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The menu sequences are not intuitive and are overly complex.8. I travel a great deal and run indoors on treadmills, as well as outdoors. If you delete an workout in the software, the watch will over-ride the workout and re-insert the incorrect data or deleted workout back into your workout history, throwing your data off again.9. I use the watch to record my heartbeat patterns at various conditions and log my miles and calories consumed.The watch is OK, but I give it two stars for the following reasons, which are belied by the initial fascination over seeing one's running course on a map.1. A heartbeat monitor strap is included by there is no screen on the watch which actually shows the heartbeat pulse rate to the user. The characters and digits are very hard to make out with sweaty eyes, or if you are over the age of 37, as they are too small and buried in the cheap LCD3. Only an advanced user can do this.
The watch screens are duplicative, complex, small and semi-informative. The screens use an old cheap Casio digit watch face from the 1980's and could have been done better at the $300 price point 2. Except for maybe the pace runner image, they were given about 1 day of thought by someone sitting on a PC in Malaysia, who used to run when they were in high school and designed the screen according to some lame RFP that the product developer put out between their vacations.4. While the heartbeat/pace graphs in the software are really good, there needs to be an interface to download the data to Excel so that you can do your own analysis and history tracking.
I have used the Garmin Forerunner 305 for the last 7 months in my running, and have logged in around 700 miles in that time. The software presumes that you have used the watch perfectly during your strenuous workout, and that you have interpreted the 68 feature screen perfectly while using it, despite barely being able to make out the menu items and numbers and characters. You WILL have to modify your data per 4 above if you want your history data to be accurate.6. There is a teeeeeeny teeny teeny heartbeat number in the upper right hand corner which cannot be made out except with a magnifying glass - or maybe if you are myopic and hold it real close.7. This renders the software very difficult to use - making one either have to manually intervene in managing their own data per bullet point 5 below, or forget using the watch for any historic tracking.5. and if worn tight, your arm will be itching from the strap for a half hour after you finish sweating.11. The screen is low quality. The definition and management of 'courses' 'maps' 'history' 'workouts' 'sports' and all that complexity, combined with an inability to adjust errant data, and re-insertion of that errant data by the watch once a correction is attempted, make the software something that the casual user will give up on.10.
The software is very inflexible and confusing with Courses, Workouts, Maps, Runs, and a confusing array of pre-programmed athletic sports which it attempts to automatically manage for you including running skiinng swimming and other athletic activities. Any alterations to your workout history data has to be done manually in an external text file, you export to, modify and then import back into the watch. The watch is heavy and will, if worn loosely, beat the heck out of your wrist while you workout. For a $300 price point, to extract history into a text file, is pretty lame.So overall, I am encouraged that workout devices are headed this way, but - once over the fascination of GPS and its new opportunities I am unimpressed by the overall thought and product development which went into this unit.:)
Excellent product. My 18 year old daughter is an avid runner training for a 10K. She loves it. Exceeds expectations
Good to know. It has been ideal for keeping me from overexerting via the heart rate alert, and I love the features that allow me to see my averages (pace or speed) whether running or biking. I've been using the Garmin Forerunner 305 for several months now and love it. The fact that I can recharge the wristband and not have to worry about sending it in for battery replacement was a deal maker for me. I've found that this device is pretty darn accurate on mileage, more so than I expected. I also like that it tells me how many calories I've burned. The chest strap battery is also owner-replaceable, just buy a new one. All in all, it's been a great little tool for helping me keep track of my progress as I work to get more fit.
Good concept but too big and the heartrate monitor is on a tght band that fits around the chest. Perhaps his body hair interfered a little with the heart rate pick up but that feature was useless for him. The band is impracticle to impossible to wear during vigorous excercise. Purchased as a gift for my dear (but hirsuit) nephew. Would consider again if it was 30 % smaller and had a much more effective and less obtrusive heart rate monitoring system. The combination of size and poor heart ratee monitoring lead to lack of use so can't comment on the GPS features.
The 305 picks up the satelites even faster than my 205 and the heart rate monitor is great. So far this version has been as great as my first Garmin. I had a 205 for over three years before the salt and suncreen finally got to it. I have a stand alone heart rate monitor that I quit using because it was so difficult to get adjusted. You would have to move the strap around on the run so it would read my heart rate but the Garmin picks up everytime without having to be re-adjusted.
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