Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9425 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Garmin
• Model: Edge 305 (Heart Rate Monitor)
• Released on: 2006-05-05
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .2 pounds
• Display size: 1.85

Manufacturer's Description
Take your ride to the next level with the Edge 305 - Garmin's GPS-enabled, personal trainer and cycle computer. From competitive road racing to mountain biking, the cyclist-friendly, lightweight Edge will help you achieve your personal best. With the easy-to-use Edge 305 on your bike, you'll always know where you're going and how far you've gone.

For advanced cyclists, the Edge 305 comes packaged with a heart rate monitor and/or wireless speed/pedaling cadence sensor to provide valuable feedback. In addition, the Edge 305 incorporates a barometric altimeter for extremely accurate elevation and vertical profile data. Recreational cyclists looking for the perfect touring companion and fitness partner will love the Edge 205.

The Edge 305 has the ability to measure pedaling cadence, heart rate, speed, distance, time, calories burned, altitude, climb and descent, plus much more. 305 features include:

Easy-to-install no calibration required. Just snap it in the included bike mount and go

High-sensitivity GPS receiver knows your position even in tree cover and canyons, making it extremely reliable for navigation

Highly efficient ANT wireless protocol provides superior battery life and reliably transfers your performance data to the Edge 305

Customizable cycle computer shows up to eight different data fields for continuous feedback

Virtual Partner" lets you "race" a virtual competitor, making training fun

Courses lets you "race" against a recorded course to try to match previously set speeds at every point along the way

Auto Pause" pauses the training timer when you slow down below a specified speed and resumes when you speed up again so you can focus on your ride

Auto Lap " automatically triggers a lap every time you pass a specified location or travel a preset distance

Training Center software gives you the ability to create workouts, manage and download courses, and create a detailed post-ride analysis that charts your performance

The Edge 305 with heart rate lets you see whether you are training too hard or not enough. The heart rate monitor uses a robust ANT wireless technology that eliminates cross-talk and interference to reliably measure and send heart rate data to the Edge via a soft, comfortable chest strap. This data is stored with each track point for post-workout analysis.

The Edge 305 with cadence includes a self-calibrating, wireless speed/cadence sensor so you can monitor your pedaling cadence as you ride. Like the heart rate monitor, the speed/cadence sensor uses the same robust ANT wireless technology to reliably measure and report your pedaling strokes per minute to the Edge.

With its waterproof, sleek design, the Edge is the perfect companion on any bike, and attaches to either the stem or handlebars. Its rugged case frames an easy-to-read, large, backlit display that can show up to eight different data fields along with altitude and a map view.

Included Garmin Training Center" software gives you the ability to overlay your ride data onto a course map. It offers interactive analysis tools that measure your speed, distance, climb, and descent against varying terrain, elevation and more. Create and schedule custom workouts or use workout templates and download to the Edge.

Cyclists: get your Edge from Garmin.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Superb bit of GPS gadgetry!!!
I've been using this for a few months now for off-road mountain biking and have found it great in all weathers. I ride a lot around the Surrey hills (in the UK) and so often the riding is under fairly dense tree cover: which it copes well with and although real-time speed readings fluctuate a bit, the overall route logging maintains good accuracy (much better than my Garmin eTrex Vista).

There are many features that I am still yet to use, although Virtual Partner is fun: you can ride a previously logged route and "race yourself", with a display of how far ahead or behind you are.

The heart rate monitor also works very well - Before putting it on I always dampen both sensors and then it always gives a good reading.

I can't comment on the Garmin Training Software because I use a product called SportTracks which is awesome (freeware, but I donated because it's so good).

The Edge 305 is light and small enough to be used for walking and running too (my wife and I find it can be comfortably handheld when running).
As with a previous review, the only downside that I know about is that it can only display lat-long, not GB OS grid references (now that WOULD be good - a firmware upgrade Garmin?!?!)
Overall - you won't regret buying one of these - more than a couple of my MTB friends are soon to invest!

Dissapointing
I bought this unit for mountain biking (off road!), and liked the idea of knowing what my altitude and heart rate was. It works well for that, has good GPS reception even under trees, and gives accurate speed and distance data.
Just used the Course function for some cross country riding, and that also worked well. It would be nice to have my position in OS grid format, rather then lat and long.
However, and in my mind this is a big one, if riding off road in poor conditions (mud and rain) watch out for ingress. The unit is decribed as IPX7, which basically means it is waterproof, and the buttons on the side have a rubber cover to ensure that nothing gets in there. So why are the buttons on the front exposed. On a recent ride I found that "dirty water" got in behind these buttons which effectivley locked them and rendered them inoperational.
I had good support from GPS deals and they sorted the problem for me, but i am now scared to use the unit in the wet off road. I have taken to wrapping it in clingfilm which makes a nice unit look a bit naff!
To sum up, if you are using this on road I imagine it would be great, but off road - think again.
Buy with confidence from GPS deals, I have had good support from them.

Cracking device
I've had an Edge 305 now for 6 months and I've got to say that it is fantastic. I agree with the previous reviewer that Garmin are a dreadfully backward company with a non-customer focused attitude, but the Edge is at least an indication that for a particular sector of the cyclist market they are trying to put some effort in. (Note - however - the Garmin eTrex series are complete junk in my opinion - suffering from a lack of investment in software, and a considerable resting on previous laurels: unless you need to do multi-day navigation, look for another navigation product).

The thing to remember about the Edge is that it is for a very specific market. If you want it to navigate by, well it can kind of do that, but it's not great at it. What it is great at is acting as a training aid. If you're seriously into your bike training or just generally interested in your bike stats, then this is the device for you. It was that good that I got rid of my wired bike computer: this does everything it does and more.

A great feature, for the solo cyclist, is being able to cycle against your previous rides, helping you push yourself along. It's so much better than pushing yourself simply against a set time. The realism of seeing you catch up with your virtual partner, only to dawn on you that the main reason for this is that he is in fact 200 metres ahead of you and therefore starting to grind up the hill ahead is great motivation.

I can't recommend the device highly enough: to the keen training/stats interested cyclist.


Note:
Given my experience of the colour screen on the etrex and the dreadful navigation software (and maps that cost over £100 in addition), I'd be very skeptical about the new colour/navigation enabled Edges and stick with the 305.

The heart rate monitor of the 305 instead of the 205 is also well worth the investment: OK it's getting a bit 'controlled', but it seriously helps you push yourself more when you're slacking AND calm down when you're overdoing it: thereby leading to a better training run. The 305 also has a altitude profile display which I don't think the 205 has: OK, so that's a gimmick (GPS altitude for technical reasons is rubbish), but it is a bit of fun!

Personally I'd also partner the device with the excellent Tracklogs software if you fancy doing a bit of navigation/analysis work (although the mediocre training centre that comes with the Edge should be enough to get you started on storing and looking after your previous ride information).