in disguise.

So what we did differently from most others is that we didn't kill people with senseless metcons.

When Yuri Verkoshansky said, "Any idiot can make another idiot tired." We believed him.

So we threw burpees overboard in favor of light speed work. We focused on individual limb movements and trunk stability work as well as sensible, measurable methods to improve the condition of our athletes. At times, this included things like AMAP sets, which were not used as finishers, but rather were incorporated into training cycles aimed at building up work capacities. There is a difference.

More important than anything else, we have developed programming that targets where we knew our lifters were defective. By definition, these movements are not specific. But I'm going to tell you what's going to happen, not because I'm a clairvoyant, but because I've been here for a while. You will come back better.

To be able to better define it, we have to be clear: these athletes have neither additional weight for their primary lifts nor larger muscles. That doesn't mean better here. What will be better is that they return to training with:

The long-lasting effect of this phenomenon is that in the long run they become better, healthier and, yes, stronger. Not seeing training in this regard means neglecting one of the most basic principles of human strength.

We can only accumulate until we need a delay. This should be done in your training at both the micro and macro levels. So let's do a favor and Use this time to do what we should have done a long time ago – stop exaggerating the details.

If you are in New York or are ever in the area, drop by and visit me at JDI Barbell, one of the few standalone barbell boxing gyms in town.

10 Jun
Blog

Stop Overdoing Sport Specific Training

For most lifters, specificity is an overused training philosophy. I know this is a controversial statement in strength training communities, but I'm still not sorry I said it. It's the truth, and this quarantine gives us a unique moment to test this theory.

Let's talk about what specificity is. In short, it is the training principle that says you master a certain skill better by performing that skill, not other related exercises, but repeatedly perfecting that particular thing. If it is not yet clear, I believe that the specificity in strength circles has become too dogmatic.

When specificity is needed

But the people who benefit from the specificity are top athletes who have to be exceptionally good at their sport. This applies to elite weight lifters and powerlifters as well as elite sprinters and professional running backs. Most athletes that fit in this category already have solid overall strength, are genetically freaked out, and physically fit for their sport. The only thing left to do is to become more and more efficient with details.

But just liking a sport or even being good at it doesn't make you a top athlete who needs to be too specific in your training. And I would argue that even the best lifters could benefit from spending some time building non-specific power. The problem is that they never listen.

When the gyms were closed

But one day when we Americans thought we had found out everything, the government decided to shut down the country, including our beloved gyms, and no dumbbells were found at once. There are no garage gyms here in NYC, so we all had to lift in our tiny NYC apartments. This meant that my gym had to transform from a barbell gym to a kettlebell, barbell, and odd object gym overnight. But that was a blessing in disguise.

So what we did differently from most others is that we didn't kill people with senseless metcons.

When Yuri Verkoshansky said, "Any idiot can make another idiot tired." We believed him.

So we threw burpees overboard in favor of light speed work. We focused on individual limb movements and trunk stability work as well as sensible, measurable methods to improve the condition of our athletes. At times, this included things like AMAP sets, which were not used as finishers, but were incorporated into training cycles that were aimed at building up work capacities. There is a difference.

More important than anything else, we have developed programming that targets where we knew our lifters were defective. By definition, these movements are not specific. But I'm going to tell you what's going to happen, not because I'm a clairvoyant, but because I've been here for a while. You will come back better.

To be able to better define it, we have to be clear: these athletes have neither additional weight for their primary lifts nor larger muscles. That doesn't mean better here. What will be better is that they return to training with:

The long-lasting effect of this phenomenon is that in the long run they become better, healthier and, yes, stronger. Not seeing training in this regard means neglecting one of the most basic principles of human strength.

We can only accumulate until we need a delay. This should be done in your training at both the micro and macro levels. So let's do a favor and Use this time to do what we should have done a long time ago – stop exaggerating the details.

If you are in New York or are ever in the area, drop by and visit me at JDI Barbell, one of the few standalone barbell boxing gyms in town.

03 Jun
Blog

Adidas RPT-01 Sport Headphones Review: Fitness Functionality

Adidas RPT-01

"The Adidas RPT-01 are almost exclusively dedicated to fitness lovers."

  • 40 hours of battery life

  • IPX4 waterproof

  • Built to last

  • Easy to use controls

  • Instructions for conflicting setup

  • Tight fit

  • Narrow audio range

The $ 169 RPT-01 Sport on-ear headphones from Adidas differ in several ways from the competition, from their functionality to the fabric in which they are wrapped. Sometimes these differences help and sometimes they hurt. It depends on who is wearing them. Athletes may love what these fitness-oriented headphones have to offer, but the occasional listener may not be as receptive.

Out of the box

The headphones are carefully shipped in a black Adidas box. Except for a USB-C charging cable and the standard manufacturer documentation, nothing else is included. The RPT-01 headphones come without a carrying case or carrying case, which is disappointing.

Adidas RPT-01 headphonesNick Woodard / Digital Trends

The setup was a bit strange. The quick start guide tells you to hold down the Control Jog button (on the right ear cup – and yes, that's the official name that Adidas used for it) for 2 seconds to turn the headphones on and put them on in pairing mode. Mode. I haven't been able to put these headphones into pairing mode for my whole life – at least not at first.

After downloading the Adidas headphone app, I was shown slightly changed pairing instructions. The app prompts you to hold the button for 4 seconds, not 2 seconds, to activate the Bluetooth pairing. It's a fraction of a difference, but apparently an important one.

The RPT-01 has built-in Bluetooth 5 technology, and under normal circumstances the connection was solid. Unfortunately, the connection range was average at best. While jogging with my fiancé, she wore the headphones that were connected to my phone and that I carried in a belt pouch.

With most of the earphones I've tested, it can leave me in the dust and still maintain a tight connection. With these, she would be about 15 to 20 feet away before encountering connection problems. This is surprising since we were without obstacles outside.

design

Design is what distinguishes these cans. They do not use plastic or silicone material for their outer cup or ribbon as you would expect. Instead, the headphones are covered with a mesh fabric, with the exception of the inner band. The fabric is not the softest material out there and doesn't provide the most aesthetic look.

Adidas RPT-01 headphonesNick Woodard / Digital Trends

However, it is well suited for the RPT-01 target group: athletes. The ear cushions and the inner band are washable, which can prove helpful after more intensive training sessions. While these headphones are not soft, they feel durable and give the impression that they can easily cope with countless hours in the gym.

Thanks to the guidelines on social distancing, I still haven't returned to the Eisenkirche, so I can't say how well the RPT-01 does when lifting. In the few runs I brought them with, they did well. They are of course heavier than a real wireless earphone alternative, but at 209 grams they are not heavy enough to significantly impair your cardio session. As a reference, one of the most comparable alternatives, the JBL UA Sport Wireless Train, weighs considerably more at 240 grams.

However, I felt that they were aggressive on my admittedly big head. It's better than being too loose, but if I didn't use them primarily for sports, the pressure would eventually become a nuisance.

properties

I am convinced that all headphones and earphones should have a certain water resistance, as they are more and more connected to our everyday life. This applies twice to products that are intended for exercise. Thankfully, the RPT-01 does not disappoint with an IPX4 rating that provides welding and splash protection. The JBL counterpart has the same degree of protection.

Adidas RPT-01 headphonesNick Woodard / Digital Trends

The RPT-01's battery life is impressive, and according to Adidas it offers 40 hours of playback time. If you've only used it for exercise and haven't spent an eternity in the Dwayne Johnson weight room, you may want to top it up about once a month.

Of course, at this price, you probably want to get your money's worth and wear it when you're not pumped up. I had almost a week's work with the RPT-01 and I still have to join for a fee. That's some firm juice for the cost. In particular, both the JBL Train and the more expensive Train Project Rock only offer 16 hours of playback between charges.

I enjoyed the functionality of the "Control Jog" button on the right cup of the RPT-01, which allowed me to pause and resume the music by pressing it regularly. I could skip tracks by switching to the right or left, and switching up and down provided volume. In a world where we too often succumbed to the confusion of multi-pressure functions, this was an easy-to-use breath of fresh air.

Speaking of multiple presses: there is an action button on the left cup. Your preferred voice assistant is called up by pressing once. To my understanding, these can be Google Assistant, Apple's Siri, and Amazon Alexa. Using the Adidas app, which I found surprisingly useful overall, you can program double tap and triple tap functions to access specific playlists, artists or albums via Spotify. This is a nice feature as long as you are a subscriber.

Audio quality

The RPT-01 is primarily a fitness headphone. When it comes to training, it's typical to hear something positive with generous portions of low-end sound.

Adidas RPT-01 headphonesNick Woodard / Digital Trends

Adidas seems to know its audience, because this is where the RPT-01 feels most comfortable. Scrolling through most of the popular Workify workout playlists has shown this, with highlights like Migos & # 39; Walk It Talk It highlighted. The RPT-01 have an abundance of bass and are not afraid to share them.

However, if you move away from the workout playlists, some sound flaws will become apparent. They are still reasonably clear and casual listeners shouldn't have any problems with the audio, but all of these bass-heavy choices hide an average midrange that leaves much to be desired when trying a wider range of music. Overall, these headphones sound good, but they may not be able to satisfy those who are looking for really great sound in different genres.

The app has an equalizer function with various presets to fix the problem, as well as a custom preset that allows you to adjust the frequencies to your liking. I also felt that the built-in microphone did its job well enough when I answered calls. Active noise cancellation would have been desirable at this price, but it is not a requirement.

Our opinion

The Adidas RPT-01 are exactly what I thought – headphones that are almost exclusively dedicated to the gymnastics rats of the world and offer the ideal functions. They just don't pile up very well outside the practice room.

Are there any better alternatives?

The $ 160 JBL UA Sport Wireless Train comes closest to Adidas in price and design, but doesn't have the RPT-01's battery power and only has built-in Bluetooth 4.1 technology. If you don't need headphones to break a sweat, both the $ 200 Razer Opus and the Sony WH-CH710N for $ 199 would be compelling options.

How long will they last?

Adidas built these headphones to accommodate everything fitness enthusiasts can throw at them. So expect them to have some stamina.

Should you buy them

Yes. The design and audio quality may not be translated outside of training, but they are not designed for that. The RPT-01 Sport are headphones for fitness and fit well in this shape.

Editor's recommendations




26 Apr
Blog

Garmin Venu Review: A Great Balance of Sport and Everyday

Garmin Venu review 13

"The Garmin Venu is a solid fitness tracker, but its beautiful AMOLED display is the killer feature."

  • AMOLED display

  • Activity tracking

  • Training animations

  • Many sensors

  • Lack of detailed fitness indicators

  • Lack of space

The line between a smartwatch and a fitness watch continues to dissolve every day.

It used to be that if you are interested in fitness, you get a dedicated, nondescript fitness tracker with a super simple dot matrix display (I'm looking at you, Nike FuelBand). Then Apple came out with her watch and I remember how silly it sounded. I mean, I already had a smartphone – wasn't a smartwatch a little superfluous?

Oh, how times are changing, and there is no better example of watch development than the Venu from Garmin.

display

The Venu is basically the same as the Vivoactive 4 – a multisport smartwatch that still has all the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections required for Android and Apple notifications. However, the Venu has a significant difference in its display.

The AMOLED display of the Venu with 390 x 390 pixels blows the 260 x 260 MIP display of the Vivoactive out of the water. While their physical sizes are similar at 1.2 inches and 1.3 inches, respectively, the Venu's screen shows a much sharper picture with darker blacks and a range of colors that are surprisingly vivid.

The newly discovered vibrancy of the Venu is underlined by its active graphics and dials, which are far better than most Garmin wearables. The Venu heart rate chart alone is a rainbow of colors that made me do a workout just to make my metrics more fun.

Battery life

The only downside to the AMOLED display is its battery drain, and you will most likely be frustrated if you don't immediately change the dial setting to "always on".

I tried to live with the Venu in its default setting, which turns the display off automatically to see if the battery life information is correct. Garmin claims 5 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and 6 days in GPS mode, or up to 20 days when both modes are turned off.

Still, it only took me two days to get angry at shaking my wrist like a crazy person to make the display glow. As a result, I've set the display to stay on.

The penalty for switching is a longer drain on battery life, but I've still seen a little over 3 days of life with workouts a day, so this seemed like a worthwhile trade to keep my mental health.

design

The Venu doesn't want to weigh things down and has only 43 grams and a body of 43.2 x 43.2 x 12.4 mm. The size took a few days to get used to big clocks. This may be a deal breaker for some, but with the Venu's sharp display, I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

One of the best things about the Venu is that it has a touchscreen display. This makes for a more intuitive experience when scrolling through activities and daily statistics. With two physical buttons on the side, the Venu offers a satisfactory medium of universal usability and familiarity for existing Garmin users.

Venu's usability is enhanced by adding Garmin Pay for contactless payments and storing up to 500 songs. That number seems a bit low compared to Venu's competitors, but since you can stream Spotify, Amazon Music, or Deezer, that's not a big deal.

In addition to these features, the Venu has a calendar, weather, music controls for your smartphone and all the notifications you can ever request. While the usual "smart" features are covered, fitness tracking is where the Venu shines (and all of Garmin's previous experiences come into play).

Fitness tracking

Garmin loaded the Venu with sensors. On board are a GPS, a heart rate monitor, a barometric altimeter, a compass, a gyroscope, an accelerometer and a pulse oximeter. This is almost the same sensor array as the high-end Fenix ​​6 Pro, which also includes a thermometer.

All this sensitivity enables automated goals. The Venu learns your activity levels and begins setting daily goals based on your current activity. It can also record calories burned, climbed floors, minutes of intensity, VO2 max and estimates of energy and stress levels.

With all of these follow-ups, the Venu creates a fairly well-rounded view of your overall health and fitness. This is the metric ecosystem that die-hard Garmin fans have come to know and love over the years. With every firmware update they become more and more precise.

The core competencies of Venu are in the usual suspects when running, swimming and cycling. Running has pace and cadence tracking. While swimming, stroke, Swolf score, time and distance alarms are displayed. Cycling has triggers for distance, time, and calories burned, as well as the ability to connect to Garmin's Varia radar and lights.

I had no problems keeping track of runs or rides I did. However, when it came to connecting the Venu to my indoor cycling trainer, it made a connection, but never realized that I was pedaling. This wasn't necessary since the Venu still had my heart rate data and I was tracking the distance with Zwift. But there were some strange training logs that showed 0.00 miles.

Guided workouts

Venu is not just about tracking what you do. It can also guide you through training.

The most interesting are the animations available for yoga, pilates, strength and cardio. There are several training routines available, but you can also create your own workouts.

These animations are helpful because you are asked to try something different. It felt a bit awkward at first when I tried to keep an eye on the watch for the next yoga pose. Over time, however, I learned when to look at the watch and focus on my shape.

Once you have completed an activity, the Venu estimates your sweat loss based on the measurement data it has collected. I am a little doubtful of how accurate this value is, but after a little effort I thought about my hydration.

After a three kilometer walk, the Venu estimated that I had lost 201 ml. It's not much, but the memory that I could have a drink was a welcome piece of mindfulness.

Stat tracking

For the stat junkies, the Venu has the all-important VO2 maximum score. Your VO2 max is essentially a measure of how well your body uses oxygen and a relatively accurate way to measure your basic aerobic fitness.

Real VO2 max tests are done by putting maximum effort into it while monitoring your oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide emissions with lots of tubes and expensive looking medical devices. I am highly doubtful whether the Venu can keep up with the validity of a real VO2 max test, but most people will never do the utmost to do a real test, so the Venu estimate must be enough.

HR zones are what most people will look out for, but I've missed having more advanced metrics.

Unfortunately, the Venu lacks other key figures that will interest real fitness junkies. Are you interested in your current training or training status, whether you are doing basic or threshold training or monitoring your weekly training load? Then move on, because the Venu has none of it.

The Venu has heart rate zones to control effort during exercise. HR zones are what most people will look out for, but I've missed having more advanced metrics.

I also missed the route finding. Navigating the Garmin Fenix ​​6 Pro is one of the most powerful features. The Venu, on the other hand, only keeps track of where you went and has no idea how to say where to go. The only exception is golf, as the Venu has access to 41,000 courses that can be downloaded via the Garmin Connect app.

While the lack of navigation is kind of a mess, the Venu continues its list of features with elements like a sleep monitor to track your REM and deep sleep, and event detection that automatically sends your location to certain contacts when it detects a crash during a bike ride.

guarantee

Standard 1 year product guarantee.

Our opinion

The Venu has a solid list of features that are suitable for the vast majority of people who are fitness aficionados but not fanatical. While you may miss out on some navigation and detailed training metrics, the Venu's streamlined design and beautiful touchscreen is worth the $ 350 price tag, and if you find it for sale, it's all the more worth it.

Is there a better alternative?

The obvious alternative is the Apple Watch Series 5 for $ 400. When the App Store is available, the Apple Watch is extremely hard to beat if you're already an iPhone user. However, Garmin's experience with fitness and Venu's touchscreen makes it a viable option for anyone who isn't yet fully immersed in the Apple ecosystem.

How long it will take?

Garmin is robust as nail products, but the Venu doesn't have a raised bezel, so scratches on the Gorilla Glass Screen are more likely than usual. That means the Venu should last for at least several years.

Should you buy it

Yes, if you use an Android phone. If you already have an iPhone, you can raise the extra money for the Apple Watch Series 5 as it is a better choice by integrating it into the iPhone.

Editor's recommendations




24 Apr
Blog

2020 Lexus LS 500 F Sport AWD Review: F Is For Fast

2020 Lexus LS 500 F Sport AWD

2020 Lexus LS 500 F Sport AWD review: Comfortable chair

"The 2020 Lexus LS 500 is as fast as a sports car and as comfortable as your living room."

  • Impressive acceleration

  • Striking exterior

  • Well-designed interior

  • Handles well for a large car

  • No Android car

  • Cumbersome infotainment interface

  • Inconspicuous driver assistance technology

With the 2020 LS 500, Lexus lets hair hang. The original Lexus LS shocked the world with its amazing build quality and reliability at a lower price than a comparable Mercedes-Benz or BMW of the time. The first LS proved to be fairly bulletproof, with one example collecting 1 million miles. However, luxury car purchases are inherently irrational, so Lexus needed cars that could appeal to both the heart and the head.

The LS has been redesigned for the 2018 model year and has been given a more expressive exterior and interior design to give it a distinctive personality that earlier generations of this large sedan lacked. The LS also received a technical and performance upgrade to keep pace with competitors like the Audi A8, the BMW 7 Series, and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

Our test car was a 2020 Lexus LS 500 with the optional performance package F Sport and all-wheel drive (rear-wheel drive is standard). As tested, the car had a sticker price of $ 89,555, about $ 13,000 more than a base model.

2020 Lexus LS 500 F Sport AWD

Design and interior

Like other current Lexus models (and those of the parent company Toyota), the 2020 LS 500 tries very hard not to get bored. From the massive spindle grill to headlights that look as if they were designed by Zorro, the LS 500 stands out in a way that its German competitors don't. In contrast to the LS of the previous generation, in which many of these style elements were taken up later, the exterior of the 2020 model also works as a coherent whole.

The interior is even better. Not only does it have a distinctive look, with aluminum trim parts flowing over the dashboard and hand-folded pleats on the doors, but the materials are top-notch. Almost everything you touch is real metal or leather. Lexus has skipped the traditional wood paneling of our performance-oriented F-Sport test car, but is available as an option.

The interior is also cavernous, but that's expected in this segment. As spacious as the Lexus is, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and the Audi A8 offer more headroom at the front and rear. The Audi also has a bit more leg room in the front, while the BMW 7 Series has more leg room and a larger trunk.

The LS 500 stands out in a way that its German competitors don't.

Technology, infotainment and driver assistance

Lexus hit the design but missed the technical goal. The infotainment system includes a central 12.3-inch screen and a digital instrument cluster (our test car also had the optional head-up display). The graphics were clear and easy to read, but everything is controlled via the cumbersome Remote Touch Interface trackpad.

This interface is similar to a laptop, in which the driver has to move a cursor over the screen. While Lexus has made some improvements over previous versions (the latest version supports handwriting recognition), the trackpad is still difficult to use while driving.

By default, the LS is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Amazon Alexa, but not with Android Auto. Some Lexus models have received Android Auto for the 2020 model year, so it is possible that the feature will be added to the LS in the future. However, Lexus has not discussed a fixed schedule.

2020 Lexus LS 500 F Sport AWDStephen Edelstein / Digital Trends

An unusual feature that Lexus included was a CD player that has disappeared from most other new cars. The Lexus SC 430 was the last car to be sold in the US with a tape recorder. So Lexus clearly has a soft spot for the media.

Like most other models from the Japanese automaker, the 2020 LS 500 comes standard with the Lexus Safety System + 2.0 package of driver aids. These include autonomous emergency braking, traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control, automatic high beam, a lane departure warning and a lane tracking assistant that offers small steering inputs to keep the car centered on its lane. Regardless of this package, monitoring of the blind spot, warning of cross traffic at the rear and parking assistance are also standard on the 2020 LS 500.

Driver aids are fairly simple compared to other luxury car manufacturers. For example, the LS can recognize stop signs, but the Audi A8 knows when the traffic lights change (at least in 30 cities with the necessary infrastructure). The lane tracking assistant struggled with even the smoothest bends on highways and tumbled drunk from one side of the lane to the other. The adaptive cruise control had problems maintaining a set speed. When going downhill, it relied too much on engine brakes to slow the car down, and let the speed increase a few miles an hour before finally slowing down. It is a low-resolution version of the experience you have with one of the German alternatives.

2020 Lexus LS 500 F Sport AWD

Experience behind the wheel

Turn off the driver aids and the 2020 Lexus LS 500 is in its element. Lexus has steadily improved the driving dynamics of its cars, and the LS 500 shows how far the automaker has come.

Under the hood (and a large plastic engine cover) sits a 3.5-liter V6 with two turbochargers that delivers 416 horsepower and 424 pound-feet of torque. The V6 is coupled with a 10-speed automatic transmission with standard rear-wheel drive or the optional all-wheel drive of our test car.

Lexus said that rear-wheel drive models will go from zero to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds. That said, this 4,900-pound sedan is faster than a basic Porsche Cayman. It is also faster than the basic versions of the Audi A8, the BMW 7 Series and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and is connected to the V8-BMW 750i. However, the Germans offer other variants of their large sedans with more power and faster acceleration.

Lexus hit the design but missed the technical goal.

Our test car was an F Sport model, which was equipped with adaptive suspension and larger brakes to improve handling. F Sport models don't get the same upgrades as Lexus F-bore full-bore models, but this LS 500 did pretty well with what it had.

The car always felt like the big, heavy sedan, but the F Sport suspension made it somewhat maneuverable in corners. The engine was one of the most powerful turbo six-cylinder we have ever seen. He felt like he had a few more cylinders. If big cars are like boats, this is more of a guided missile cruiser than an ocean liner.

Even in normal mode, the ride was not as smooth as we would expect from cars in this segment. This could be due to the chassis tuning and the 20-inch wheels of our test car. However, the compromise between driving quality and handling seemed reasonable.

2020 Lexus LS 500 F Sport AWD

Fuel consumption and security

All-wheel drive 2020 Lexus LS 500 models like our test car are rated at 21 mpg (18 mpg city, 27 mpg highway), while rear-wheel drive models with 23 mpg (19 mpg city, 30) do slightly better at mpg highway). The ratings are pretty close to the petrol versions of the Audi A8, the BMW 7 Series and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. We drove an average of 15.5 mpg over a week (according to the car's on-board computer), but the average fell around 11 mpg when driving around town.

Lexus also offers an LS hybrid of up to 28 mpg, which, however, offers significantly less power than the non-hybrid model. Audi, BMW and Mercedes offer plug-in hybrid drives with even higher fuel efficiency.

If big cars are like boats, this is more of a guided missile cruiser than an ocean liner.

The 2020 Lexus LS has received no crash test ratings from the Road Safety Insurance Institute (IIHS) or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This is usually the case with high-end, low-volume cars.

Lexus offers a four-year basic warranty of 50,000 miles and a six-year warranty of 70,000 miles for the drive train. The LS has built its reputation on unparalleled reliability, and Lexus still has a pretty good reputation in this area.

How DT would configure this car

It can raise the price by $ 6,000, but the F Sport package seems like a good investment. The adaptive suspension enlivens handling, and improved brakes are always a plus with such a heavy car. F Sport models also get comfortable but heavily padded front seats, which are a good alternative to the crowded sofa cushions of some other luxury cars. The head-up display ($ 1,200) and the Mark Levinson audio system with 23 speakers ($ 1,940) would complete our hypothetical LS build.

Our opinion

The 2020 Lexus LS 500 has a powerful turbo engine and a well-designed interior that makes for a very luxurious experience, although competitors offer better technology. Lexus needs to get rid of the chunky trackpad interface and update the driver aids. The original LS hybrid was one of the first traditional luxury cars with electrification. Audi, BMW and Mercedes are now offering plug-in hybrids. The F Sport model is sporty, but not as sporty as the top versions of the German sedans.

Lexus gave the LS a soul, but now he has to give the car a technical upgrade. The infotainment system and driver aids are the most imperfect areas, but it would also be nice to see a full-fledged F-performance model or plug-in hybrid or fully electric powertrain options. These changes would make the LS from a good car to a great one. Nevertheless, the Lexus LS 500 sends you down the road like a rocket ship and still offers you comfort. That will definitely appeal to many buyers.

Should you get one?

Yes. The 2020 Lexus LS is luxury with personality.

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