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Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver

The core of Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS functionality (distance and heart rate monitoring) works perfectly. There's none of the signal drops I've had with other heart monitors. I've only had one dropout when I was outside once the satellites are initially acquired. The initial acquisition of the satellites can be a little bit slow and can take some time. The accuracy (according to the readout) is +/- 25ft, depending on how many satellites can be found. I've compared the distance measurement on the GPS with a known, measured distance on one of the trails I run on (the Chicago lakefront path). The Garmin Heart Rate GPS always increments a mile when I'm within 5 or 10 feet of the mile marker sign on the path. Well, I think that's the least I should expect from a $350 GPS unit! Of course it's bigger than a normal running stopwatch, but that hasn't bothered me at all. The heart rate strap is also very comfortable and well-designed.

Upload of workout data to the PC software (Training Center) is transparent. The PC software is very good for presenting time/distance/pace/heartrate/calorie data. However the maps it shows are very crude. I've tried to work a bit with one of the online, subscription services (MotionBased). That looks really good and provides some additional functionality beyond the included Training Center software, although I still haven't decided if it's worth the $$$ yet for long-term data storage. MotionBased can simply export to Google Earth, and it's tremendously cool to see your running path superimposed on a satellite image. Although it's slower than using the dedicated recharger, you can still recharge the unit through the USB port on your computer.

The BIGGEST improvement of this Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver is that this model is more like a typical GPS in that it offers many different modes and screens to track various types of information (one can toggle between three different screens). For example, on one screen, I have the current time, sunrise, sunset, and running time. I can have the grade, altitude, average pace, and current pace on the other screen. On yet another screen I have heart rate, calories, distance traveled, and heading. It looks very cool.

This is an excellent workout tool for the enthusiastic people!