HDWound

My wife got me the 301 for Christmas before I told her I wanted to wait for the 305. Is the 305 supposed to be more reliable? Just read a few reviews with the HRM on the 301 being flaky.

Thomill

I have used the FR301 for a while now, and had no problems with it at all. My wife likes it as well for her running, and she is taking this one when the Edge comes out. So far, I have had pretty good luck with Garmin. I only wish they were more Mac friendly .

T

petekalo

I personally owned the Forerunner 301, it was not flaky at all, I loved being able to monitor my workout with such great data, but as soon as i bought it in the fall, Garmin announced the Edge 305, boy was I hot, It had all the features I wished the Forerunner had. So I promptly returned the forerunner to Amazon, now im waiting for the edge. I paid around 213 bucks for the Forerunner so I am real curious at how much this one is going to cost. I am hoping somewhere around the 250's in a month or two. Maybe the trouble those people on Amazon were talking about was their hairy chest blocking the heart's signals, its not made to work on bears...

Thomill

Interesting. I have not heard anything about that model at all.

T

BlastRadius

The device itself isn't flaky. The HRM is fine if you wet the electrodes first (just like any HRM strap).
The biggest advantage to the EDGE 305 is the antenna sensitivity. It supposed to be 2 or 3 times a sensitive (according the the Garmin booth guy at Veloswap). He had both Forerunner 301 and the EDGE 305 out and showed me how the Forerunner 301 was barely tracking 2 satellites while the EDGE 305 was tracking 7, INDOORS. That makes for nearly no loss of signal in heavy tree cover and valleys (as in mountain biking). I have a Forerunner 301 and there is one section of a trail I use that has both heavy tree cover and winds through a valley. On the data download, that section of the ride data always shows a straight line between where the device loss and regained signal; very frustrating.

patentcad

Deos anyone actually have their hands on this Garmin unit? Doesn't sound like it. If not, it would be vaporware. No knock on Garmin (this is a common practice) - but I do kind of wonder why some firms aren't more straightforward about actual release dates/availability of this high tech stuff.

tennisdarren

They start shipping in January. Pre-ordering is available. I'm sure I'll get mine the first couple weeks in January, and when I do, I'll post pictures.

DamnRock

haha that 15 hour bike ride group is really going to take a bite out of their market segment!

or not.

DamnRock

one of the MAIN benefits of the Edge 305 is taht it's the ONLY available unit on the market with GPS, HRM, Wireless Cadence and Speed (with optional accessories) where the HRM is completely chartable over time and distance, with altimeter (both gps based and barometric) ... there are no other units taht offer all of this, to my knowledge, for ANY price. You should be able to get the 305 with hrm AND cadence for $350 or less... check froogle ... you can already preorder them for a discount price....

rock

Extort

endurance events are becoming more popular all the time, look at all the 24 hour events that have sprung up in the last few years. However, ultra-endurance events are still a very small population of riders and I need to build up my speed anyway. If I manage to shave an hour and a half off my double century time then I can purchase this with joy. (currently my average is 13:30:00 ride time and 1:00:00 of breaks)

Overall, this is the best unit that I have seen as every feature that you could want is in one unit.

patentcad

Let's hope this happens for you. If we all had $5 for every 'shipping date' that passed without anything shipping, we'd all be friggin rich. That's where the term 'vaporware' comes from. But maybe Garmin will come through on this one. They've been threatening to ship this thing for months. Well, no, they've been advertising it as if you could walk into the store and BUY it for months (I saw an ad for it a month ago, nothing said anything about 'coming soon'). Which is the very definition of 'vaporware'. But you may find that out for yourself in February if you don't have the unit in your hands yet.

'Pre-ordering'. That just cracks me up. Sounds like placing a deposit on cans of Fresh Aire. Better 'pre-order' or you won't be able to get one. Right.

Socalcycling

The BIG deal with the 305 which is going to make it stand out over the others is that it also uses a wheel sensor as well as GPS. I does not make that big of a difference if it does have a more sensitive antenna. I'm sure it will be an improvement over the 301 but GPS is line of sight so if it can't see the sat then that sat is not going to do much good. With the wheel sensor you will continue to receive speed and trip information. Also if you do get a 305 sign up on MotionBased.com and use the service they offer. It's pretty much pointless to have a GPS unit and not take advantage of the motionbased technology.

patentcad

Sounds good on paper. They all do.

But all my carping aside, I have faith in Garmin. Good company, great products. Looking forward to this one.

But it's still friggin VAPORWARE : ).

tennisdarren

I'm not really sure why you are doubting Garmin for releasing this product. From your comments, you don't even think it'll be released. Of course it'll released. They had a demo at the bike show in Vegas. Apparently the availability is in January. A company of this size can't just "makeup some product and not release it". BTW, is vaporware your "word of the month"? The company is just creating news on the product like any other company would. Remember when Microsoft was going to release Windows XP? There was all sorts of talk about it before the release day. Anyways, when I get mine, I'll be sure to post pictures of it. Have a great night.

-Darren
Scott CR1 Team Issue
Trek Madone 5.2
Serotta CSI
Specialized Tri-Cross Comp

patentcad

Maybe I'll change my name to cyclepete and go post stupid **** on a tennis forum. I'll look forward to your review of the fabulous Garmin GPS bike computer. In March when it finally ships. That's how it often works with vaporware. Which is clearly beyond the scope of your incredibly limited experience.

Do these guys sit up and night thinking this stuff up? Hey look at it this way, maybe the experience with the Garmin will be your first trip to the Clue Store! And for God's sake stop sending me that idiotic private message hate mail. That's clandestine gay stalking behavior.

tennisdarren

It'll be out in January CanonFail boy.

patentcad

It's not Cannonfail it's Crimpnfail. Get it right. Besides, knowing the right insult to throw at Six13 riders will make you feel better when they're dropping you.

tennisdarren

Crimpnfail. Thats even better! Thanks for the update!

af2nr

I think what patentcad is talking about when he says "vaporware" is this kind of thing. Check out the link from awhile back when we were talking about this unit and it's November ship date. https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ghlight=garmin

shoerhino

Yeah, I remember the November date as well.... I was disappointed but I'm still looking forward to the release of the 305! It will be an awesome computer.

patentcad

>>Yeah, I remember the November date as well.... I was disappointed but<<

I'm talking about THIS type of thing...

gixser11

I plan on purchasing this as well. Even though I have the 201 and 301 and don't really need it, I will get it anyway as I am a gadget geek.

af2nr

Agreed, I too am STILL looking forward to it...Whenever that may be?

patentcad

I wonder if this type of delivery delay on a hot new product enhances demand more than it pisses off frustrated potential buyers. Apparently since so many high tech companies (I think Adobe has an official corporate policy of announcing big software upgrades 90+ days before they're ever going to ship them) routinely engage in this practice. I suppose it works. But it can drive people nuts.

tennisdarren

They should provide an exact shipping date while they promote the product. I think thats fair.