Ken's Road to Kona

I finally made the switch. My Polar 625x was just giving me too many problems. It was inevitable however.

When it came to higher intensity workouts, the polar  foot-pod just wasn’t accurate. The main problem with Polar’s inertia based technology is  it calibrates based on  pace which you originally calibrate it. In other words, I walked around the track 4 times to calibrate it, but when I run with it, the accuracy is off because the stride difference between each step is so much larger (see River Run Race report). Add the fact that my heart rate strap stopped working, I just felt it was time for a change. Now, I don’t want to trash the company (not like my opinion matters anyway); the 625x lasted me 4 years without a problem. But being that I’m OCD on accuracy of distance and time, I felt the GPS unit was best. But which unit?

Polar 625x - Thanks for the memories

I had been researching the Garmin 305 forerunner for some time; listening to advice on various websites. I wasn’t sure if I’d go with the 310x or the 305 at first. The 310x is a machine in and of itself. You can even swim with it and track distances — while in the water (which is pretty darn cool). But do I really need all that? Triathletes in general are over compulsive in their gizmos and their data collection, but I’ve gotten to the point where I know what I want and what I need (see previous post on that too).

The main issue between the 310x and 305 was the battery life, and price. The 310x has a battery life of 20 hours or so. The 305 has a battery life of 10 hours. That’s not even enough to get you through an Ironman! At least not now yet. The 310x went for $369 while the 305 went for $150. Additionally, considering I will only be doing nothing longer than half IM this year, I felt that when I do get back to IM distance, I’ll have a Power Tap by that time; so I decided on the 305.  When I go get back to full IM racing, the strategy will be:  no watch on the swim, Power tap computer on the bike, and use the Garmin on the run. While I’d like to have an over all clock, I’m not really that worried about it.

Garmin 305 Forerunner - I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship

Yes, with the Polar, I never had to worry about battery life, but I think the trade off for proper distance recording, pacing, etc., is well worth it.