I had to do an extreme challenge and hike 35 miles for a charity in which I did absolutely no training. I purchased the Garmin 305 to help me better understand my heart rates and to basically feed me input as I did the hike. The Garmin 305 allows you to set alerts for various things to help you out. For the hike I set an alert to tell me if my pace was too slow, an alert to tell me if my heart rate was over zone 3, a timer to tell me when to drink water, and a timer to tell me when to eat. I had preprogrammed in all the check points so I knew not only how far along the hike I was, but also how far until the next check point. With all of these feedback systems in place I eliminated the "start fast, end slow" energy put out that most people do. I also recorded a TON of information which will help me to further hone the benefits of this training device. Next year I can load the data from the challenge and race against myself.

The 305 only operates for 10.5 hours so for extreme hikes. The 305 recharges via a USB cable so I purchase a portable USB charger and when I got the low battery warning I plugged it in for a bit.

I must say, this thing is one of the coolest gadgets out there.


Recommended: Yes