Friday, October 9, 2009

Today's the day to get a Garmin

If you've been dying to get a GPS watch to track your mileage, pace and more ...


... Amazon.com announced in an e-mail early this morning that its "Deal of the Day" is the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS receiver with heart-rate monitor. Cost: $139.99 -- 53 percent off the list price of $299.99. And that's with free shipping. (Typically, Amazon's price on the most excellent 305 model is about 160 bucks, which was already way-cheaper than I've ever seen it at sporting goods and specialty running stores.)

The offer is valid today only, and while supplies last. Sounds like a good day to treat yourself, huh?

8 comments:

Matt W said...

I bought mine at a 40% or so off sale at REI more than a year ago. I also got the bicycle mount. It has been awesome for tracking my runs and rides.

I've been wondering if you upload your routes to the Garmin Connect site. I enjoy using the site to see my data, but also to see other people's running routes, especially when traveling to unfamiliar towns.

You can actually find a route you want to run and download it to your Forerunner as a "course". It will tell you when to turn. A fun feature in my opinion.

Eric Banks said...

Great price! I paid about $250 2 yrs ago for mine.

I use my 305 on both my bikes and for runs. I have the cadence and speed sensor (GSC10) on the road bike. I upload data to SportTracks for analysis.

FYI: I also got a duracell USB charger with 2AA batteries for emergencies during longer events (e.g. 24Hours of Booty.)

Anonymous said...

Nothing screams "I am a running geek" quite like one of these. Seriously, when you run do you really need to know your distance to the nearest 1/100th of a mile? I'll stick to my small and lightweight Nike stopwatch.

Matt W said...

@webzealot - "Nothing screams 'I am a running geek' quite like one of these."

Agreed. That, to me, is a selling point and could be on an ad. Gadgets like this are sometimes the motivation people need to get out the door.

Anonymous said...

Follow the Dowd Y Run on Twitter for race updates, running tips & MORE!

www.twitter.com/dowdyrun

Anonymous said...

Current list price on Garmin's own website is $199. So $299 is inflated. Still a decent deal if the 405 or 310xt is not in the budget. The 305 is slower to acquire satellites though.

Geek

M sharpe said...

@webzealot - "Nothing screams 'I am a running geek' quite like one of these."

Sometimes us running geeks use these to measure progress and train adequately. Those of us who run the same 3 miles day in and day out, this is obviously overkill(webzealot?). For us who integrate speedwork, tempo runs and long runs, this is just the device we want.

I'm sure technical fabrics are geekware for runners to some people too.

I've got a great idea, why don't we judge people for their character instead of the "silly" watch they may wear.

Anonymous said...

M. sharpe, I will gladly share my running log with you any day, and I think you'll see I'm not running the same three miles day in, day out. I'm hammering big miles and lots of speed, just like you.

My bigger point is that running is a fundamentally simple sport... All you need are some shorts and some shoes and you're good to go. Of course, marketing folks have convinced folks such as yourself that you need these sorts of gadgets, gizmos, belts, packs, bottles, etc etc etc... I see people running every day that look like they are carrying half of Omega Sports on their back.

If you need one of these to measure progress, then so bit it. Personally, I think it's a waste of money.