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Garmin FR 305 How many units have you had?

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    I bought one of the 1st Garmin 205's to train for the FLM '06. Brilliant! Not a single issue. Didn't use it again between June '06 and Dec '06 and then couldn't get the thing to charge up or anything.

    BHIP Ltd were amazing returned it no problems, I upgraded for £20 to the 305. Used it twice but the on-off power button doesn't work properly. SO back it goes. I expect that BHIP will simply replace it.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    Got my 2nd 305 now and so far so good. The folks at BHIP www.heartratemonitors.co.uk were super-efficient again.

    I must say though that using Motion Based has been very annoying, I feel it's very slow, searching for other peoples running routes is hit and miss.

    Does anybody pay for the upgraded subscription? I just use it free. Is it any better with paid subscription?
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    I've considered upgrading but they don't sell the idea too well to me - basically there's little more added to the pro version as opposed to the free 'lite' one, so I'm not shifting yet.

    The only thing that really annoys me with the free version is not having access to anything older than a few days - or when I've uploaded over 10 sessions.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    Pavey - you won't regret your choice
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    So far so good snaps - it has quickly become my new best friend!!

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    ...still on my first FR305 which was bought in May last year. Have the same problems with the "black dot" but a pencil rubber seems to do the trick, I'm always v careful about letting it dry our properly after runs too. It seems to be doing the trick at the moment.

    I paid for the upgraded MotionBased service, they were doing a deal just before Xmas where if you bought 1 year subscription they chuck in the 2nd year free...the whole thing cost about £40 which seems fair enough....by the sound of things the subscription is going to outlive my Forerunner !
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    Oven GlovesOven Gloves ✭✭✭
    I've had a FR205 since June last year. It still functions okay (though sometimes takes a while to find a satellite lock). However, the insides appear to have worked loose and can be heard rattling about whilst I'm running. Should I send it back?
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    I live on the other side of the world and when my 205 broke down, I sent it to Garmin in Taiwan (with no receipt from the purchase). They sent me a new one back to Jakarta within 2.5 weeks. However in those 2.5 weeks I dug out my old hrm S625 and have decided to stick with that and gave the 205 to my wife.
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    Head GoneHead Gone ✭✭✭
    My first unit went back after 3 months and ws replaced. That ws in July. My second unit has packed up and presumably will go back with the same problem. That's if they ever reply to my e mails asking for an RMA number.They haven't responded to 4 so far.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    Just discovered this thread: bought my first Garmin 305 in April 2006. Had to send it back in August (to Sweatshop who sold it), as it stopped downloading data to my PC. Injured until March 07, and now number 2 has stopped downloading. Not sure if the warranty runs from the date of the original purchase or the date of the replacement arriving.

    Am more or less resigned to writing up my data in my old-fashioned paper training diaries and not looking at pretty graphs.

    Still damned useful however. And I only paid £50 in cash for mine as I had £75 of Sweatshop race winning vouchers to buy it with, so I suppose I should be grateful.

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    Sorry - £175 of Sweatshop vouchers of course!
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    Slow Coach - have you tried a hard reset. Best to try that before sending back again. This unfortunately wipes all your saved settings and history from the device, so make sure you remember your settings before doing this.

    Hard Reset = press "mode" and "power" together. It will then ask you if you want to clear all data.
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    MonoMono
    My garmin stopped downloading as well, but only to training centre, it was ok with Sportstracks. I managed to fix it by deleting the courses from Training Centre.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]

    Argh- My second ones just died with exactly the same fault as the first one (Battery gone).  At least this one's lasted over a year!  Hopefully Garmin'll give me a new one as it's out of warranty!

    6th FR 305 - Recovery Runner
    5th FR 305 - Snapstinget
    5th FR 305 - Hot Tub Alci
    3rd FR 305 - Harry Hedgehog
    3rd FR 305 - Scary Fairy
    3rd FR 305 - John Battersby 3
    3rd FR 305 - Dek
    2nd FR 305 - Derby Boy
    2nd FR 305 - Fishyweb
    2nd FR 305 - Beetle
    2nd FR 305 - Stripeyhorse
    2nd FR 305 - Snails
    2nd FR 305 - pants Ants
    2nd FR 305 - Bedders
    2nd FR 305 - Kwaka
    1st FR 305 - Keith M Stuart
    1st FR 305 - JivinJizz
    1st FR 305 - Redkite
    1st FR 305 - SteveBe (since Spring)
    1st FR 305 - Yanner
    1st FR 305 - Stet

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]

    I'm now up to my third. My second one started to power off for no apparent reasonm abd then started refusing to switch on. Not dissimilar to my first one IIRC. Happily, Garmin replaced it with a refurb unit FoC despite it being 14 months old. Very good service.

    6th FR 305 - Recovery Runner
    5th FR 305 - Snapstinget
    5th FR 305 - Hot Tub Alci
    3rd FR 305 - Harry Hedgehog
    3rd FR 305 - Scary Fairy
    3rd FR 305 - John Battersby 3
    3rd FR 305 - Dek
    3rd FR 305 - Fishyweb
    2nd FR 305 - Derby Boy
    2nd FR 305 - Beetle
    2nd FR 305 - Stripeyhorse
    2nd FR 305 - Snails
    2nd FR 305 - pants Ants
    2nd FR 305 - Bedders
    2nd FR 305 - Kwaka
    1st FR 305 - Keith M Stuart
    1st FR 305 - JivinJizz
    1st FR 305 - Redkite
    1st FR 305 - SteveBe (since Spring)
    1st FR 305 - Yanner
    1st FR 305 - Stet

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]

    Pants - Garmin charged me £51.77 to replace mine!

    However, the new one seems very promising.  It took 7 seconds to get a signal when I switched it on for the first time.  The GPS software is 3.00 which doesn't seem to have been released yet (still 2.90 on the website) so it might have something to do with that.  Mind you - if the problems are caused by water ingress then it could have degraded the GPS antenna.   My sound had gone on the other one too so it's nice to have the bleeps back as well!

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]

    I have had my 205 for nearly a year and had no real problems until recently.  It now takes upto 5 mins to locate satellites and loses reception more frequently.  Not sure if this is because I have moved to Germany or not.  Should I send it back?

    Anyway, I just use the standard Garmin software and am keen to upgrade.  There seems to be a lot of references to firmware and different downloadable features etc etc.  Could someone gve me some direction in laymans terms of what I need to do.  Thanks

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]

    Slow-Coach.

     I have just had the same problem, all of a sudden it would not down load the history from my watch despite when i pugged it into my PC it launched the training centre.

     I called garmin and they sent me this email :-

     "First of all please download the latest version of training center from our website at the following link.

    [u]http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=835[/u]

    You don't need to uninstall anything just load this one over the top of the old one. You won't lose any data.

    If this fails to fix the problem then the next step is to reset the

    watch. However this means that any data stored in the watch will be

    wiped.

    Switch the unit off. Press and hold the Mode button and also press and

    hold the Power button. The unit should switch on and have a message on

    the screen saying ?Do you really wish to erase all user data?. Select

    YES and press enter. The unit will reboot and ask you some questions

    including if you have a heart rate and cadence sensor."

    When i downloaded it worked first time, one thing i would add,  after i downloaded the updated version, the first time i connected my watch up popped a message saying something to the effect "new hardware detected" and gave me the option to use the wizard thing to connect it, i said yes and it went through the wizard thing.

    Once that had done the training centre opened up and bingo history downloaded.

     Hope it helps. 

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]

    That's me on #4!  Same problem as last time!  Won't power on - at least it's within a year of the last failure and I won't have to pay anything.  The chappy at Garmin actually conceded that some of the earlier batches of 305's had battery problems.  He said mine wasn't from one of those batches.

    How's everyone else getting on with their 305 (unless you've gotten rid in favour of a 405)?

    6th FR 305 - Recovery Runner
    5th FR 305 - Snapstinget
    5th FR 305 - Hot Tub Alci
    4th FR 305 - Dek
    3rd FR 305 - Harry Hedgehog
    3rd FR 305 - Scary Fairy
    3rd FR 305 - John Battersby 3
    3rd FR 305 - Fishyweb
    2nd FR 305 - Derby Boy
    2nd FR 305 - Beetle
    2nd FR 305 - Stripeyhorse
    2nd FR 305 - Snails
    2nd FR 305 - pants Ants
    2nd FR 305 - Bedders
    2nd FR 305 - Kwaka
    1st FR 305 - Keith M Stuart
    1st FR 305 - JivinJizz
    1st FR 305 - Redkite
    1st FR 305 - SteveBe (since Spring)
    1st FR 305 - Yanner
    1st FR 305 - Stet 

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User]

    Came back from OZ and forerunner would no longer lock satellite. Restored to factory settings several times and upgraded software but it didn’t work. Called Garmin after a few frustrated days and they are going to replace it. I was very angry at times but gladly I remembered a few mile-markers and managed to do some long runs and speed training, even though it meant going around the same area several times. The only positive thing was that I managed to hit the target pace without a watch telling me. J

    6th FR 305 - Recovery Runner
    5th FR 305 - Snapstinget
    5th FR 305 - Hot Tub Alci
    4th FR 305 - Dek
    3rd FR 305 - Harry Hedgehog
    3rd FR 305 - Scary Fairy
    3rd FR 305 - John Battersby 3
    3rd FR 305 - Fishyweb
    2nd FR 305 – Brazilian Gooner                                                                                                                              2nd FR 305 - Derby Boy
    2nd FR 305 - Beetle
    2nd FR 305 - Stripeyhorse
    2nd FR 305 - Snails
    2nd FR 305 - pants Ants
    2nd FR 305 - Bedders
    2nd FR 305 – Kwaka1st FR 305 - Keith M Stuart
    1st FR 305 - JivinJizz
    1st FR 305 - Redkite
    1st FR 305 - SteveBe (since Spring)
    1st FR 305 - Yanner
    1st FR 305 - Stet 
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