Customer Rating: Summary: essential fitness aid Comment: I've lost over 5 stone over the last year by walking but when i tried to start jogging, to get the last few stone off, i nearly killed myself. I pushed to hard too soon because I had no idea how hard i was trying. Until I got the garmin that is and a book about heart zone training. Then i put the two together and started jogging again but this time with the 305 telling me when i was going out of zone 3 [which was very quickly to start with]. I am training now not killing myself. I jog and walk combined without any guilt of not training hard enough because I know i'm training just as hard as my fitness allows with the zone monitoring. For anyone considering a comeback to fitness after getting seriously out of shape, i would say this is an essential tool. It will help you no end, focus on training not straining for fitness. The price may seem steep, but it's worth every penny. Customer Rating: Summary: excellent running aid Comment: fairly simple to use. if purchased download the motionbased free website as its analysis is much better than the garmin one you get on disc. excellent product Customer Rating: Summary: Garmin Forerunner 305 Comment: My wife bought me one of these for Christmas (2008), after some hints from me. I read a number of online reviews before dropping the hints, and the 305 seemed exactly what I was looking for, at a good price too. Opened the box up on Christmas day and set about reading the instructions. Pretty easy to use really, and picked up satellites from the front room.
Went out for a run on Boxing Day, up a hill (to test out the elevation profile function). The run was only about 7km and through thick wooded areas in places. The reception was perfect throughout. The heart rate monitor works everytime.
There are so many useful functions on this devise, it has excellent GPS reception, and the Training Centre and compatability with Google Earth and MotionBased provide for some really interesting interrogation of the data from your runs.
I also used the 305 for a walk in the Brecon Beacons a few days later, and again perfect, so great for running and walking.
I'm looking forward to trying out the Virtual Partner function soon.
Really pleased with the Forerunner 305. Customer Rating: Summary: Beauty on the inside Comment: First I must say that the 305 is one of the ugliest watches I have ever seen; perhaps if there was another colour option it might look a little better. I guess you have to fork out another 100 pounds for the 405 if you want a watch you can wear casually.
Apart from that there is little to complain about. I am yet to use some of the advance features but in terms of the basics it was totally usable and intuitive. In terms of configuring for the first time, pairing with the heart monitor, changing the data fields, going for your first run and uploading data to the PC, you can probably do this all without instructions.
It does take a little while ( over a minute) to get a sattelite signal but once it has done so I have yet to lose the GPS.
The garmin training software is indeed basic but you can upload your data to the motionbased site and there is some great functionality even with the basic free version. There are many ways to analyse and view your data. My first workout was a 25mile bike ride and using the new map player, it is easy to view the route you have taken and see all the metrics at every point.
I bought the 305 primarily for running. I guess it might have been a bit of a luxury but I really think it is going to help motivate me to train and do so better.
In terms of value, I think it is unbelievable value for this price.I thoroughly recommend this item Customer Rating: Summary: gives me headaches Comment: Brilliant watch, apart from it makes me feel ill!! Don't know why but it does! Feels like someones kicked my head!
