I've been researching the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver
, because I'm looking to buy a fitness gadget to help me re-establish and improve my cardio fitness after having two (2) major surgeries this year.I really like to walk and we have a number of areas in our neighborhood that are perfect for fitness walking, so I started looking at running GPS navigators to help me reach my cardio fitness goal.
I'm considering the Garmin Forerunner 305 because, from everything I've read about it so far, it's probably the most well known and popular GPS gadgets for runners sold on the market today. This GPS receiver sports a wide range of features that go beyond just basic tracking functions, especially when connected to your computer for detailed statistics.
But before I go out and buy one, I need to know if it really lives up to all the claims or is it just a lot of hype.
Features of the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor:
- High-sensitivity GPS receiver designed to look like a watch
- Can be used for running, walking, cycling, cross-country skiing and windsurfing
- Measures heart rate, speed, distance, pace and calories burned
- Data can be analyzed with Motionbased for online mapping and route sharing
- Training Center software for detailed analysis
- Weighs 2.72 ounces
- Extra features include Auto Pause, Auto Lap and Auto Scroll
- 1,000 lap memory
- 1.3 x 0.8 inches display
- Waterproof
- Battery life of up to 10 hours
- Strong signal reception
- 1 year warranty
- The Forerunner 305 GPS unit
- A heart rate monitor
- Wrist strap
- Docking cradle
- AC charger
- USB cable
- Training Center CD-ROM
- Quick start guide and user's manual
With almost 1400 5 star reviews and more than 500 4 star reviews on Amazon, most customers offer up a lot of praise for the 305 and its features. It gives very good readouts for distance, heart rate sampling and average pace. You can enter personalized information about yourself to help the monitor calculate how many calories you burn during a run. You can also program in laps to see split times.
Here's what one purchaser had to say:
"I like this thing quite a lot. I've had it for about three weeks, and have used it on 12 workouts so far. I use it primarily for running, with biking a secondary usage. The main reason I wanted it was for the instantaneous readout of distance, running pace and heart rate, the latter needed for the speed work I want to do this running season. "
They say the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver
with Heart Rate Monitor is easy to connect to your computer to view your routes, heart rate, elevation gain, distance, calories burned, your pace during different points during the run, stored data from the past and so on. You can either use the Garmin software or visit their website for even more up-to-date functionality. The software makes it easy to compare stats.Last but certainly not least is the pricing. This watch lists for $299.99, but Amazon is selling it for under $200 (new ones are currently priced from $159.95; used and refurbished ones are currently priced at $145.00 & $132.99, respectively.) and they throw in free shipping on top of the good pricing.
But no product is perfect, so I definitely want to know what customers don't like about this Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver.
What About Complaints?
Even though this product is very well liked (for the most part), there are 85 customers who think that this Garmin Forerunner is just okay, 52 customers who give it a poor rating and 70 customers who think it's a bad product.
What are they saying?
Here's an excerpt from an actual purchaser:
"I really like the heart rate monitor, the ability to create courses, the virtual training partner is a neat gimmick, and the training history and data base is much improved. HOWEVER, all of those extra functional elements cost the user battery charge life. I have found the charge to last about 5 hours tops..You would have to stop your work out to plug in somewhere if you are ever to do any long training or events. Also annoying is the fact that if you happened to hit the lap/reset button at the same time as you hit the mode button, a pretty common thing, you will shut of the power and loose all of your data for that workout!"
Some customers have issues with the time it takes to sync to the satellite and needs improvement. Some dislike that there's no automatic turn-off feature, which can make the battery run low if you forget to turn it off. Other customers say it's not accurately recording elevation data. Some customers say it's not good for long training sessions. Also, the watch is big and a little heavy on the wrist, but that doesn't really matter to me ... after all I'm not buying it to win any style points while I'm doing my fitness walking routine.
My Conclusion
While far from being perfect, the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver
with Heart Rate Monitor seems like it's good tool for anyone who walks, runs or bikes. It won't win any fitness fashion awards, but it does what it says it does.It's easy to set up and use. It provides users with a lot of detailed information on the progress they're making and what's going on with their bodies when they are walking, running or biking. It has a 1 year warranty and the price is right (it's currently priced at $159.95 at Amazon for a brand new one, plus they're offering free 2 day shipping).
