August 31, 2006

Garmin Forerunner 205/305 User Thoughts and Tips

One of our readers, “HappyMarty” from Waverly, Iowa has sent in some tips and thoughts on using his Garmin Forerunner 205 after 3 months of ownership. Recall the Forerunner 205 is the new fitness trainer GPS that uses satellites to track your progress and record your data for you. Garmin’s Training Center software allows you to track your training and logs in your activities by sport. These items also relate to the Garmin Forerunner 305 that adds a Heart Rate function to the unit.

If you want to read more on the Garmin Forerunner 205, we used the Forerunner 205 earlier this year and you can read our review - GPS Review: Garmin Forerunner 205 Review by GPS Lodge

Greatest Benefit of Owning the Forerunner?
“The Forerunner makes training easy. I’m a data junkie, and for me, I can just slap on the Forerunner and go; the thing captures all the stats for me. Every couple of weeks I download the information and I have my training log. No longer do I sit down with a notebook every couple of weeks and try to remember what runs and bike rides I did, it’s all right there.”

Inside Tip after using the Forerunner for 3 months?
“One thing I discovered after a while was that if you hold down the “MODE” button you can quickly switch between sport types – a drop down menu appears, and I can quickly switch between biking and running.” “HappyMarty” runs and also rides his bike to work several times a week, so switching between modes is important. The only issue is that you can actually program more than one bike (mountain and road bike let’s say) into the Forerunner, and this Mode button tip only allows you to toggle back to the last bike setting you had. This is only important because you enter the bike weight into the profile, which comes into play when it calculates the calories burned. So a 15-pound difference in bikes may generate a slight error in calories burned calculation. Minor issue, but if accuracy is your thing, make sure you have the right bike setting.

Wish List for the Forerunner?
“Both my wife and I use the Forerunner, which says a lot about the product because I am a GPS junkie and my wife hated anything to do with GPS’s before we got the Forerunner. Anyway, I wish it could quickly toggle between profiles for people, instead of going in and resetting gender and weight. I suppose Garmin wants you to buy a Forerunner for each member of the family though.”

In the end, he said that he loves his Garmin Forerunner 205 and that he's really happy with the purchase, and surprisingly, so is his wife.