Just Bought My Garmin Forerunner 305 And Ready To Go!

[WillRun4Cache]

So, I had my name on a list at a local Running Room to get a Garmin Forerunner 305 as soon as one came in. Apparently, all the Running Rooms are sold out and only get a few in every 2 weeks.

 

Today, I went to an equipment store I'd never been to before (nice place, though in a strange location) and bought one AND I saved $126 over what I would have paid at the Running Room. I don't mean to knock The Running Room - they provide services and support for novice runners that may be worth spending more money for some people. But $126 bucks is a lot to me!

 

I am now soooo excited to get started with this for running and trying out my first geocache hunt. There's one in the parkland just behind my house that I will try to find tonight or tomorrow. I thought I would look for it as soon as I got home and figured out the unit, but it has to charge for 3 hours. I'm impatient!

 

Can't wait to get started!

 

[+bear&fox]

Well... go get it! Welcome to the madness!

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

If I am confusing it with the Foretrex please forgive me, but you may not have a good unit for caching. If it's the one that you put on your wrist designed to show you have fast and far you run, there are some limitations to it that will probably drive you crazy. For these units (kind of like the "car" units designed for road navigation), it's not easy or intuitive to put in waypoints in the woods for navigating to caches and you probably cannot download waypoints into your unit either. Manually doing them increases the chance of errors/typos and can take you away from the cache.

 

Again, if I'm wrong forgive me but I just want you to not be dismayed about caching because of your unit. If I am right and you can't return it, you still should be able to get most of your money back selling it on eBay, lots of people will want it for running or jogging, and you can then turn around and buy a more "caching" oriented unit. Good luck!

[WillRun4Cache]

"...you may not have a good unit for caching."

"Again, if I'm wrong forgive me but I just want you to not be dismayed about caching because of your unit."

 

Nothing to forgive. Big thanks for any input I can get, in fact!

 

Apparently, I can transfer waypoints but not maps using the Forerunner. This might not be enough for geocaching. I don't know. I'll try it out this weekend. But, I will try not to get discouraged if it doesn't work well for geocaching. Since it didn't cost as much as I'd thought, I could always look into buying another unit.

 

You're right, I could sell it and make a profit on eBay if I sold it right now (because there seems to be a lot of buzz around it in the running community). However, I took it on two runs into a bout of illness hit me (argh! bad timing!) and I liked using it. My work schedule is kinda strange, so I can't find running partners and I need something to pace me and push me. This might be it.

 

Thanks for your input!

[+oldsoldier]

I use a foretrex, and its never let me down. I am going to be upgrading soon, but, for basic caching, the wrist one works great. Good luck, and good purchase!

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

"...you may not have a good unit for caching."

"Again, if I'm wrong forgive me but I just want you to not be dismayed about caching because of your unit."

 

Nothing to forgive. Big thanks for any input I can get, in fact!

 

Apparently, I can transfer waypoints but not maps using the Forerunner. This might not be enough for geocaching. I don't know. I'll try it out this weekend. But, I will try not to get discouraged if it doesn't work well for geocaching. Since it didn't cost as much as I'd thought, I could always look into buying another unit.

 

You're right, I could sell it and make a profit on eBay if I sold it right now (because there seems to be a lot of buzz around it in the running community). However, I took it on two runs into a bout of illness hit me (argh! bad timing!) and I liked using it. My work schedule is kinda strange, so I can't find running partners and I need something to pace me and push me. This might be it.

 

Thanks for your input!

 

While maps are nice and help, it was the downloading waypoints that was the issue I was thinking of. Sounds like you should be fine with it, good luck!

[+Team Neos]

I looked up the unit, and it appears that you can add 100 waypoints. If you are just picking up a few caches here and there, that should be enough to get you started with caching. If you find that you "outgrow" its capabilities as far as geocaching is concerned, you will have had some time to learn what features you would like in a handheld GPS unit (mapping, compass, baromoter, auto-routing, etc).

[WillRun4Cache]

Well, I got my very first cache using the Forerunner 305!

 

If I'd had the heartrate monitor on, I'll bet my hr would have spiked when I found it! Such a good feeling!

 

I think I might be hooked. I am eager to make that (1) beside my name a number in the double digits! Other people that have found this cache have hundreds of finds! I don't know if I'll be able to get that many, but I'm meeting a friend later today and I hope she'll let me drag her along for another find!

 

Eager to meet other people who are into this!

 

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

Well, I got my very first cache using the Forerunner 305!

 

If I'd had the heartrate monitor on, I'll bet my hr would have spiked when I found it! Such a good feeling!

 

I think I might be hooked. I am eager to make that (1) beside my name a number in the double digits! Other people that have found this cache have hundreds of finds! I don't know if I'll be able to get that many, but I'm meeting a friend later today and I hope she'll let me drag her along for another find!

 

Eager to meet other people who are into this!

 

 

Congratulations and enjoy!