Product Reviews Facts and Notes

Although it was released two years ago (which is like 20 years in the electronics industry) the Garmin Forerunner 305 is still the best all-around wrist mounted GPS device for outdoor athletes.

If you haven’t been paying attention lately I’ll get you up to speed. The latest trend in outdoor athletic training involves using GPS technology to add location information to the usual spread of training measurements like heart rate and time. The numerous new ways that this technology allows athletes to monitor this progress is too much to mention here but you should know that it literally adds a whole new dimension to training.

Early wrist mounted GPS devices were bulky and cumbersome at best, and looked almost like a vehicle mounted GPS strapped to the wearers arm. Leave it to Garmin, the industry leader in GPS navigation devices, to bring to market a smaller, more practical wrist mounted GPS for outdoor athletes. The Garmin Forerunner 305 was released in 2006 and although the company has since released a newer, smaller Forerunner 405, wrist mounted GPS fans still prefer the Forerunner 305.

In fact, the Garmin Forerunner 305 consistently outsells the 405 on Amazon.com where 667 users have given it a higher ranking than the 405. Besides being almost $200 cheaper than the 405, the Garmin Forerunner 305 is a better product too. Most of the reviews for the 305 start with lines like:

“Great Tool”

“Awesome!”

“The Garmin 305 Rocks!”

Here’s why outdoor athletes prefer the Garmin Forerunner 305:

1. large high-res screen is highly customizable

2. it grabs satellites quickly

3. ease of use out of the box

Okay, I know, the 4 minute mile was broken without any of this fancy technology, but if Roger Bannister has access to the Garmin Forerunner 305 I am sure he would have used it!