Garmin 305 Information Please (Read 1272 times)

I just got a 305 as a gift. I know nothing about the Garmin Forerunners so I decided to search in this forum. Over 1800 posts are out there! 1) Anyone want to point me to a few discussion threads worth reading to learn more about my new toy ? 2) Any comments tips or opinions I need to hear about it ? Thanks

I didn't think I would ever bother with the heart rate monitor, so I bought the 205. I've had my 205 for over a year, and I've still never read the manual. I'm pretty sure mine is still set at defaults for most settings. Mine is set to Autolap at 1 mile, I don't recall if that was a default or not. I do have several run/walk intervals set up under advanced workouts, for the most part I only use the 8:00 / 1:00 workout. For speed work, I normally use a track and shut the autolap off. Last week the track was still under two feet of snow, so I set up a run 1 mile then walk .25 mile recovery workout for mile repeats. One tip that took me a while (because I didn't read the manual) is that the thing has a backlight. If you turn it on before you start your run through the darkness, it will automatically illuminate for certain events (like autolap). Eric is working on a GPS upload module for RunningAHEAD, I for one can't wait. I just entered 45 run/walk segments from this afternoon's long run. Nice gift. Running with a Garmin is not completely free of drawbacks, but overall it's the best running gadget I can think of.

One feature that is great is "navigate back to start." I don't have the watch in front of me, so not sure of the menu path to get there. It is intuitive to find. I use it when I run over trails, and get completely lost in the woods. I also used it on vacation with my family. We parked our car, wandered around having a lot of fun, and then used the watch to find the car.

These are the only two things you really need to do: 1) Turn on Auto-Lap. This will automatically give you a split each mile (or any other distance, but <0.5 miles="" is="" not="" recommended).=""></0.5>

1. Press mode to access the main menu 2. Select Training-->Training Options-->Auto Lap 3. In the Auto Lap Trigger Field, select By Distance to specify a value.

2) Instead of monitoring Pace (which produces wildly unstable results), set up your screen to show Lap Pace. This will show the pace of your current mile split, which is an excellent read on your current pace.

1. Settings-->General--Data Fields 2. Select the page you want to change 3. Select the number of data field you want to see on that page 4. Use the arrows and enter to change the data fields 5. Select Pace - Lap. 6. Press mode to exit.

I just gifted myself a 305 recently and have used it on about 6 runs now. I downloaded Sport Tracks to download my garmin stats to. The garmin training center is pretty good, but Sport Tracks has a bit more if you are into geeky statistical data and graphs. I have not heard good feedback on motionbased, so I never bothered with it. I'm still learning the bells and whistles of it all, but am loving the freedom of running where I want and not worrying about remembering my route so I can map it out on USATF like I used to. And just about each time I've run with my garmin, I end up running just a little further than what I planned so I can round up to the next mile. It's been a great training tool for me so far. oh, here's a tip . . . look in the manual to set your pace so that it just averages it out on the display rather than instantaneous pace - it'll be all over the pace - but if you set it to average, then something like every 1/4 mile it recomputes what your average pace is and displays that.

i finally got so sick of running the same routes over and over that i caved and bought a 305 today. I doubt I'll ever use the HRM, but it was the same price as the 205 on Amazon, so I figured what the heck. i doubt i'll ever make much use of a lot of the fancy stuff you can do with it... but definitely looking forward to the GPS!

Brat, at least try out the 'make a pizza' feature. It's really quite cool and simple to use.

NO WAY! does that mean my Lean Cuisine days are finally over?? p.s. i think i prefer the previous misuse of my screen name. At least it has a nice French ring to it.

Er. Brat... La Brat... bratayto, bratahto.

wow - that's impressive.