What Is a Garmin GPS Training Watch - What Can It Do?

You may recognize the Garmin name as a brand that's associated with in-car or in-hand GPS navigation. Garmin made their company a household name with the popular turn-by-turn GPS units of recent years. Garmin is also well known in the fitness and training industry as a leader in GPS training watches.

One of the most popular models produced by Garmin today is the Forerunner. The Forerunner is a training watch that goes beyond telling time and lap speed. It utilizes a GPS receiver that interfaces with satellites to give accurate distance and time measurements. Not only can you record basic information such as average speed, pace and distance, but these data points can now be mapped out and shared with other runners, bicyclists, etc.

For those of us who train, whether it's running, hiking, walking or cycling, it's always important to find routes of known distances. With the GPS mapping capability mentioned above, the Forerunner's data can be uploaded to various websites, such as Livestrong.com (the website started by Lance Armstrong), and shared with others. Now you can easily lookup your specific location and find others who have uploaded their data that shows the map, distance and exact coordinates of a given route.

Popular Garmin Forerunner GPS Watch Models

Now that you've read a little bit about what the Forerunner can do, let's look at some of the available models.

Garmin Forerunner 305

The 305 is probably my favorite model because of its large display screen. It's capable of displaying up to four data points at the same time. You can customize the data in each screen. I like to view my overall time, pace, distance and last lap time. When you are running, it's nice to see all the information without having to keep pushing buttons to switch screens. It's a little bigger in size but it's still lightweight and comfortable. It also has an optional heart rate monitor strap.

Garmin Forerunner 405

If a smaller size watch and style is to your liking, you may prefer the Forerunner 405. The 405 has much the same appearance and size as a standard watch. Because of the smaller size, you can only view one or two data points at a time. These means more button pushing to switch screens while excercising. However, you will get more features than the 305. Some of the 405 only features includes wireless data syncing to your computer and also wireless data sharing with other 405 users.