Time to Find Out…
I’m decided to buy the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver with Heart Rate Monitor. I’m not a formal athlete, but I AM a fitness enthusiast. My wife thinks I’m a little over-the-top, but I enjoy working out. It relieves my stress and I am in great shape and hardly ever sick. The problem is knowing whether I am working too hard… hard enough… or just right to achieve optimal fitness results. I had heard about heart rate monitors, but in the past have just tried to stop and do the occasional pulse check. This is pretty inconvenient because you have to stop, find your pulse, and try to remember if your result is in your target zone. I thought that if I could find a monitor to do that for me without interrupting my workout, I could be more efficient and even enjoy my exercise even more. I was right.
Before
Before I bought my Garmin Forerunner 305, I wore a plain old Timex. And when I say old, I mean OLD. Those babies do take a licking and keep on ticking. I used it because it was old, could handle the sweat, I didn’t care if it got wrecked, and it had a second hand. That’s right. It was a watch with hands. How funny is that? To my running buddies, hilarious. But for me, it was the easiest way to check my pulse. I counted six seconds, multiplied by ten and kept on running. Sure, I had lost six seconds and had to sprint a little to catch up as they glanced periodically at their heart rate monitors, but it was workable. Until the Timex broke and I decided it was time to join the digital age.
Research
I did my homework. I had no idea how many heart rate monitors were out there! Well, Garmin is a global company who is set on innovation. I took a look at their website and it was obvious that they were really concerned with designing all of their products with the customer in mind. Whether it was a GPS unit or app, fitness product, air or water technological tools, or other tech devices, Garmin seemed on top of the heap. This unit rates 4.5 out of 5 stars with nearly 1800 customer ratings. 1154 are 5 star. What more did I need to know?
After
I found a great price for the monitor I wanted and scooped it up from Amazon with their free super saver shipping (I always feel ripped off paying shipping). This thing is beautiful. I might have even had tears in my eyes when I saw it the first time, but I told my wife it was from pollen in the air.
When I Opened the Box
Here is what was inside:
- Forerunner 305
- Heart rate monitor
- Garmin Training Center software
- Docking Cradle for charging
- Expander strap
- AC charger
- USB cable
- Owner’s manual
- Quick start guide
I was torn between the owner’s manual and the quick start guide, quite honestly. But, first I took a look at the tech specs.
Tech Specs (I like to say that)
- 2.1 x 2.7 x 0.7 inches
- 2.72 oz.
- Rechargeable lithium-ion battery
- Typical 10 hour battery life
- Water resistant
- GPS enabled
- High sensitivity receiver
- 1000 lap history
- 50 routes
- Garmin Connect community compatible
- Garmin Training Center software compatible
- Virtual Partner
- Courses
- Auto pause
- Auto Lap
- Auto Scroll
- Simple and Advanced workouts
- Pace alert
- Time/distance alert
- Interval training
The Unit Itself
I couldn’t decide whether to run with my friends or set up a virtual partner for my first use. I decided to just go for a run to see what happened. I wanted to learn more before I exposed myself to my friends or even a virtual partner. Just in case I made a complete fool of myself trying to figure out the device.
So, I took a run. And it was awesome. The unit is a little big, but I won’t be wearing it as a regular watch, so I don’t really mind. The styling is actually pretty cool because it integrates a GPS antenna that aims at the sky as you move. The curved design is pretty comfortable and necessary for the GPS positioning. The display is widescreen, not too big, but certainly big enough. It has high resolution for a very clear display.
The unit has six buttons. Four on the sides for power, mode (timer/menu/sport selection), enter (to acknowledge selections), and up and down arrows to highlight choices or fields. The two buttons on the front are to set laps or reset the timer and to start or stop the timer. Pretty simple, even for me. I spent my first workout playing with the buttons to learn what each does.
On the back of the device, there is a row of contacts for the charging cradle, and a mini USB port for the AC adapter for charging or PC for data transfer.
The GPS worked surprisingly well, even in areas with tall buildings or a lot of trees. In addition to elementary mapping and routing, it can zoom in to a map of your current direction and path. You can program locations into the device to use to plot courses later.
My first use was all about learning, and it was a great experience.
Training
Even though the coolness factor is high, this is, after all, a training tool. The data screen offers everything you need to know during your workout:
- Calories burned
- Distance
- Elevation
- Grade
- Heading
- Lap and pace modes
- Heart rate
- Lap heart rate
- Average heart rate
- Heart rate zones
That’s a lot of info, but fortunately, you can adjust the display to put the ones you want to focus on in the front position.
Software
The USB connects the unit to my computer so I can use the Training Center Software. This way I can save my work out history, and graphically view how my fitness levels are changing. The software also lets you set up courses to upload to your unit – this is nice because you can see where you are adding challenges like hills and where you might have areas of flat terrain to recover. You can even track historical performance on the courses you have created and saved so you can compete against yourself.
Bottom Line
I am very happy with my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor. Just wait until I go for my next run with the guys…
Where Can You Buy the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor?
You can buy this Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor from Amazon. At the moment they include free shipping and from what I can tell when comparing prices with other online merchants, Amazon do currently have the best deal especially with the free shipping option. Click here to view on Amazon.
Where Can You Read More Reviews for the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver?
The best place for reviews from people who actually use the product is Amazon. Click here to read more.
About Aaron Walker