Garmin Forerunner 305 Wrist-Worn GPS Personal Training Device with Heart Rate Monitor
Seriously good gadget for serious athletes
OK, first looks - you are thinking to yourself "But what if someone tries to land a helicopter on it's enormous surface while I am out running?!"
Well, don't worry about it. Yes it looks bulky but when you are out running you never notice the size and it's easy to appreciate the highly configurable and easy to read display. This device is all about options. I choose to run with the four following items all simultaneously displayed:
Heart Rate, Elapsed running time, Average pace in km/h and Total Distance
I can of course choose to see other bits of information and have the screens changing at intervals I determine but part of the joy of running is getting away from it all and looking where you are going! The device just works, capturing all that lovely information about your heart, what kinds of slopes you are running on, how far you are travelling.
I once got lost in some big woods near where I live, then I simply turned the watch into navigation mode and was able to trace my way back through the forest to where I started from - absolutely brilliant gadget.
The real fun with the Forerunner comes when you get to analyze the data. The software provided with the watch is very basic. Most people I know download the excellent Sport Tracks software which is freeware from Zone 5 Software. To use this software you also need to have installed on your Windows PC a version of .NET from Microsoft (this is just some extra software for the Operating System to allow programs written in a certain way to run - again, it's a free download from Microsoft).
Now you can amaze your friends and family about how far you run, how fast you go, how big the hills are you are running up, amaze them with how many calories you've burnt off. All in lovely printed graphical format. But whatever you do, don't wear your watch out when you go down to the pub - for one, the battery (rechargeable from your PC) only lasts for 10 hours, but you might just have someone trying to land a helicopter on it!! This watch is cool for running, but nothing else.
These sorts of gadgets used to sell in Europe for about 400 but now that Garmin have brought out a new model with a fancy iPod wannabee interface (who cares - I never really touch the thing when I am out running, apart from the start/stop button), the price has dropped dramatically. For those of you like me who live in mainland Europe, the power supply has got switchable components so you can use the plug in different sockets. These days, I consider it to be essential training eqpt and I never run or cycle without it.
UPDATE - had the product for a year now, in fact I have bought a second one for my wife to use with her training. I've started to use the Workout function for my marathon training. You can design your whole training programme, upload it into the watch and then it tells you how fast you have to run and for how long. This is really useful if you are doing interval training for example, run 2Kms fast then ½km slow to recover, repeat 4 times. You get audible alerts if you are too fast or too slow or if your heart rate goes outside of the desired training zone. I've downloaded an entire marathon training schedule from the Runners World website and I just do what the watch tells me. So yes, I'm a raving fan of the Forerunner 305. The only negative point I would make is that the elevation data is not highly accurate but it does give a good impression of the kind of slopes you are running on.
Garmin Forerunner 305 Wrist-Worn GPS Personal Training Device with Heart Rate Monitor
From Garmin
| List Price: | £199.99 |
| Price: | £129.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery. Details |
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk
16 new or used available from £129.99
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