Garmin Forerunner 305 Handheld GPS Receiver

I have been an on-and-off again runner for 12 years and have tried a lot of products to analyze my training and performance.

I will use this primarily for running and mountain biking.

I have had both Polar and Timex heart rate monitors in the past, and stopped using them because they were so unreliable. I am VERY meticulous about the accuracy of my data, so when a HR monitor loses signal for more than 20 seconds or so, it makes all of the analytics invalid, and a waste to have even brought it.

I live in a somewhat rural town in Southern NH, where nearly every residential road has a large canopy of trees covering it. I am happy to write that although the GPS signal does get lost from time to time, the "smooth" feature in the training software seems to figure out the averages and smooth the spikes from length of time between satellite reads. I know when the signal is lost when my pace on the watch starts to drop down because time is still passing, yet the watch can't tell that I am moving.

The mountain bike ride I used it on was completely tree covered and although I didn't pay much attention to it during the ride, when I loaded it onto the computer, the map and other information looked pretty darn accurate.

I have run three stand alone marathons and completed two Ironman events and am so meticulous about knowing my distances that I would drive nearly every route of my 20 mile training runs. That would be insane with today's gas prices. I LOVE that I will never have to drive the course of one of my runs again, and have all of my data at my fingertips at the end of each run.

I have only used the most basic functions of this tool. I pulled it out of the box, charged it overnight, entered my gender, age and weight, downloaded the software and went for my first run.

Uploading data into the software is a breeze. When the unit is plugged into the computer, the training software automatically starts and the history is automatically loaded the 305.

Immediately you see a map of your course in the top of the split screen and general information in the bottom screen. Click on a tab and you find a chart with which you can select numerous criteria to be showed and related to each other such as elevation to heart rate and speed. You can also overlay your target heart rates so you know exactly where you went from Zone 4 of 80-90% of max HR to Zone 5 of 90-100%. One of the best features is that you can overlay one days data over another's.

An example of how this last feature is helpful is that I have a very hard time running in the hot sun. Normally I run in the evening when it's 75 degrees or less and the sun is setting. Yesterday was drizzly and overcast all day so I decided to head out around 4:00. I ran a 4.5 mile course that I had already logged using the Forerunner days earlier. Within 4 minutes of stepping out the door, the clouds gave way, and the sun came blistering down. I then realized that I had not drunk enough water, and I quickly felt myself fade.

Once I completed the terrible run, I plugged the unit into my computer and was able to overlay today's run data on top of last weeks run data. The differences were striking. My average pace was about 15 seconds per mile slower, yet my HR averaged more than 7 points above the week before. Over the last half mile of yesterday's run, when the sun was most direct, my heart rate almost hit max, and I was traveling at about :45/ mile slower than last week at the same place.

This might not sound like "must know" information, but with all of this info at your fingertips, you may wonder how you ever lived without it.

There are a ton of other features I haven't even touched, including the free subscription to MotionBased.com which is supposed to add extra workouts and features. I have dabbled with MotionBased, but as of yet I can't find the value it offers beyond what is included in the Training software that comes with the 305.

There is an interactive Trail listing where you can upload and download trails into your unit. One complaint, or rather recommendation I have for Garmin/ MotionBased, is that the when I click on Trails, it displays trails loaded by recency. I think it should load be geographic relevance to the user. I have logged in and they know exactly where I live by both my run locations and self declared information. What do I care that someone loaded a trail in Sri Lanka? I have tried to search for "New Hampshire" and nothing comes up, even though I personally have loaded a trail myself. So that's it, my first complaint is that they should make it easier to search for trails close to the individual.

My second complaint is that there is no auto-off on the unit, so if you come home from a run and forget to turn the unit off, it will run out of batteries and you won't have it for your next run, when you realize you drained it. Another problem with the battery is that it is one that you should drain to empty before recharging, which means that you have to either intentionally leave it on, and then remember to recharge it before your next run, or keep running with it and risk it dying on you mid run. I think that is the last of my complaints.

I seriously think Garmin could get a lot more money for this unit. If a "man on the street" stopped me and asked "how much would you pay to know your pace, heart rate elevation changes and distance in real time on the unit as well as have detailed analytics to manipulate immediately after each run, along with complete training software that will allow you to index all of your workouts and relate them week over week, month over month, year after year?" I would respond, easily $1,000 and maybe more.

This product really covers all of a runners analytics needs. I am sure someone could find a few features that would be nice to have, but this has all of the basic, and not so basic tools you need to train smart.

In the end, I think this is a revolutionary tool and does what it says it does, which is a lot.