Review of Garmin GPS Edge 305 HR + CAD

Garmin GPS Edge 305 HR + CAD

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really cool

On: 2009-10-14

The best feature is the ability to map your ride to Google earth - it appears to be extremely accurate - within 2 or 3 feet. When mapped to Google earth you will be able to click on points of your ride to see exactly how fast you were going, cadence, heart rate, etc. for that exact point in time. The only problem i have seen is that if you press on the unit in a particular manner it will shut off.

Edge 305, love it and hate it!

On: 2009-10-12

I have had an Edge 305 since June, 2007. (it was replaced once) The first unit worked very well and was a wonderful addition to my cycling. However, the cadence counter never worked reliable and I finally just quit using it. THe HRM was always perfect and I used it even for my indoor spinning just to keep up with my HR. It took a little tweaking of settings to get it to work for that but it did fine and I was able to upload the data to Training Center.

The battery life was not particularly good on it but I managed to get about 6 or 7 hours on it. Then last summer, I took a 2000 mile supported ride on the Underground RR route and had a rainy day. It quit working after that, even though I was careful to have the mini USB on the back of it closed carefully. They are supposed to be water resistant but I always put mine in a plastic bag now if it is raining when I ride. It was really a pain not to have it on the long ride, since the cue sheets relied on my having an odometer. I was glad to have a backup Cateye, and I do not leave home without it!

After several months of back and forth with Garmin regarding the guarantee, they finally sent me a refurbished model. It worked from July, 2008 until mid August, 2009. It had much better battery life than the first unit and worked well until the unit went blank. If I held it JUST right, I could see the screen, and I can still take the data off it while recharging on my computer. However, while riding, there is no visible screen.

Will I buy another one? Yes, I am addicted to all its functions, and really am a data person, so I miss it alot. Now that my husband lost his on a cross state ride recently, we will both get another one!

Excellent device!

On: 2009-09-28

I had spent many nights looking for a bike computer and I finally decided on the Edge 305. It tracks very accurately, can list a ton of information on the display and you can even customize a second screen with more information. I mainly got this so I can load my rides up to mapmyride with the Garmin import feature to keep a log of my rides. The map of my ride is dead on also. The altimeter is a plus, Ive noticed that Google maps and the altimeter accumulated feet do not match all the time and sometimes they are really off. I would tend to believe the altimeter over Google maps. I just make a note of the reading in the notes field on my log.
Battery life is good on Smart Recording mode (havent tried the every second mode). Ive been on two century rides and the battery only went down approximately 1/2 each time.
Cadence sensor, I havent used this yet because my frame has a unique shape and doesnt sit exactly snug. However the speed does show well from only the GPS signal.
Heart Rate monitor works really well, Ive used this on just about all the rides and syncs with no problem, its a good piece of information to gauge your ride exertion.
Hands down this is one fine bike computer. Ive been using this for about 2 months now and have logged about 400 miles so far with no complaints.
I highly suggest this device!

mine broke quickly

On: 2009-09-18

I can only add to what others have said about lack of reliability. My unit worked REASONABLY well for a few months, but then started shutting off randomly. This started happening more and more often until it was every couple of minutes. At that point the unit became essentially useless.

It should work better than this in any case, but especially considering the price.

Given what others have said about repeated failures with replacement units, and having to pay shipping costs, I am not highly motivated to try to replace the unit.

So, money lost.

Garmin 305 HR and Cadence

On: 2009-09-17

Ive been using this product for a little over a month now biking an average of 100 miles a week and love it. I really like the programmable screens where I can choose how many fields of data I want displayed. I like one screen with current data and another with average data, but you can set it up in any combination. Very easy to set up on my Serotta and worked perfectly. I also like the pause feature....you can set in a threshold speed where if you stop the device will auto pause and not count time/averages against your workout....set mine for 0.5mph and it works great. Computer download of workouts is a snap. I read several complaints about archaic graphics. While the computer map used to download could definitely be better, I was impressed with the amount of data that can be obtained from a workout as well as keeping your weekly averages for review. The device does have a few features that have no real function for me...but thats me...the virtual racing partner for example where you can race your own previous route/time. I also notice that on my typical roundtrip routes that it always shows more ascent than descent...GPS altitude data is a bit suspect. As for the heart rate monitor...it works great and is one of the more comfortable ones Ive worn. Cadence sensor works great too. Agree with other posts that calorie burn seems high. For a 2.5 hr ride Id expect around 1500 and it usually shows about 2500. Oh....amazed too that the GPS rang in (found satellites) inside my home in seconds. Drove 100 miles to ride with a friend and it rang in inside a home in seconds there too. Great little gadget! Highly recommend! Paid $250 for it on here through Target!