I've been using Garmin products for 3 years now: the Forerunner 201 and the 305.
Bought the 305 earlier this year after a chat with Garmin sales. £285.
A few weeks ago, not long after posting yet another defence of Garmin, I started thinking about the product, and started being a bit more objective. I faced up t othe truth, that the altitude doesn't work. The calorie readings are useless. The Virtual Partner is implemented less well than on the 201. The GPS functionality and the speed of the satellite detection is not noticably different on the 305 than on previous models, yet this was the big promotional sales message. There are some annoying backward steps in design, like the battery reading no longer being visible when you start the unit, and no longer estimating the amount of battery life yet. (I've twice run out of battery in mid-long run recently. Annoying.) I'm sure there are other annoyances which I've forgotten.
Anyway, I wrote to Garmin to complain. They replied, admitting that the GPS functionality essentially didn't work. They admitted that the calorie measurement didn't work. That the VP functionality needed to be looked at.
In short, they seem to be admitting that they are marketing one thing and selling something else. When I asked permission to quote them they got rather sensitive and said no. So I can't quote them directly here, but only paraphrase them.
I really like GPS technology for running. For me it generally works well. But anyone who would willingly blow £285 (or whatever it costs these days) on an item that the manufacturer admits doesn't actually work properly, must be nuts.
By all means buy a 201 or 301 from eBay. You'll still get most of the benefits but at a fraction of the price. What you won't get is all the defective functionality.
£285? Yer 'avin' a larf Garmin.
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"They replied, admitting that the GPS functionality essentially didn't work"
should be...
They replied, admitting that the GPS functionality essentially didn't work in relation to altitude. [Said something about it being common to have a margin of error of +/- 400ft!].
If they said it, you can quote it. As long as you quote it accurately. A plea against libel is justification, in other words, if it's true it's not libellous.
Now I'm not a lawyer..... but common sense would say they have cheated us!
Any legal beagles out there?
I was going to speak to my Garmin rep this morning when I get to work to find out what the current staff deal was as it has been a season since I considered one. I love my Nike+ but I have a few bike / run days planned with friends in preparation for a duathlon and the Nike+ isn't much use on the bike.
Maybe time to have another look at the Suunto T series with GPS pod.
You would only have a case against Garmin if the figures they have quited you are outside those quoted previosly.
Unfortunetly it is a fact that altitude calculated from a GPS signal is inaccurate and becomes more so the greater the slope. Most GPS units for hillwalking / mountaineering still have a barametric pressure altimeter as it is far more accurate once calibrated.
Garmin seem to gradually be fixing problems such as wildly inaccurate calorie usage and signal reaquisition; as long as they pull their finger out and continue to fix the remaining issues, then I'd say the 305 is a viable proposition.
Why do you need altitude and calorie measurement?
As they say: never put down in writing anything you would not be happy to have read out in court.
I don't care one jot about the altitude or calorie counting, and I've never used VP or probably any of the other wizzy features, but its currently unable to do "the fundamentals" (as listed by fishyweb). I've had one successful run in the last 9 with all the other loosing the gps signal. The device worked flawlessly in the summer, even in dense woodland, but a few clouds and its chocolate teapot territory.
I've done one last web-update, which said gps software was being updated, and if it fails again tonight its going back.
Yanner - if I were you I'd send it back for exchange, it shouldn't be refusing to acquire/losing the signal like that.
How many FR 305' had you had??