Garmin Forerunner Receiver Monitor Bilingual

Amazon.ca ReviewJust when you thought Garmin had cornered the market on powerful, affordable, and effective wrist-mounted GPS devices, here comes the Forerunner 305. The release of this device is a major accomplishment from a design and engineering science perspective. This isn't just marketing-speak; the Forerunner 305 is the most accurate, most authenti wrist-mounted performance and GPS tracking tool we've ever tested. Yes, it's that good. While no device this compact may do everything (yet), the 305 pushes the boundaries of what is possible from something strapped around your wrist. The 305 model includes wireless heartrate monitoring and it may also be connected to Garmin's wireless bicycle speed and cadence sensor. If you don't need these features, consider the lower-priced Forerunner 205.

View Garmin's Forerunner making something publicly available video.

Choose from 12 info fields to display on the 305's screen. View larger.

The design cleverly integrates the GPS antenna and aims it towards the sky when you're running or walking. View larger.

The Virtual Partner function makes your workouts more competitive. View larger.

Choose from three workout modes that support you target your training goals. View larger.

The 305 features rudimentary mapping and emplacement marking functions. View larger.

Design
The 305's design is a radical departure from Garmin's former generation of wrist mounted GPS devices, which reached a pinnacle with the Garmin Forerunner 301. While the 301 delivered exact heart rate monitoring, good performance tracking, and decent GPS reception, it didn't rather deliver in the design department. The form element was bulky and wearing it wasn't much dissimilar than duct taping a full-sized GPS device to your wrist.

Not so with the 305. Garmin's engineers evidently burned the midnight oil and have come up with a waterproof design that, while surely not as little as a sports watch, feels just as comfortable. The curved casing allows the unit's antenna to face the sky when you're running, while the widescreen display is perfectly positioned for looking at when you need it. And the display surely deserves a few kudos. While it's littler than the display found on former Forerunners, it is solution is far higher, providing unbelievable clarity and crispness.

Garmin has smartly given the 305 a simple button layout and the buttons have a nice tactile feel with good pressure response. The right side houses the menu selection and enter buttons, while the left houses a power/backlight button and a mode button. This simple and refined and tasteful solution is a big betterment over the from time to time mixing up button functionality of former Forerunners. View button layout.

The undersurface of the 305 is finelooking nondescript, except for a row of contacts that interface with the included charging and selective information cradle. The cradle is little and unobtrusive and it is single mini-USB port connects to either an included AC adapter, or a USB cable that connects to your PC. In addition to data transfer with the USB cable, you may also charge the 305's embedded lithium-ion battery thru a powered USB connection from your computer.

GPS Performance
The huge news with regards to the Forerunner 305 is that it features an integrated, high-sensitivity SiRFstar III GPS receiver. What does this mean? It means that the 305's capacity to both track, and maintain a lock on, your position is better than anything before it. After an intial battery charge, the tester had the 305 on his wrist and was tracking speed and distance with GPS satellites within 3 minutes. The next time we used the 305, satellite acquisition was closely instantaneous. A run through dense trees didn't faze the unit either; tracking remained unfeigned and steady. Performance on a bike was evenly impressive. Whatever witchcraft has been cooked up by the designers of the SiRF technology, we like it!

The simple docking cradle makes charging and info connectivity a snap.

While the Forerunner 305 isn't billed as a GPS navigation device, it does have galore rudimentary mapping, waypoint marking, and routing capabilities. In addition to marking emplacements along your journey, you may zoom in or out of a simple map that displays your current direction and path. There's also a "go to location" feature that routes you back to your starting location, or to any emplacement you have defined. Once you have specified assorted locations, you may save this info as a route, permitting you to travel the same path in the future. As you'll see below, the 305's new "Courses" feature gives you new levels of control over how you define your favored runs and rides.

Training Functions
The 305 is introductory and foremost a training tool, and it is capacity to coordinate a ton of data types into a user experience that is intuitive and simple is no little feat. Whiz-bang engineering aside, if you can't use it and make it a natural part of your exercise routine, it's worthless. When it comes to these constituents -- and here's the take home message on the 305 -- this device is successful where a great deal of other gimmicks fail.

The heart and soul of the 305 may be found on the info screens, which give you real-time selective information with regards to all distinct features of your workout. In fact, the 305 may display a dizzying array of data, such as calories burned, distance, elevation, grade, and heading, as well as multiple lap and pace modes. The 305 adds the capacity to track heartrate, lap heartrate, intermediate heartrate, and heartrate zones by way of the included coded heartrate chest strap. With the buy of a discerned wireless cadence and speed meter, you may likewise track bike performance data.

Thankfully, the device makes it easy to define how much or how little info you want to view for the duration of a workout. You may arrange the selective information that's most necessary to you and then make that selective information appear front and center on the device. Indeed, within a few minutes of skimming the manual and fiddling with the device setup, you'll have your most crucial data displaying just the way you like it. The capacity to display heartrate is a big plus, too, as it's a somewhat good indicator of excercise output, fatigue, and fitness level. The 305 has all the heartrate functions you'd suppose from a full-function monitor, including the capacity to set target zones and alerts to maximize the effectiveness of your workouts.

Garmin's Virtual Partner function was cool feature of former Forerunners and they've decisive to keep a good thing going with the 305. If you're the type that performs best when you've got a contender egging you on, you'll love this function, as it allows you to set up virtual running or biking companions that compete versus you.

If you're looking for an elaborated workout with a potpourri of intervals and intensity levels, or just a quick three-mile jog versus your best time last week, the 305 has you covered. Navigating to the Workouts menu on the device yields three options: Quick Workouts, Interval, and Advanced Workout. A quick workout is just that; set the distance and time, distance and pace, or time and pace of your planned workout and off you go. Interval workouts are just the same, but they concede you to add repetitions and rest amidst them. When you actually want to get imagination with your exercise, you may step up to modern workouts, which include goals for each workout step, as well as varied distances, times, and rest periods. You may use the Garmin Training Center software to set up these workouts and then upload them to the device.

PC Connectivity and Software
Garmin has been outfitting their widgets with USB connectivity for some time now -- a welcome move for those who was struggling with serial port connections in the days of yore. Thanks to USB, the 305 integrates seamlessly with the Training Center software and we speedily had workout history uploaded and stored on the PC (Sadly, Training Center is not Mac-compatible). Not only does Training Center make it easy to track your performance, you may graph selective information such as heartrate alongside your speed and distance. Over time, this is a great way to view your fitness levels increase, and it likewise helps you see what types of workouts are necessary to beef up your weaknesses. For instance, if you see your heartrate begin to spike after a sure distance, you recognise you need to increase your endurance workouts to train that area of fitness.

In a introductory for the Forerunner series, the Training Center software also lets you define courses on your PC that you may upload to the device. When course info is combined with uploaded workout information, the Forerunner becomes a finish guide, telling you where to go, when to make a turn, and what kind of workout to do when you're on the road or path. Back on the PC, the software's capacity to overlay workout selective information on maps of the course makes it easy to see where the course offers up the tough hills and the easy recovery spots. Plus, the capacity to track historical performance on a given course is a great way to measure your improvement.

The 305 is likewise to a complete degree compatible with Garmin's MotionBased service, which takes your training to another level by connecting your info with the Internet. While we weren't competent to use the service, the promise of sharing courses, maps, workouts, and performance data with other users is intriguing. And if you're a severe endurance athlete, you'll be glad to recognise that the 305 is likewise compatible with TrainingPeaks.com, an easy-to-use web based training scheme designed to aid athletes train for any event.

Pros

• Radically new design is better in each way
• Amazing accuracy and fast satellite acquisition time
• So simple to set up and use, you will in truth use it

Cons

• No Mac OS compatibility
• Okay, it's more spectacular than a sport's watch -- but so much more powerful

What's in the Box
Forerunner 305, Garmin Training Center CD-ROM, heart rate monitor, docking cradle, expander strap, A/C charger, USB cable, owner's manual, quick get started guide.