Rating: - great
I bought this device in advance of training for the London Marathon and it proved to be worth its weight in gold. Having pace and heart rate information all on one screen coupled with generally very good GPS reception meant that this accompanied me on every run.

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Rating: - A classic piece - better than the newer model
First, the price on Amazon was the best I found - even the duty free at Heathrow was over £200, so this is the best place to buy. I've not had the time to check out some of the gizmos like virtual partner, but it was so easy to use in its basic modes that I only needed a quick read of the manual and the rest is intuitive. The heart rate monitor has never given anything other than a 100% accurate figure, whereas my top of the range Polar would always go haywire.
I occasionally get false readings for top speed and altitude but otherwise the data you get after your runs is so easy to read and digest it makes you wonder why all sports watches aren't like this.
And, for a joke, I even switched it on during my flight from the UK to South America, and it registered faithful altitude and speed readings for the first 10 hours of the flight (before the battery went!).
My mates who've run Comrades all say this watch is better than the 405 because the battery lasts longer, the buttons are easy to use than the bezzle, and most of these people have sold their more modern watches to stick with this one.
Well worth the money.

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Rating: - 305 A Winner
Garmin Forerunner 305 Wrist Worn GPS Personal Training Device (With Heart Rate Monitor)Took my new toy for Its first run today did not lose the signal even in a deep wood covered valley .It does every thing I wanted it to Plus a lot more .

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Rating: - useful tool
I purchased one for my brother who was impressed with my Garmin Forerunner 301. The unit is nicer to wear, though with a smaller screen size and acquires and retains the signal better than the Forerunner 301. The Garmin supplied software works okay, but as others have said you're better off using Sporttracks which has more features. Although the updated Garmin software exports to Google Earth, it isn't done in a tidy way, and Garmin software still has poor mapping for the UK, and both France and Australia where I've used it. Again, as others have pointed out, only the latest versions of Memory Map will work with it, even a previous build of version 5 with Garmin USB support needed to be updated. This could be costly if you've invested a lot in maps for previous versions of memory map.

I don't like the plastic strap. Although it's thick, it's of a type that I've had on watches before that have always broken after a couple of years. I recommend getting a Forerunner 301 replacement strap and fitting that instead.

The battery life is less than the 301, but only marginally. It's not enough for a long-distance walk or run over an entire weekend or longer.

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Rating: - Great little device!!
I bought the Garmin Forerunner 305 a couple of months ago and am loving it! Really great for motivation as it tells you distance, time, calories burnt etc. Can also set up an alarm that will go off if you're running too slow or your heart rate is too high. Brilliant!!! Feel lost going training without it now and would definitely recommend it. The only reason I'm not giving it 4 stars is because I sometimes have problems uploading the data to my computer (but when I delete the courses, everything seems OK) so don't know if this is a problem with the device or me doing something wrong! All in all, a well worthwhile buy.