Garmin Forerunner 305 Handheld GPS Receiver

I received the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS receiver as a birthday gift in Dec of 2006 (it was on my wishlist), and as of September 18th, 2007, I've run 616.8 miles with it. Approximately. I was hoping it would enable me to reach speed and distance goals in my running, and so far so good! I've gone from running my half-marathons to doing my first marathon in July, and collected my first age group award this year. Well, I suppose it's not all the Garmin's doing. But a GPS watch can help motivate you, give you metrics on training, and give you maps/graphs/charts to acquire bragging rights.

How it works
The Garmin Forerunner 305 has a GPS receiver built into the watch. This tracks your location over time, and from knowing time and location, it can derive speed, distance, and elevation, even compass direction. In addition to this, the 305 includes a heart rate monitor, which allows you to exercise within a different set of metrics, for example a percentage of max heart rate. Naturally, the watch can also display the current time.

The Garmin Forerunner comes with a cradle that connects to the computer USB port (as well as a wall charger, if a USB port isn't handy; a nice inclusion after being trained by Apple iPods!). There are 4 electrodes on the back of the watch that connect to the cradle. Data can be uploaded to Training Center, an included software package, or uploaded to Garmin's Motionbased website (free for a basic account, on the order of $10 for an extended account).

How I use it
I primarily use the device for running. Since getting it, I've used it on almost every run. I don't always use the heart monitor, however. I really should, but it's part laziness, part not used to the way it feels. Now, be careful if you're a runner without a coach! The temptation after getting a GPS watch is to out do yourself every single run. That's a tall order, and eventually you'll get injured and have to spend 6 weeks nursing a torn calf muscle. Guess how I know. But if you're a reasonable athlete who understands the principles of training, and can adhere to rules, like the no more than 10% increase (mileage/effort) per week, this device will enable you to monitor your mileage and effort quite effectively. In races, the device displays your current pace, letting you know if you need to increase effort or not to meet your time goal that day. On top of measuring any given run, it provides a way for you to keep an electronic log, both on your computer or online. I upload all of my runs to Garmin's website, Motionbased. You can also upload the data to your computer, but it seems that Motionbased actually has options to it. For example, you can set your default properties to have Motionbased correct GPS errors, as well as provide a map based elevation, both of which greatly improve the measurements. I often share my landmark runs with my running buddies through the website. I have the free basic account to Motionbased, which only allows you to see your last 10 events. It seems, though, if you don't login, you can see them all. Since I've never used the pay account, I can't say how much better it is. However, the software in both cases leaves a bit to be desired. Custom charts/graphs over time, or even splitting up runs can't be done easily. The computer software, Training Center, is especially frustrating, when you can't "rebrand" an activity. If you've accidently used "motorcycle sport mode" on your watch, you can't put it in your "running" folder. Why, I don't know.

I have also used the Garmin to record group motorcycle rides for posterity, and once jumped out of a plane with it to see if my heartrate goes up during the skydive (it shot from 60 bpm to 120 after leaving the plane). You can customize the display depending on the sport, essentially choosing up to 4 different fields to be displayed on a screen (if you choose less fields, they will be displayed larger). You can even display your current coordinates, and compass directions for orienteering, or Geocaching. The display is nice and big, which is really important, because while you're running it takes some practice to read the watch without slowing down.

How well does it work?
For the most part, quite well, but things like "max speed" or "elevation" have to be taken with a grain of salt. A little GPS error in a measurement seems to greatly skew the instantaneous results, so you have to use a fairly wide moving average for a realistic number. Since the Motionbased website added "Gravity" (the map based elevation correction), elevation numbers have become MUCH more reasonable, but it's difficult to put much faith in the total climb/descent. It does have trouble tracking in cloudy weather, and in forests, and some parts of the city with building shadows. Some days, locking onto the satellite can take one minute, other days it seems to take 5. I've found the heart rate monitor to be realistic in the measurements, and less prone to wild fluctuations.

I charge and sync my Garmin about once a week. I think I've forgotten, and had it run out of juice, after perhaps 15 hours of contiguous use. Until I run 100 mile races (yeah, that's one of my goals), battery life seems sufficient. Sometimes, one of the electrodes will corrode with sweat, and need to be cleaned or scraped to make the software see the device properly.

What can be improved?
This device is bulky, and the bottom part is actually the GPS antenna. That's really cool, because it means while running, it's pointed to the sky. Not quite as effective if you wear your watch on the inside of your wrist, or perhaps strapped to a bicycle, but I suspect it works sufficiently well. Some systems, such as the Timex Bodylinke system, the GPS receiver talks wireless to the watch. This allows you to carry the bulk elsewhere. I don't mind wearing the watch for 4-5 hours at a time as I have been, but I tell you, the tanline looks funny after awhile. I really wish the Garmin had an add on Cadence meter. They have a footpod that allows you to track runs done on a treadmill. But it doesn't appear (I don't own the footpod, because there isn't enough evidence to show it would solve my problem) that it allows you to display cadence. That's a shame, because there's a magic cadence number in running of 180 strides per minute. It would be nice to track that number during a run, and let you know when to up the cadence or slow down. Instead, I have to rely on saying the word "strawberry" in my head in what I think is around a second, with my strides being on each syllable. (Hey, it kind of works)

Summary
The Garmin 305 works as expected and as advertised. There is some inaccuracy that may just be due to the whole nature of GPS systems. The device itself is bulky, and the software was only satisfactory. You may shop around to see if you like something better, however, for the price, this is a very nice unit, with almost all the features I want. The display is nice, and might edge out some competition (for example, I suspect the Timex won't be a great Geocaching watch)

UPDATE
I just noticed that the price on this unit has made a massive nosedive recently. As low as $160 ($200 on Amazon), which is about half price! Now, while this price drop probably means something significant is on the horizon (I hear a smaller, great receiving Garmin GPS watch is due out in the summer), that is one heck of a deal!