Tuesday, April 10, 2012

PLEASE ADVISE - Garmin Forerunner 205, 305 or 405

The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”



I'll be turning 40 this year and I'd like to do something special! The original, Michael Jackson themed birthday party was almost immediately replaced by the option of getting a Garmin.

As much as I *love* the King of Pop, any runner worth her salt will choose the Garmin when given a choice between it and just about anything else.

So I set about searching for the best option.

Your first thought might be that the price points on a party and a watch couldn't possibly be close enough to make them comparable, but the fact is, I'm kinda square. I don't drink and it's not likely that I would be comfortable with spending more than $250 on a birthday party for myself, which is about the cost of the Garmin Forerunner 305.

However, according to my research, the 405 is more reasonably priced. Hmmm..... Why would that be? Later models are almost always more expensive right? Well, it seems that the 405 was more expensive when it first came out but it really does seem that the 305 is the superior model.

The issue that gives me pause is that according to the reviews (on Amazon), the 405 loses functionality when it is the slightest bit damp.

Currently, I use the RunKeeper ap on my iPhone to track my workouts and I really like it. However, I have the same loss of functionality when my fingers are damp from sweat or rain or a minor water bottle mishap.

Also, lately I have had issues with maintaining accurate data after I've started my run. Many times, I've had to make adjustments online later. This was also an issue brought up in the reviews for the 305, but only when trying to find the satellite. Apparently, after the connection is made, the data is pretty sound or within a reasonably margin of error.

Another issue I have with my iPhone is that it loses power on long runs. On my last race I completely ran out of juice right at the 12.98 mile mark. According to reviews, that is an issue with the 405 but the 305 runs strong for hours and hours.

With all of this research, I decided to go back one more generation and check out the 205. This intrigued me because the reviews for the 205 seemed to be on par with the 305 and seemed remarkably better than the 405 AND the price point is more reasonable than both!

So my question is: Would I be doing myself a great disservice if I were to forego the 305 and the 405 and go for the 205...... And still have the Michael Jackson party?

What do you think?