The GPS Advisor

Verdict: “Excellent High-Powered GPS Running Watch”

The Garmin Forerunner 305 is a high-end GPS runners watch that is ideal for serious athletes and trail runners looking for serious backcountry adventures.

Garmin never disappoints when it comes to GPS features and this unit is no exception. This is the GPS running watch I would buy today (if price were not a factor), because of it’s extensive features, sleek design, and Garmin reliability & performance.

Superb GPS Performance (not surprising) From Garmin

Because Garmin is the leader in the GPS industry these days, it is no surprise that the Garmin Forerunner 305 has superb GPS performance. Often times, lesser GPS watches can lose their signal while trail running in the trees or because of the skyscrapers in the urban jungle. Not so for the Garmin.

Although this is not the sleekest (and smallest) running watch, the GPS performance alone makes it worth the money and worthy of your choice. The Garmin Forerunner 305 is not for the armchair athlete, but a more serious crowd who rely on their GPS watch for performance tracking and navigation.

Drop Digital Breadcrumbs with the Garmin Forerunner

As with other Garmins, the waypoint features that are included allow you to “drop” a digital breadcrumb at any point - which can then be used to find your way home if you lose your way. This is a very cool feature and essential if you trail run in the backcountry.

I think this feature is worth the price of any of the Garmin watches - if you truely need a navigation watch.

Size (of Screens) Matters with GPS Watches

Compared to most running watches, the Garmin is a bit on the chunky side, but not a problem once you get used to it. It is not uncommon for high-performance watches that have tons of functionality to be a bit larger. The good news is that the screen is big enough to be readable when running.

The straightforward design of the interface and large display let you customize screens and easily track metrics like pace, distance, max heart rate, grade, and heading.

Excellent History Tracking of Heart Rate Data

Although other watches provide more up-front heart rate analysis data, the Garmin Forerunner 305 has a fantastic history feature that shows an incredible amount of data at once. With the history feature, you can compare pace, distance, calories burned and heart rate data over time to see how much you are improving in your training.

If you love to look at the data to see trends and your improvements, this is worth the price alone.

Perfect for Triathletes and Trail Runners

The advanced navigation and data capturing features make the Garmin Forerunner 305 perfect for backcountry trail runners (who rely on navigation for their safety) and multi-sport athletes who love to capture and crunch sophisticated data.

The Virtual Partner feature will help you keep pace by helping you keep to your desired pace and distance, which you pre-program into the unit. Extreme athletes like extreme features and the Garmin Forerunner 305 is just that!

I think the Garmin Forerunner 305 will be a big seller and expect to see it on the wrists of many runners, cyclists and multi-sport athletes. If you have the cash, we would certainly recommend it!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 1:45 pm and is filed under GPS Watches, GPS for Runners, Garmin Products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.