Garmin Forerunner 305 Handheld GPS Receiver

Product Rating
2 of 5
1 reviews

Price Range
$190 - $400

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Product Description

Summary

Has the ability to be a great training tool... when they work out the numerous bugs and software glitches. This product needs lots more testing and refinement before it's ready for market. Use as a serious training tool is limited as of 6/07. Garmin has come out with tons of software patches to fix problems with the unit- a pretty good indication that they are aware of the numerous problems with this unit.

I think that this unit has huge potential, but was rushed to market to soon. Garmin needs to put more R&D into this unit and fix the software issues first. See below for details.

Strength

- Does lots of cool stuff for the serious athlete or outdoor techno geek.
- Makes a decent if limited fully featured GPS for navigation.
- The training software is very useful, and is an integral part of the unit.
- Easy to download the track logs onto Topo maps or city maps (through Garmin Mapsource software).
- Lots of user adjustable variables including user defined data fields.
- Can be used for a bunch of different sports. (I use mine for cycling, running, and nordic skiing).
- Distance totals are pretty accurate.
- Garmin customer service was pretty good in warrantying my first unit that died after less than three months.
- The unit seems to work better for running and cross country skiing than for cycling.

Weakness

- Numerous glitches and errors that cause the unit to be really inaccurate in some areas and can drive you nuts.
- Elevation totals are USELESS! The Forerunner typically doubles or triples the actual amount of elvation gained/lost. This throws the calorie counter off too- see below. According to my Garmin, I actually climb much faster than Lance Armstrong. I also must live in one of the most hilly areas of the country since my Garmin regularly tells me that I do more than 10K feet of climbing and descending in a 2-3 hour ride at sea level.
- Calories burned totals are USELESS! Because the elevation totals are way off, the calorie totals are also way off (typically 2-3 times what I would expect the real totals to be).
- Auto pause and resume feature is a great idea, but SUCKS and works only randomly. This causes me lots of aggravation and throws the totals off. The unit will auto pause and resume seemingly randomly (just today it auto paused more than 20 times in 4 miles while I had a great clear view of the sky, but worked perfectly while in a narrow box canyon- go figure. It also has auto paused and resumed 3-4 times while standing still at a stop light. It will auto pause and resume less than a second later repeatedly while descending at 40+ mph on the road bike).
- Responds very slowly to changes in speed on the bicycle. The $50 speed/cadence sensor doesn't fix the problem and doesn't actually appear to do anything besides cadence.
- The battery life in the unit is only a claimed 8-10 hours of use- if you are lucky. You have to remember to charge the unit before use if you are going on long outings.
- The user replaceable heart rate monitor strap seems like a good idea- except that mine died after less than three months because moisture (sweat) got into the unit. Garmin had to warranty it. Hopefully my second strap won't have this issue.
- You need to check the Garmin website for software updates regularly. Garmin comes out with updates and patches every month or so- an indication that they know the Forerunner has a lot of problems.

- Bottom line. This has the potential to be a great training tool. I really believe that Garmin brought this product to market too soon. I'd wait a few months before spending $350 on this unit. I work part time at a major outdoor retailer and have stopped recommending these units to customers because of my numerous issues. Glad I paid under $200 for the unit, because at $349 and it's lack of consistent performance it is kind of a rip off.