Garmin Edge 305

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June 2008 update: The replacement we got in December has also died. Like its predecessor, it shuts down frequently and unexpectedly. We've asked Garmin for another replacement and have offered to pay the difference in MSRP to upgrade to an Edge 705 with mapping. We'll let you know what they say. June 2008 Update #2: No response from Garmin after a week. We've only used the Edge about 60 times, which puts the cost-per-use in the $8 range. Nice technology, but overpriced at that rate. We looked at some other units, including Magellan products. Before plunging into a purchase, we tried once again to reset the Edge, following the manufacturer's instructions. No improvement. Last ditch effort: reflash the chip. We re-installed the latest firmware from the Garmin site. The unit seems to be stable now, but we haven't had a chance to do any meaningful testing. We'll keep you posted. June 2008 Update #3: No luck. The unit's a goner. We're really bummed because Rich had hoped to record GPS and elevation data of his week-long road ride in Minnesota and mountain bike rides in Wisconsin this month. July 2008 Update: We finally got a return merchandise authorization (RMA) number and shipped the unit back. Garmin said they'll replace it for free, which is nice, but we've been hounding them with e-mails the past two months to get to this point. We were so disgusted that we sent an e-mail to Magellan, one of Garmin's competitors, asking which of their units they'd recommend for our intended uses. Magellan never responded. It's a sad truth that when a company is operating at close to capacity to simply meet demand for a popular product line, customer service is often neglected.

December 2007 update: The Edge 305 has survived well through nearly a year of frequent use and abuse, including one nasty crash on the trails at Cave Run Lake that put a deep gouge in the face of the unit. A month after that incident the unit failed to power up after recharging. We sent an e-mail to Garmin and within 24 hours had a reply from a technician. We tried the solution he proposed. The unit got to what would be the BIOS screen on a personal computer and then shut down. This was an improvement, but the 305 still wasn't functional. We called Garmin and got right through to a service representative. She gave us a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number. We sent the unit back, at our expense. Garmin got it the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. They sent a remanufactured replacement unit out to us the following Monday, which we received on Wednesday. They paid for 2-day return shipping. At times we've been unable to get through on Garmin's tech support line, and that was the case when we tried to call to find out when our replacement unit would be shipped. We sent them an e-mail and got a response, again, within 24 hours. Overall this was one of the most painless warranty claims we've ever had to submit. Best of all, our new/reman unit seems to have battery life that's double what the first unit provided. The best warranty is the one you never use because the product never fails. The second best warranty is the one that leads to customer satisfaction. This claim left us satisfied.

Product: Garmin Edge 305 bicycle computer GPS unit. The BRAT test unit has both heart rate and cadence but we've not worked with either feature enough as of this first posting to throw out an opinion. We'll update the review later with HR and cadence information after we've had more experience with those tools.

Date of Review: March 2007.

Reviewed by: Jason Settles and Rich Ries.

Cost: $379.15 MSRP with either cadence or heart rate; $433.32 MSRP with both cadence and heart rate. Includes USB cable and AC adapter/charger. A 12-volt auto adapter/charger is available ($39.98 MSRP). Unit can also be charged via computer USB cable. Online vendors vary from MSRP to nearly 40 percent discount. The Edge 205 (not tested here), which lacks cadence and heart rate features and does not have a barometric altimeter, lists for $269.22.

Weight: 88 g. with mount (not including zip ties).

Display: 1.3"W x .8"H, 160 x 100 pixels

Size: 2.1"W x 2.7"H x .7"D

Case: Waterproof to IEC 60529 IPX7 standards

Temperature range: -4° to 140°F (-20°C to 60°C)

Source: Ordered online.

More info: Garmin Web site.

Recommended?: Yes, if you accept the limitations of the device and if yours is more robust than ours.

Note: the split ratings in the chart below reflect the split personality of this device.

Ratings (1 is lowest, 5 is highest)		Comments
Accuracy	2/4	Varies with conditions; limited by its design
Ease of Installation	2/4	Accessing advanced features is challenging, but initial setup is easy
Ease of Sharing Data	1	Sharing maps and elevation profiles varies from cumbersome to nearly impossible
Functionality	3	Battery life could be better; ease of navigating menus only okay; easy to read in all conditions
Style	5	Unobtrusive, yet techie
Cost/Value	1/2	Depending on how you value its features

Jason's Comments

I've used Garmin GPS products for several years. They were recommended to me by various sources. I tried them, liked them, and continue to use them. Being fairly new (two seasons) to cycling for health, I was excited when the Garmin Edge 305 was released.

The Garmin Edge 305 is a GPS unit built with cycling in mind. The 305 records and measures heart rate, time, distance, pace, altitude and calories burned. With an optional piece, the system will monitor pedaling cadence when cycling.

The system provides calculations based on information you enter, such as age and weight, for calculating your heart rate zones and calorie consumption. You will need to input data about your bike. However the 305 can work out the wheel circumference automatically when you start riding. The unit can store data for three different bikes.

If this seems daunting, be assured that the accompanying manual is very simple to understand. The information input is equally easy to complete.

The Edge 305 is a wireless design that is compact, yet easy to read…even with older eyes. Installation is simple as well. The mount can be affixed to the bars or stem with cable ties. Since I like to do adventure tours (Pikes Peak, Red Rock Canyon, etc.) with rented bikes, this is a big plus to me.

Another great feature is Elevation. The unit provides a very precise graph of your ride elevation. You can even watch changes on a selected screen. I use this to compare various rides for specific challenges.

The unit can display training time, pace, distance, lap pace, lap time, lap distance, average and best pace, elevation and calories. It has customizable screens that you can choose from up to 37 data types.

Auto Pause feature automatically pauses the training timer when you slow down below a specified resting pace; timer resumes when you start running again. The Auto Lap feature automatically triggers a lap when you reach a specified distance or location. The Virtual Partner displays a graphic “virtual partner” that will run with the set goal, so you can see at a glance if you are keeping up or falling behind. Works with courses and workout features. There are setups for Interval training as well.

I find the Alarm that sounds if you reach specified minimum or maximum heart rate to be helpful but a bit of a nag.

My two biggest complaints have to do with batteries and mapping.

The batteries are not removable which means that once they're dead, the unit has to be recharged by computer or AC outlet. The option would be to rig some sort of external power pack. Normally this isn't a big deal because battery life is well into the 12-hour range. However, if used on a camping/MTB weekend, it could become an issue.

The second issue is strange to me. The 305 just doesn't have the map features that traditional GPS units have. But, I recently discovered Memory-Map (http://www.memory-map.com/). It supposedly allows you to plot your route on maps easily and upload to the Edge. I'm still experimenting with the software so I'll let you know what I find.

While on software, I should mention some. My favorite is MotionBased (http://www.motionbased.com/) because of the 3D views. MotionBased provides an online training log, interactive mapping and the TrailNetwork, to post and share routes with other cyclists. You can download routes created by others and run them on the Edge.

I also suggest checking out Topofusion.com (http://topofusion.com/), another excellent mapping and training log software program. The application was written by cyclists. It has about every feature you might want.

Then there is the software that comes with the Garmin Edge 305, Garmin Training Center, which lets you create and schedule workouts, analyze your data and store it. I use it too. It is simple and provides easy to read data.

All of these computer software tools access your Garmin Edge 305 via a USB port.

Obviously, the Garmin Edge 305 can be used for training and recreational cycling. For training routes, you can compare your performance over time. There is also a virtual partner, based on your previous training rides, which you can race against.

With recreational cycling, you decide where you want to cycle and then navigate it. The Edge 305 gives you directions for travel as well as recording all the data. This is where the traditional mapping would be nice. In case I had no clue where I ended up, I could find the quickest exit route.

If you are only interested in basic ride statistics such as distance, time, and speed, the Edge 305 will be very underutilized and very over priced. With a street price tag of about $350, it is not a cheap system. But for the Seriously Cyclist Having Serious Fun, and others interested in performance, it is a valuable training aid.

All in all, I highly recommend the Garmin Edge 305 to any Serious Cyclist.

Rich's Comments

Sociologists tell us that when possessing a specific new technology no longer thrills us, we've succumbed to hedonic adaptation. What was once considered cutting edge performance is now the accepted minimum. That's why manufacturers keep cramming more features into cell phones and digital cameras and mp3 players. The old devices quickly become boring so we're always shopping for something new.

Maybe I'm suffering from hedonic adaptation with the Garmin Edge 305. True, it's my first GPS unit. But in my real job as a free lance technical writer I've been covering GPS for over a decade. Based on what I know is available from GPS technology, the Edge 305 seems a little light on features. The lack of mapping is the most frustrating shortcoming.

Accuracy on the road is exceptional. The 305 was accurate within a hundredth of a mile to my cyclocomputer, which is calibrated against a measured mile. Positioning is so accurate that you can look at the resulting map and see which side of the road you were on. Accuracy in the woods is much less. At Land Between the Lakes the 305 showed me riding in water at several points, which I'm pretty sure I did not do. This was in December, when there was no tree canopy to contend with.

To be fair, even high-end GPS systems can struggle with accuracy and manufacturers have to devise work-arounds. The systems used by road construction crews, for example, use a base station. The precise location of this base station provides a reference point for all the earthmoving equipment on site. This approach is faster, more accurate, and less expensive than equipping each machine with a high-end GPS receiver.

At boot-up the 305 takes a minute or so to acquire satellites. Once it's done with that it will tell you the accuracy it can provide under the current conditions. I found that it takes much longer for the barometric altimeter to stabilize, however, and setting off immediately after the satellite signals were captured resulted in some wacky elevation data at the start of the ride. I learned to wait until the current altitude reading settled down before riding away.

Battery life is advertised as twelve hours, but in my experience the real-world time is much less. At LBL the battery life indicator was down to its last bar after just five hours of riding. The way you configure the display will affect battery life, as will ambient air temperature. Batteries last longer in warm weather. I wish the 305's battery were hot-swappable. Garmin could use cell phone-type batteries that are easy to switch and a capacitor to save ride data for sixty seconds or so while the switch was made. I could bring a spare battery on long rides.

My main gripe about the 305 is that having meaningful access to the data provided by the Edge requires a subscription to Garmin's Motion Based Web site - at ninety-five bucks a year! (You can store ten rides on the site at no charge.) And the subscription is the only realistic way to share your data. As a subscriber, however, you can download other subscribers' routes into your Edge and use that information as you ride. I've not done that yet. BRAT has a subscription - we got a two-years-for-the-price-of-one special late in 2006 - but we got it so we can provide information to our members and event participants.

Despite the shortcomings, there are things the Edge 305 does well. Setup is easy, especially if you skip the user and bike profile setups. The display is big and bright and easy to read under all conditions. Recharge time is quick and can be done through a USB connection to a computer, a 110v house current adapter, or an optional car adapter. The little rubber flap that covers the USB port seems flimsy, however, and sealing it securely takes patience.

If you go for the full package - Edge 305 with heart rate and cadence, fitted case, 12-volt car charger, subscription to the Motion Based service - you'll have invested about five hundred dollars. That's a high entry fee to ultimately arrive at hedonic adaptation. Whether it's too high is your call.