Garmin Forerunner 305

Pros: Size, accuracy, functionality

Cons: Battery life, sync up time

Summary: I was skeptical when I first purchased as I had the Timex Bodylink for years and was pleased with its performance. I run frequently on trails with significant tree cover and wasn't sure if the Garmin would lose contact. Pleasantly surprised with the unit and performance. The unit is much larger than the Timex wristwatch but you lose the GPS armband the Timex demands. You can really only wear during runs/rides but if I got use to this fairly quickly. At times it can take up to 30 sec to get a strong lock on the satellites but once it does, I have never had an issue. I took this on the VT50 Miler race in central VT which was almost exclusively on single-track through mountainous terrain. The signal ranged from fair to poor but the accuracy did not suffer. You can upload to Motionbased.com and it will confirm. Only downside is battery life if you run ultras. On the VT50, it lasted just over 10hrs but wouldn't last for a 100miler. Overall, most pleased I ditched Timex for this baby.