Garmin Forerunner 305

CatherineB
Reviewed: 26 January 2011

Far more functionality that I'll ever use but great tool to assist accurate training.

Easy to use, lightweight and simple to connect up to your computer and analyse more data on your run that you will ever need!

The face is too far back so I really have to twist my wrist to look at it, rather than just glance.
Takes some time to find satellites so best to get in the habit of turning it on outside a few minutes before starting to run.

Great price on Amazon at the moment, lightweight, easy to use.

last place
Reviewed: 20 January 2011

BOUGHT FOR JUST £107 ON AMAZON, THIS IS EASY TO USE AND SEEMS ACCURATE, I LOVE BEING ABLE TO ANALYSE MY RUN!

i have only been using it for a few weeks and have yet to try the HRM but a great training aid, especially helpful for maintaining pace and seems very accurate at measuring distance. Virtual partner is great as are the alerts to let you know when you have reached certain time and/or distance milestones. training centre is good for analysis but seems a little basic, i'm told there are better out there but i have not yet investigated

a little slow at picking up satellites, slightly bulky but light. two main buttons on the front, i pressed stop when i meant to press lap and effectively ruined the data for that run, thats my fault but an easy mistake to make with this.

A great product, i love it and have only been slightly critical above as i had to think of some cons, i think for the price i paid its amazing. there are smaller/ lighter versions out there but at twice the price, so i am happy with this.

The running tenor
Reviewed: 03 October 2010

Best bit of kit I've ever had

Pretty accurate speed and distance. Easy to read display that can show 4, 3, 2 or 1 item per screen. If your eyesight is poor, you can have really big digits! Customisable screens by activity mean that you can have the data you want in view for say running, then something totally different for cycling with just one button press.

Occasionally loses accuracy around tall buildings and dense tree coverage (but fine in most woodland and town settings). If you use a program like SportTracks, it's pretty easy to see where it's gone astray and edit the GPS track to get a proper reading. Feels large when you put it on, but you forget it when you're running. Locking onto satellites can take a while but an inside window-ledge with a clear view of the sky is fine - just leave it while you're getting changed and it will be ready by the time you've got your shoes on.

Bought mine in 2006 when they first came out at around £300 and it's still going strong. Reading the reviews on this site of the 405 which looks better and claims great things, there are issues with the strap breaking, it doesn't seem to like rain and the system for downloading seems flaky at best.

Lee Fazal
Reviewed: 28 September 2010

Awesome - this presents all the information you will ever need!

+ Accurate
+ Easy to use
+ Tailor almost every feature
+ Compatible with many sites / software

- Occasionally requires a RESET during start-up... once running it's no bother at all

I bought this (at a reasonable price - £130) to help throttle back my pace -> I'm terrible for taking off too quick and gassing out early! I've only owned it a couple of weeks and already it is proving invaluable. I can run based on min/mile, bpm, to a target time over distance, against myself with the virtual partner or even download the half marathon training program directly from this site!

Some say it looks bulky... this I feel allows the screen to present the information in a very clear manner.

Runs/workouts can be uploaded to all manner of social networking sites via others like mapmyrun - a real plus when updating your friends whilst drumming up sponsorship ;)

Even as a complete beginner, I'm so glad I splashed out on this device.

Les Wood 3
Reviewed: 27 September 2010

the best thing i ever bought

its good that i can go for a run in an area i don't know and can be accurate in the time and distance.
good overall set of functions and good for different sports
easy to set up and use

does tend to look rather large when you first get it and heavy but when used to it no problems.
can take time to get a saterlite

would not be without it