Forerunner Watch (Garmin Forerunner 205 and 305)
History of the Forerunner watch.
Earlier this year, Garmin introduced the Forerunner 205 and 305 as a big improvement tot the personal training aids Forerunner 101, 201 and 301. When you are out on the road, a Personal Training aid product give you all the information that you get when you are on a treadmill. On top of that, you will be able to download this information to your computer and then you can take a look over time to see how things are developing.
The newer models of the Forerunner watch come with the SIRF Star III Chipset, which means it can lock on to your position and hold the lock better. The tracking of the Forerunner watch is therefore much better and more consistent.
Core functionlity
The core functionality of the Forerunner 305 (distance and heart rate monitoring) works perfectly. There's none of the signal drops we have had with some other heart monitors. The time to sync to the satellites can take a minute or two. This is not dissimilar from other Garmin products and will be acceptable to most users. But we feel that this could be improved a little more. Once the satellites are initially acquired the accuracy is +/- 25ft, depending on how many satellites can be found. The heart rate strap is also very comfortable and well-designed.
Display and PC connectivity
The display is crisp and has one outstanding feature: The information presented on the various pages can be completely user-customized. There are almost 40 different data fields you can choose from for display. Examples: current pace, average lap pace, average run pace, heartrate, distance.
Upload of workout data to the PC/Mac software (Training Center) is transparent. The PC/Mac software is very good for presenting time/distance/pace/heartrate/calorie data. You can recharge the unit through the USB port on your computer, although it's slower than using the dedicated recharger.
Pros:
Flawless heart rate sampling
Great distance measuring and lap-average pace calculation
Seamless integration with PC an Mac
Fully-automatic training log update
User-customizable display
Cons:
Takes a long time to get signal
Earlier this year, Garmin introduced the Forerunner 205 and 305 as a big improvement tot the personal training aids Forerunner 101, 201 and 301. When you are out on the road, a Personal Training aid product give you all the information that you get when you are on a treadmill. On top of that, you will be able to download this information to your computer and then you can take a look over time to see how things are developing.
The newer models of the Forerunner watch come with the SIRF Star III Chipset, which means it can lock on to your position and hold the lock better. The tracking of the Forerunner watch is therefore much better and more consistent.
Core functionlity
The core functionality of the Forerunner 305 (distance and heart rate monitoring) works perfectly. There's none of the signal drops we have had with some other heart monitors. The time to sync to the satellites can take a minute or two. This is not dissimilar from other Garmin products and will be acceptable to most users. But we feel that this could be improved a little more. Once the satellites are initially acquired the accuracy is +/- 25ft, depending on how many satellites can be found. The heart rate strap is also very comfortable and well-designed.
Display and PC connectivity
The display is crisp and has one outstanding feature: The information presented on the various pages can be completely user-customized. There are almost 40 different data fields you can choose from for display. Examples: current pace, average lap pace, average run pace, heartrate, distance.
Upload of workout data to the PC/Mac software (Training Center) is transparent. The PC/Mac software is very good for presenting time/distance/pace/heartrate/calorie data. You can recharge the unit through the USB port on your computer, although it's slower than using the dedicated recharger.
Pros:
Cons:
Price
Garmin Forerunner 205
Retail price: $130 - $149
Garmin Forerunner 305
Retail price: $150 - $199
Garmin 205
Editors rating:
very good
8.2
Garmin 305
Editors rating:
very good