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Garmin Forerunner 305 Wrist Worn GPS Personal Training Device (With Heart Rate Monitor) | 
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| Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
Buy New: £136.95
New (10) Used (1) from £136.95
Rating:  29 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Fragile: No
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
MPN: Forerunner 305 (With
Model: Forerunner 305 (With
UPC: 753759051945
EAN: 0753759051952
ASIN: B000FMQ296
Release Date: May 5, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: UK Spec, Brand New!
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Don't let their good looks fool you. These taskmasters will continually push you to do your personal best.The Forerunner 305 combines all of the popular features found in the 301 along with a high-sensitivity GPS receiver, new courses feature, and robust ANT wireless heart rate monitor for optimal performance. Designed for athletes of all levels, this running partner and personal trainer has one goal in mind ? a better you. It continuously monitors your heart rate, speed, distance, pace and calories burned so you can train smarter, more effectively. It tracks your every move with a super-sensitive GPS that even works on tree-covered trails and near tall buildings.The Forerunner 305 keeps you on track with innovative features including: New! Sleek, stylish, lightweight design that "wraps" the GPS antenna around part of the wrist for a better view of the sky, improving reception during training New! High-sensitivity GPS receiver provides faster acquisition times and improves tracking under trees and near tall buildings New! Robust ANT wireless heart rate monitor with softer, more comfortable chest strap and superior battery life eliminates cross-talk with other devices to reliably measure and send heart rate data, and helps you train in your zone New! Customizable screens let you view up to 12 data fields on 3 data screens for immediate feedback on the information you need most when training Multi-sport? capability lets you seamlessly transition between sports without resetting the unit, so you can use it for running, biking, and more Easy to use ? no calibration required. Just turn it on and go.Customize your Forerunner 305 to get the most out of your training. To help you achieve your personal best, the Forerunner 305 includes the following smart features: New! Courses feature lets you download recorded courses and compete against previous workouts Auto Pause pauses and resumes training timer based on a specified speed so you never have t
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| Customer Reviews:
 Excellent September 25, 2007
M. J. Horsfield (UK)
52 out of 52 found this review helpful
This is an amazing device. I thought I would add the following to previous reviews.
Answers to the questions I couldn't sort out before purchase (as a triathlete):
1. Can you swim with it? Sadly not. Although certified as waterproof it is not sufficiently watertight to swim with.
2. Can you download routes FROM memory map TO the device i.e. brand new runs/bikes planned at home on the map? YES - but you need to upgrade memory map 2004 software to the USB supporting version via their website. The device will then guide you around the planned course.
Added suggestions:
Everyone should check out SportTracks software (shareware - zonefive) which is vastly superior to the Garmin packaged applet. SportTracks integrates with google earth and automatically generates satellite images of your route.
The pre-loaded advanced training packages are good for turbo sessions. Obviously the GPS is useless but the watch will monitor your heart rate & cadence (with attachment) and instruct you through a pre-set or custom pre-programmed workout e.g. Cycle in zone 3 for 5 mins; Cycle in zone 4 for 2 mins etc.
Other bonuses over my old GPS and heart rate monitors:
It charges via USB while connected to the computer.
It has a coded heart rate belt - no cross-talk in the gym.
It has excellent GPS reception in the woods (much superior to my Geko 301).
All in all: For 150 a bargain. It has virtually replaced my old HRM and my GPS.
Downsides? 150 is still a lot. The large unit might put you off. It looks a bit retro. Can't swim in it. I now *know* that I run as slowly as I thought!
 Small and almost perfectly formed January 21, 2007
Richard M. Merrell (Highlands of Scotland)
33 out of 33 found this review helpful
I've been really impressed with this - it does everything it says on the tin and a bunch of other stuff (I've used it for car navigation and speed verification plus some lap timing). If I have one gripe it's that finding your way around the functions on the watch itself isn't as intuitive as I'd have expected. I've only had it a few days and it still takes me a bit of hunting to find the screen I was after. You could argue that's because there's so much on it (including screens that you can configure yourself) and I'm sure it'll become easier with time. It would also have been nice to have some vibrate function so that, running with music, you can tell if the heart rate goes outside the set zone (or some other alert). Some great features though - the "breadcrumb" route back feature is really good for hill-walking and the elevation feature is nice for running in hilly areas. Very pleased with it - Garmin could improve the interface and make it brilliant.
Can't decide between 301 and 305? August 10, 2007
C. Johnson (UK)
33 out of 34 found this review helpful
I have now bought both 301 and 305 (I could not do without one whilst the first went back for repair!
301 - Cheaper, excellent display, indeed larger than the 305. Initialisation of satellites could take 2-3 minutes every day and sometimes gets lost for 30 seconds on a run under trees. Poor USB socket reliability - mine broke.
305 - in general it is more expensive, looks cool and has more functionality, eg racing against a previous run and fully alterable displays.
However, the 305 has a great PLUS POINT - the GPS initialisation is fantastic, 30 seconds in the house and doesn't loose it on a run.
The 305 has one BAD POINT - The display is not only smaller, the contrast (alterable) is poorer but the letter describing the data fields and value for history are SO SMALL and wispy that I can barely see them with contact lenses and reading glasses, whilst the 301 was fine without both.
To end on a good note, the 305 has flush pins for USB connection and fits into a cradle. My 301 had a miniature USB on the watch, which filled up with sweat and somehow became intermittent - hence back for repair.
Conclusion - 305 is better, but only just and if you have poor eye sight, I would get the 301.
Brilliant for helping your motivation! June 24, 2007
Ben Cooper
27 out of 27 found this review helpful
Okay, it's got a slight "Beam me up, Scotty" look about it, but the Forerunner is surprisingly comfortable to wear, and lighter than the metal Casio I normally use - the chest strap is also comfy. GPS reception is amazing - I first turned mine on indoors in a back office where mobile phones struggle to get reception, but it found 5 satellites and located itself to within 25 feet. Outdoors, it's perfectly happy navigating through woods, and while it loses reception under bridges it picks it up again quickly and interpolates correctly.
The 305 is very customisable - there are 5 different screens (2 all-purpose, one each for running, biking and other) and on each of them you can pick what data to show. The two all-purpose screens are available all the time, the others depend on what sport you're doing.
Connecting to a computer is easy - it's now Mac-compatible out of the box, and the Garmin Training Center is excellent, only let down by it's basic mapping. It lets you set up and schedule workouts very easily and transfer them to the 305 - on the 305 you just pick today's workout and off you go.
If mapping is important (and it's great fun to see where you've gone), you can use free software - LoadMyTracks will download the GPS data from the 305 and export it to Google Earth, or TrailRunner uses Microsoft Maps and has a lot more info as well.
Cracking bit of kit March 5, 2007
J. Chidley (London, UK)
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
I have used the polar series of watches both for cycling and running. The forerunner is a much better bit of kit as it tracks your real ground position. This gives distance, pace, timing and other data to an accuracy of more than 99%. I really like the autolap feature, the courses and the virtual partner settings. Unlike the Polar, the speed and cadance sensors work well on the bike (an optional accessory).
With the ability to analyse the data using their free "Training Center" it is fairly easy to review your progress and plan the future. This software does a decent job of data anlysis but if you really want more there is the option to do some further data massaging in Excel by importing the history file there.
For 5 stars it needs these changes:
Longer battery life (currently about 10 hours continuous use)
better water resistance (I swim and am too afraid to use it)
smaller unit (about the size of a large watch)
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