Love my Garmin 305

[elsie3]

Thank you everyone for your feedback and recommendations. The Garmin 305 is everything I wanted it to be--and so much more. I'll be figuring out the possibilities for quite some time now. What a fun, motivating new Christmas toy!

It does figure my calorie expenditure higher than my Polar HRM (wish it were true), but it's the pace, mileage, and HR data I really care about.

Thanks again! You guys are really the best support group imaginable.

 

[MidgetDogg]

Glad you're loving it. I don't use any of the calorie calculators on machines. I use a formula I found online which incorporates your VO2 Max. Being the dork that I am, I recreated the formula into a database that I built to store all my Garmin data. By boyfriend just laughs at me, but I can easily see my max pace and speed that I've hit, my actual max HR - which is much different than what comes from the formula they use.

If you use Training Peaks, you can see your routes laid out on a map. Big deal, right? But it's really nice when planning where you'll go for your 10 mile run before you head out and start thinking.... "ok, if I go this way am I going to end up having to run an extra 5 miles to get home?"

 

[RapidBreath]

Me too!

Hey! I just got one too. Knowing my pace is a lot more motivating than knowing my calories/heart rate. I love that I'm actually going somewhere.

I would not have bought one without the recommendations of the cathletes. I would have gotten another dumby hrm without the gps.

Alisha

 

[kathryn]

Hey! I just got one too. Knowing my pace is a lot more motivating than knowing my calories/heart rate.

ITA!
After I got my Garmin, I became really competitive (with myself): trying to best my times throughout my walking season. But I also use it for recovery walks, making sure to keep the intensity lower (it's actually harder to do sometimes).

 

[mkeefe]

Oh please keep us updated on how you like them. I found myself eyeing them a few weeks ago when I found the prices had dropped so much. I am just not sure about the wrist thing though ( I don't even have a HR monitor)...please let me know how it feels when you're all sweaty. I have a feeling I won't be able to tolerate it!

My other issue with it was I noticed, when cycling with a friend who had a Garmin (not sure of the model) that sometimes it'd drop the satellite and I'd just be very frustrated by inaccurate recordings. I want credit for every calorie I burn!

Donna - (hi again, hehe). What kind of database did you create? Mysql? Access? I'm asking because I'm thinking of learning Oracle and moving over the DBA team at work. I'm currently a Unix (well, I guess Linux) admin now. Thought I'd finally get organized and record all my exercise activity and put it into a database. Be wonderful to have a historical record..this year I couldn't even manage to consistently log the miles I biked. Anyway, just curious what database you use.

 

[kathryn]

. I am just not sure about the wrist thing though ( I don't even have a HR monitor)...please let me know how it feels when you're all sweaty. I have a feeling I won't be able to tolerate it!

The regular wristband is a bit stiff, IMO, but you can buy an optional velcro band that's softer (and easier to get on and off). I got mine through Amazon.