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| GARMIN 010-00375-00 Forerunner 301 GPS Receiver Personal Training Device | 
 enlarge | Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
List Price: $227.97
Buy New: $137.25
You Save: $90.72 (40%)
New (80) Used (2) Refurbished (3)
Avg. Customer Rating:  204 reviews
Sales Rank: 1255
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Native Resolution: 100x64
Display Size: 2
Includes MP3 Player: 0
Size: Garmin Part #010-00375-00
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 3 x 9 x 6
Array:
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: 010-00375-00
Model: 010-00375-00
UPC: 753759047290
EAN: 0753759047290
ASIN: B00077U4RU
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Good idea, bad implementation. May 27, 2005
18 out of 32 found this review helpful
The concept of the Garmin 301 is a slam-dunk. This is the setup everyone should want. To have the accuracy of a GPS with a host of computing power, and a good hart rate monitor. This configuration could provide everything folks could want with just two components. Unfortunately that's all the good news that their is. The fact is that the Garmin 301 does not work. I think Garmin has tried too hard to cost reduce the product and as a result nothing works very well and some things do not work at all. The hart rate monitor sometimes works and other times not at all or read rates that are way off. I found out from a tech. at Garmin that Garmin does not even make the hart rate monitor. They get an inexpensive one made for them by an over seas company. The GPS is so poor that I did not know anyone even makes one that is so inaccurate. I have a 5 year old hand held Garmin GPS that works much better then the new one in the 301! The software that comes with the unit is so lame that you can not even print your workout graph. The fact is that if you purchase this package you will get something that will not provide useful data. After getting my unit and seeing how bad the data was I started looking around in the forms on the web and sure enough I found lots and lots of people finding the same thing. Do not take my word for it, check around on the web yourself.
Good idea but very poor implementation.
Oh well.
Good tool, not completely accurate May 15, 2005
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
I dont like that you cant print your results from the workout from the software. The device isnt completely accurate on distance. Close, but not precise.
If you accept this then the Garmin 301 Forerunner is a great tool for excersize. The workout partner feature I use alot. You set your pace and the display shows you a partner keeping that exact pace. It then lets you know how far ahead or behind you are. It has high and low alarms for your pace as well as heart rates. You can easily customize your workout by workout time, pace or distance.
It will lose signal if you go under large trees or underpasses. I recently did a half marathon and lost signal when I went under the bridges. This caused a discrepancy in the overall distance.
The software lets you trend your data (distance, pace and heart rate) on overlapped or seperate displays.
I do like the Forerunner. Its just a training aide and does a good job at that.
If you are particular about your information being very accurate then you should get a different product.
Because of these slight inaccuracies it loses one star with me. Its still worth a solid 4 stars.
 ok but not very accurate May 14, 2005
17 out of 20 found this review helpful
I bought the 201 and sold after it consistently reported a 8 mile run as a 6 mile run -- it couldn't extrapolate the distance when the signal is lost in a tree-lined neighborhood.
I have been using the 301 for the last 2 months. I like the integration with the heart monitor and the training software.
The heart monitor will spike randomly at 240bpm -- the software
doesn't seem to be able to throw those outliers out.
The GPS tends to overestimate distance -- I'm not sure how that is possible unless it is fooled by the arm swings.
Another reviewer said it could be .01 to .02 miles off per mile -- that adds up to 1/2 mile in a 26 mile marathon.
The pace readout is inaccurate even with the extra smoothing set. When shifting from walking to running, it will read a 7:44 pace even when our faster runner is running a 10 minute pace.
How is that possible to average faster than the real pace?
I got no answer from online technical support; I haven't tried the phone yet.
I'll keep the 301; it is better than a pedometer and still useful as training tool as it keeps training of mileage and calories, more or less. I'm not sure it's worth the 200 plus dollars.
(Sep 22, 2005) The unit recently have me clocked at 851mph -- that's speedwork! But I recently found the time-based interval and custom workouts very useful.
 A Little Gem May 5, 2005
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
I have had this Forerunner 301 for a week now and it works flawlessly. I take walks on a trail that's approximately 1 mile every day and have done so prior to the purchase of the Forerunner for almost 2 years. I know the exact distance of the trail because they have signs that indicate the distance traveled along the trail. The past week I've been walking and running on the trail and almost every time the distance traveled was the same. You get instances where it's off by 0.01or 0.02 miles but that's as bad as it gets. Some will complain about this but, let's be honest, this is a tool and tools are never perfect. If you find it annoying that it's of by 0.01 or 0.02 miles then compensate for it.
I have used the heart monitor twice and it works as expected. One thing I don't like about it is the fact that you have to strap it to your chest. Perhaps that's the best way to get accurate reading but I would have preferred an arm band, wrist, or even finger type of device.
The navigation feature is not complicated nor is it complex. It's pretty much a waypoint based mapping. Basically, you set points along your trail rout and it will mark those points on your map. You can use the way points to navigate the map. The navigation map allows you to zoom in up to 20ft on your rout.
Customization is one area I would like to see improvements. You can only have one screen that's customizable. Personally, I'd like to see as many stats as possible. I can't complain though because you can always change the sports type and get a different customized screen for each sport.
You might have noticed that all the images of the device don't show someone wearing it. This is because the sucker is a bit blocky. Don't fret though, it's not enormous and the features its packing can't be had with a smaller sized device.
The good:
* Features, features, features.
* Accuracy.
* Heart rate monitor.
* Usability.
* Calories burned information.
* Elevation information.
* Workout history.
* Battery Life.
The bad:
* Bit oversized.
* Needs more customizable screens.
* Signal acquisition takes a few minutes sometimes (I live in Seattle and its cloudy sometimes).
* Doesn't work indoors (for me at least and that's not what I bought it for).
Great Unit - Poor Software May 3, 2005
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
This unit is great at capturing all of the data I want to look at, but the training software leaves much to be desired. The data by themselves don't mean anything without the ability to do quality analysis. The included software was basic at best. Even the free MotionBased.com platform that is suggested seems a weak bridge. So far, the best software I have found to analyze actions sports is by a Finnish company called FRWD http://www.frwd.fi/static.php. If Garmin could put together something like this, this product would be amazing!
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