Garmin Forerunner 205 / 305

axmaxl · August 16th, 2006, 06:15 PM

Dear running fellows!

Does anyone have experiences with the Garmin Forerunner 205 or 305? Are you satisfied with its funtionality, but mainly how is the wearing comfort? I am male, but got pretty small wrists I would say like 5cm (about 2inches). Would the 'watch' be too large for me?

I recently moved and am now in the process of finding new running routes. It is a great hilly area with lots of plains and forests. I am frequently getting lost. Not badly lost, but you know running into deadends or where trails end up on bigger roads and I hate to take those.

Idealistically I would like some gps-map thingy like Garmins GPSMAP or ETREX, but they suck for running (as well as any pocketpc). Uploading some map data and then just having some you-are-here-pointer would be perfect. I suppose the Forerunner series does not support such feature. They got some map feature, but if I understood right it is jsut some representation of a route I ran before. Is there such device suitable for runners? Currently I print out some topographical map and use that, but it always takes time to figure out my current location. In addition I might have to fight with obsolete maps where I am confronted with questions such as - 'hey is that trail here on that map? or am I already on that other trail?'

Yea yea that is of course only or mostly for fun. It is not that I _really_ do need it

But I am some tech-geek, so I tend to get inspired by such products

So anyone of you people got experiences with above mentioned products or similar?

regards,
Axel

EDITED/ADDED:
The Forerunner 301 is a lot cheaper. Any people got experiences with both? I mean it is not that I must have the newest product.

**boreal** · August 17th, 2006, 12:27 PM

[quote=axmaxl;595896]Dear running fellows!

Does anyone have experiences with the Garmin Forerunner 205 or 305? Are you satisfied with its funtionality, but mainly how is the wearing comfort? I am male, but got pretty small wrists I would say like 5cm (about 2inches). Would the 'watch' be too large for me?

I recently moved and am now in the process of finding new running routes. It is a great hilly area with lots of plains and forests. I am frequently getting lost. Not badly lost, but you know running into deadends or where trails end up on bigger roads and I hate to take those.

Idealistically I would like some gps-map thingy like Garmins GPSMAP or ETREX, but they suck for running (as well as any pocketpc). Uploading some map data and then just having some you-are-here-pointer would be perfect. I suppose the Forerunner series does not support such feature. They got some map feature, but if I understood right it is jsut some representation of a route I ran before. Is there such device suitable for runners? Currently I print out some topographical map and use that, but it always takes time to figure out my current location. In addition I might have to fight with obsolete maps where I am confronted with questions such as - 'hey is that trail here on that map? or am I already on that other trail?'

Yea yea that is of course only or mostly for fun. It is not that I _really_ do need it

But I am some tech-geek, so I tend to get inspired by such products

So anyone of you people got experiences with above mentioned products or similar?

regards,
Axel

My wife and bought the 205 unit. As far as fit goes, it shouln't be a problem since it fits my wife fine. You may want to try one on first (at your local store) and see about the fit.
Running comfort is very good, the unit is about 2.5 time bigger than my watch and very light weight.
The GPS part of the unit works pretty good also. The the amount of features on the unit pretty cool. My only complaint is that it takes a while for the unit to "find" itself/lock onto the satellites. My house is surrounded by alot of big trees so I'm sure that's the reason.
Looking back, I now wish I would have gotten the 305 which has the heart monitor.

Good luck,

d

axmaxl · August 17th, 2006, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boreal

Looking back, I now wish I would have gotten the 305 which has the heart monitor.

Yea, that is why I tend to get the 305. Not that I ever used an heart monitor, but if I invest in such a tool I think such a feature should not be missing.

EDITED:
I read there was a problem with the calories calculation. I think mainly when not enough sattelites are found to calculate the exact altitude. Are you aware of that and did they fix it?