the road ahead

Today was the first day that I used my Forerunner 305 GPS enabled watch (thanks babe!) during a bicycling session on the smooth Suncoast Trail.  So here it is, my initial reactions/thoughts around this fitness device that I was questioning at first if it would be overkill or not for the types of workouts that I do.

Pros:
1) I like the watch.
2) It tracks practically everything for me, elapsed time, avg. pace, avg. speed, heart rate, calories, etc. etc.
3) I like how the display on the watch switches between different views giving you real time status during training.
4) It comes with a neat software, Garmin Training Center, that you can install and use on your computer.  This way you can save your workouts; look at it in comparison to previous workouts; display and map out your path via GPS; and graph your workouts to compare speed versus heart rate over time or distance.  There are other metrics that you can graph out as well, such as elevation, speed, pace, cadence, etc. (see picture below for more)
5) Syncing the watch to the computer was effortless…simply plug it in and it transfers the data to the Garmin Training Center application.
6) The buttons on the watch with the user interface display/software makes it pretty easy to navigate through various menu items, in general.  Although, at first, it seems a little intimidating, as I play with it more and more it is becomes more intuitive and less intimidating.  With that said, however, I am still afraid to “accidentally” do something I am not suppose to, but, I suspect this will change over time as I get more familiar with it.
7) It comes with a heart rate monitor that you wear below your chest.  This is better in comparison to my previous watch, where I had to place and push the tip of my finger on a small button on the face of the watch every time I wanted to get a reading.  It only worked half the time, where this gives me a constant reading.  This way I know to either speed up or slow down to be within my heart rate zone.
8) The price of the watch is pretty reasonable for the kind of device you are getting.  There are other watches that are not even close to being this capable and are close to being the same price.  On Amazon, the watch sells for $152.95.

Cons:
1) The watch is somewhat big/bulky looking.
2) Day 1 usage and a little bit overwhelmed by all the features that it has.  I wonder if I will ever use all the features that comes with this watch and or understand how to use them.
3) I bought the Garmin Speed/Cadence Sensor for my bike and I had a hard time installing it and making sure that everything was working right with the watch.  According to the Garmin Training Center application my cadence measurement stopped at about 6 minutes into the workout.  I guess more troubleshooting the sensors on the bike and watch for me.

There you have it, my first day observations of this fitness watch. 

There are tons of other features that I have not even tapped into today.  My understanding is that there is a feature to navigate you back to your starting location, for example, if you were on a run or a bike ride in an area that you are not familiar with, it will help guide you back.  Another feature that I am aware of is a virtual trainer that you can compete with and or compete with your previous time.  Lastly, there is also a feature to allow you to schedule workouts based on workout types.  My understanding is very limited for those features today, but I am sure I will better understand them in the near future and as well with the ones that I am not even aware of today.

Overall, it is a really good fitness watch that is more capable than any other fitness watch that I’ve owned or done research on.  So in my opinion, this watch is well worth it!!  SonnyP Approved!!!

Please feel free to leave comments and or tips.

Garmin’s Forerunner 305 Site