Garmin 305 - my thoughts

I have had the Garmin 305 for about 2 weeks now, so I will give you my first thoughts.
It is not a full review on the Garmin 305 as I have not fully become aware of all that it does, but for what it is worth, here is what I think.

Why did I go for the 305?
A number of reasons...
I wanted a heart rate monitor. I am 44 years old and have no histroy of running , and for quite some time no history of athletic activity, so I wanted to ensure I was not overdoing it. Therefore I wanted a heart rate monitor.
I also wanted something that i could read easily. I didn't want a crammed small screen that I would have to slow down and analyze just to see what pace I was running!
The fact that the 305 has a personal trainer swayed me - I like the challenge. I am trying to run, but with little experience, I felt the trainer might push me on and I don't like getting beaten!

Thoughts:
Very , very happy with it.
As I thought the screen is plenty big, and has plenty of readings.
However, I do like the first screen, which tells you your time, pace and distance the best.

It doesn't take much effort under street lighting, or using the Garmin's own light to see the readings you need.
I was a bit worried about the size, and it being a little heavy, but that has proved to be needless worry.
The size is large, but as i say, I need to see quickly the readings, so I would not want it any smaller!

The trainer has proved to be inspiring, and on some of the more tedious runs, I have noticed that seeing myself ahead of the computer does give me that desire to keep going.

I should have checked as to exactly what a heart monitor was...
I never realised that I would be attaching a band around my chest to get the heart reading. At first, I thought that this would be a hindrance and would annoy me - however from day one I never really noticed it.

The other thing that i REALLY like is getting back and studying my times and splits, and seeing my heart reading. It was funny once seeing that my speed and heart rate jumped drastically as I got chased by a dog. Funny afterwards, but at the time not very funny.
Anyway, I usually go to Bones in Motion website to get their readings. I don't know what other people use, but I find this the best.

I did not switch the monitor off at 5km, so the final 0.11miles is not given, although on the Garmin training Center it gives you the split as I fed into the computer that i was running 5km ( another great advantage of the little tricks and tools on the monitor).
It was interesting as I got to compare tonight's run with my previous 5km(PR). I saw in my first PR the first mile was quicker, the second slower...I had almost identical times tonight , except the first mile was slower and the second mile quicker. The last mile was almost identical, and the only real difference was the final 0.11 mile.
Great website!

So, although there is still so much to learn from the monitor, I think it was a wise investment!