A second heart attack has forced me to exercise in a more “controlled” manor. My cardiologist has implied that day hikes (6 hours or so) with more than 4,000 feet in elevation change, or hopping on my off road motorcycle and dueling it out with the “young guns” was not the most beneficial type of exercise for a 55 year old man who has had 3 stints placed to keep arteries open. Playing is good for the head, but the heart needs something more regular. The Forerunner 305 with the heart monitor is a nearly perfect tool for someone who wants to record or gauge physical activity. When used outdoors the GPS receiver keeps track of distance, speed, and elevation. Using that data (and your personal profile), it can calculate calories consumed. When paired with the heart monitor you can see where, when, and why, your heart is working the hardest.
The software that comes with the unit (Garmin Training Center) is pretty week in my opinion, but it is a functional tool. I prefer a piece of software called “SportTracks” [...]. for tracking my progress and making charts and graphs for my doctors. The 305 is comfortable to wear and has a reasonably simple user interface. It does take some time to get used to the button layout and menu structure, but there is probably good reasons for Garmin’s choices here (I just don’t know what they are). I have done “side by side” comparisons with my Garmin Etrex Vista HCx (MTK chipset), and My Tomtom ONE XL (Sirf chipset) against the Forerunner GPS receiver (Sirf chipset). At no point were any of the 3 in disagreement about any location by more than 30 feet. I have tested this in the car, on my bicycle (yes I have had all 3 mounted on my mountain bike), and hiking (I’m also a geocacher). The Forerunner is a top quality GPS lacking only the mapping and routing functions of it’s much more expensive playmates (I doubt those functions would be much use on a screen that small anyway!).
I purchased the Heart monitor, Foot Pod, and Bicycle Cadence Se
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