A couple of weeks back I was searching for a new heart rate watch. At first I was thinking to buy myself the Polar RS200SD (SD is with footpod), but after reading an article in RunnersWorld (the leading magazine for runners here in the Benelux) my mind was set for the Garmin Forerunner 305. The only problem I had with this device was the price. If I should bought it here in Belgium it should costed me around 330€ or $465. This is to much for a watch in my opinion. But then there’s eBay

There are a lot of shops on eBay where you can buy the FR305 for less then $300. After reading tons and tons of reviews, I finally made the decision to buy myself the FR305. Surfed to eBay, logged in with my account and ordered one via a shop that ships to Belgium.
There’s one shop that was cheaper, but because of the 99,9% positive feedback I bought it via one that’s a little bit more expensive. I must say, they did an excellent job delivering it. Ordered on Saturday night around 11pm, they received (or checked it) the payment on Monday the 12th, shipped it on Tuesday the 13th and I received it just a week later.

What came in the box:

So far so good.
Following the manual I charged the watch for about 3 hours until it says it’s fully charged.
Now the fun can begin.

After installing the software and connecting the watch via the cradle and USB I could simply upload training workouts I just created to my watch.
A big advantage the FR305 has is that you can setup your personalized screen. For example, I like to see my heart rate, my average running pace, distance I’ve ran so far and how long I’m running in one screen. It’s all possible with the Garmin 305.
It has much more things to display, but that you can display on alternate screens that you can use also while running.

Then it was finally time to stretch my legs, run a few kilometers and test the FR305 of-course.
Once back home, the fun part started. Connected my watch to my pc, beep beep, that’s it, data imported onto my screen.

Here you can see that I created a workout where I had to run 3 times 1km, rest 1 minute in between and finish with a 500m run.

The red line indicates heart rate and the blue line indicates speed.

I totally fell in love with the FR305, I only own it for a week now, but I can’t imagine running without it anymore. But I must admit, it’s hard to not watch at the screen while your running. You real have to commit yourself not watching

The only downside about all of this right now is that I picked up a little injury at my hamstring yesterday while playing soccer. So no running for me this week

If anyone of you need more feedback about this watch, just contact me, I’m happy to help you out about this great piece of equipment