Garmin Edge 305 Bicycle GPS Navigator with Heart Rate Monitor and Speed/Cadence Sensor
by Garmin
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin Edge 305 Bicycle GPS Navigator with Heart Rate Monitor and Speed/Cadence Sensor
Customer Review: Very hard to beat. Well worth it if you ride regularly.
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the Garmin unit because I was tired of riding the same exact route and getting pretty large differences in distance readings with other computers. (Power lines, etc interfere and mess up the readings.) With the Garmin unit on the same courses, the readings are consistently within a few hundredths of a mile over 25-35 miles. (The difference is probably just how I am taking the curves.)
Also, I really like being able to look at the heart rate and elevation trends on the computer after a ride. It makes me feel better about courses that I thought were flat but actually were not. Also, it's really good for seeing exactly how high/hard different hills are. Finally, for competition routes, it helps finding where the hitting-the-wall points are. i.e. I felt like I was riding consistently through the ride, but the heart-rate fell off by 5-10 bpm... That helps me in determining when to take a power gel pack or when to conserve/expend energy along the course.
I've read about the battery life issue, but personally, I am not doing 5-7 hour rides. 3-4 hours / 60-80 miles is the high-end for me. On longer century rides, I am more interested in time anyway so a simple stopwatch is more than enough.
I do however wish that the unit had an auto-off feature if no movement was detected in 10-15 minutes. (My girls have found it, pushed the button, and left it on before.... I only discover this when I go out the next day to ride.)
The altimeter is very accurate. I keep a "total ascent" field on my primary display to give me an idea of the climbs done. This is a cumulative count... i.e. If you climb 10 feet, fall 10 feet, climb 10 feet, and fall 10 more feet, the field reads 20 feet -- even though your actual altitude did not change. That's exactly what I wanted. I use this information on a route to let me know how much climbing effort is remaining. i.e. If I know a route has 2200' of climbs, I am riding fast/hard, feel fine, am past half-way but see on only 500' of climbs have been done, I know to back-off and pace myself to finish strong.
I have had some minor communications issues with the software. However, I just wiggle the cable and retry and 99% of the time the unit works fine. On that rare 1% exception, rebooting fixes the problem.
The heart rate monitor is very accurate. I've used high end Polar monitors -- and this one is every bit as accurate as those.
Installation is a snap. The ergonomics of how it fits on my stem (90 mm) is perfect. It looks like it was made for the bike.
As far as the issues others have had, I really don't know what to say. I did upgrade the firmware. Other than that, I've done nothing different. There's clearly issues since so many people have bad things to say. I simply did not experience those issues. I would suggest buying from some place like Amazon, using it a lot upon reciept, and sending it back for credit if you have problems.
All in all, I would highly recommend it even with the minor issues mentioned above.
Customer Review: GREAT cyclometer in a small package
Summary: 5 Stars
I received my 305 from Amazon (at a greatly discounted rate) just last week, and have since had the time to log 3 seperate rides. Overall, I am very pleased w/ the unit - it's a small, very lightweight unit and convenient to monitor onboard - I have had no problem reading the data in daylight or at dusk. This thing does a lot more that I need it to - I bought it for the HR and basic distance/time/speed info, and it's great to be able to plug it into the PC and instantly download the raw data - though I do wish it used a cradle (like the Forerunners), the USB plug on the back of the unit is a little awkard (and its the only way to charge it - I've forgotten to plug it into/keep it plugged into the computer a few times and when I'm headed out for a ride, find it dead - it doesn't quick charge and the rebound is slow, so I've had to leave it at home a few times... bummer. The cadence sensor and speed sensor magnet (I suppose for stationary training, since the Garmin uses GPS to calculate speed) are okay - I had trouble getting them to align on my Klein frame - they wanted the sensors w/in 5mm of each other (cadencce on the crank arm and magnets on the spoke), but they're not that close on my bike w/o haning off the frame dramatically. I finagled w/ it and got it to work, but the magnet is designed for cross spokes and doesn't work w/ ,my single spoke Campy's - no big ddeal, I think I've subsequently removed the cadence thing altogether - that info is not a concern for me. I'm just a recreational rider, and was more interested in heartrate, speed, distance, etc. and here the Garmin is flawless. The software is fun to review after a long ride, here's some data from a ride this weekend:
Distance: 50.03
Total Time: 3.04.00
Average Pace: 3.41mins/mile
Average speed: 16.3mph
Max speed: 34.8mph
Total Calories: 3,586 (who know how accurate this is?)
Average HR 160 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 214 - probably not true, it takes a second for the monitor to start working - needs some moisture (sweat) between it and your chest. Actual is probably closer to 185
Average Cadence: 255 (not working anymore since I took it off)
Total Accent: 1,832
Total Descent: 2,032 - I stopped in the Valley w/ a few problems and drove it to the boke shop, otherwise Accent/Descent would be the same.
Under Heart Rate it shows time/distance in each zone:
For example, I spent 1.56 hrs and 33.3 miles in zone 4 = 150-167 bpm
The above information is plotted on a graph, showing zones/intervals over time/distance. Neat. Also shows an overhead map of the course - though not impeccably detailed, you can zoom in and it services a basic purpose, etc.
As for the accuracy of the GPS unit itself, it seems pretty spot on - I played w/ it in the car one night and it seems to be w/in a few 1/10's mph and w/in a few feet as far as location - that was the extent of my scientific testing. Overall, I am pleased w/ the unit - I'll use it on every ride from now on.
Customer Review: All-in-one cycling information system [almost]
Summary: 5 Stars
I admit to being a bit of a tech-junkie and have previously purchased a several HRM and GPS-enabled bicycle computer systems. The Edge 305, which I have owned for three months, is the first one that I felt was worth the investment. It strengths are: user configurable displays, high contrast screen with backlight (last several hours for night riding), user-friendly downloads with fast USB communication/charging, very lightweight (~ 3oz), with secure mount/dismount, very straightforward button/menu system, waterproof (haven't tested this yet).
The 'Training Center' software is excellent, with a full set of graphs and maps, much easier to navigate than e.g. Ciclosport or Cambietta software. Ride histories are downloaded automatically as soon as the USB cable is plugged in. Even better, there's a website (motionbased.com) that one can upload rides and get complete reports, including overlaid Google maps, weather, and lots of statistical information about the ride (HR, speed, grade etc). Note that motionbased.com charges a monthly user fee (currently $8/month). The ride history storage is quite good - in the 'smart' recording mode, a data word is recorded every 10 seconds. There are 13,000 storable points, so it should be possible to record about 36 hours of ride data before a download. This would be handy for multi-day trips when a computer isn't available.
Nothing is perfect in life. Here are the issues I have found so far with the Edge.
1. The battery life is close to 9 hours, definitely not the advertised 12 hours. I completed a 200K brevet last weekend, which took 9:10 with stops (the Edge was left on). About 20 minutes before the end I got a 'low battery' warning' but it kept running to the end. Note that I don't have a cadence unit, which probably decreases the battery life. The Edge was fully charged before the ride.
2. The 'grade' display is useless. It bounces around +/- 5% on hills. I think the unit is sampling too fast - Garmin will likely fix this in a firmware update soon.
3. The map display is simply a track history, and does not display actual map information (roads, towns, etc). It's handy for out-and-back rides, since you can see approaching turns on the return trip, but it would be terrific if one could load map data. (Note that positions are recorded and the route is displayed on a 'real' map after download to the 'Training center' or motionbased.com software.)
4. Although there are two bike mounts included, they are at different orientations (90 degs apart) so if you have 2 bikes with the same setup, you'll have to buy another mount ($15).
Customer Review: This is it
Summary: 5 Stars
When I got my 305 I installed the cadence/speed sensor and mounted it on my stem. Unfortunately it turned out that my unit was defective and part of a lot that turned off when ever you would hit a bump. Garmin Customer Service was outstanding and told me to keep the sensors on the bike and they would just send me another unit after I returned the one I got. I sent the unit back and now I have two cadence/speed sensors for both of my bikes.
Here are some fine points on the physical product:
1) Battery Life: I'm getting around 12 hours of battery life
2) GPS: GPS function is good, but not dependable for speed calculations.... GET THE SPEED/CADENCE SENSOR OR YOU WILL BE SORRY
3) Ease of Use: Easy to figure out basic functions, but it offers so much more if you read the manual
4) Navigation: Not so good... Thats what the 705 is for, I know where I am going
5) Software: Training Center is ok BUT the new garmin connect is awesome. The online service is free and is worth buying the garmin over any other brand just for it.
6) Hear Rate Monitor: Works like a champ, you never realize how hard you working to get up a hill until you get one of these
7) Physical Mounting: Great... Mount it on the stem if you can, its a little big, but the screen needs to be with all the data you can get
8) Back light that you can make stay on for night use
9) The data presentation is customizable... you can have a ton of data on the screen, or just a few things in large lettering.
If you are looking for a cycling computer that gives you data on your workouts, the 305 is the way to go unless your made out of money and the 705 is doable. Garmin is the best.
Customer Review: The Best & Most Complete Bicycle Computer Ever!
Summary: 5 Stars
Simply put, I love this product. It's kind of like the Swiss Army Knife of bike computers, employing every metric the serious cyclist needs to tailor and hone their workouts. The only piece of data missing is wattage (you reading this Garmin!) which would be great, but probably very costly to integrate.
I love the customization and the complete wirelessness of the computer. It basically makes all other bicycle computers obsolete by comparison. Installation is a breeze without any of the pain in the ass calibration required from virtually every other bike computer on the market. It just works right out of the box.
The Edge 305 has a Virtual Training partner that will make you a stronger, faster rider. It also includes interval training and which is a blast to use and for the real tweaks, an advanced training feature where you can set up your own grueling workouts -- a real bonus for the masochists among us!
One thing to note is that there are mounts for two bicycles in the box, so there is no need to order an additional bike mount if you intend to make the Edge 305 a duel use computer for your road and mountain bike. This kind of mitigates the relatively high price the computer goes for in that you can have one computer for two different bikes.
I haven't experienced any of the battery issues mentioned in some of the other reviews, which I suppose is a testament to my wussy 4 -5 hour rides, so that shouldn't be an issue for most people.
And finally, after years of ignoring a huge market, Garmin wised up and is implementing Macintosh OSX support which while not included in the box, will be available on-line within the next couple of months (Thank you Garmin!!).