I run with a Garmin 405 – heart rate monitor/GPS. The website advertises the device as both a sports watch and a personal trainer…and I would say that is pretty accurate. Running with the Garmin has made my training more efficient and accurate. I can track my distance, my pace, my heart rate and calories burned. There is a little animated training partner and by setting a target pace, I can focus on my running goal for that particular day. I upload my runs to my laptop and am able to track performance and compare training runs. There many other features that I have not even explored yet. Really for me, the 205 or 305 would’ve been sufficient but the 405 looks like a watch instead of a mini-computer.
Garmin 305 & 405: 
Having this device enables me to track distance and speed with relative accuracy. It beats driving routes pre-run to see how far I am going – a very inexact method and the one I used before I got my cool watch.
The pace feature helps me keep on track as I have a tendency to go out to fast during long runs only to lose it during the second part of my run. With my Garmin I can monitor my pace – if I want to do a training run a 8:30 – 9 min pace, I can track my pace and keep steady through out my run with a simple glance at my watch. I like tracking calories burned and to be honest, I tend to get a little obsessive about it…
I don’t go out for runs without my Garmin. On race day, I have to struggle to make sure I don’t get too fixated on
staring at my pace/distance. I have to remember that GPS is not always accurate when there are trees or tall buildings or as in the case of the Seattle 1/2 marathon, tunnels – that one really threw me off!
Guys can probably wear the device as a watch too – the only downfall being that you have to charge it regularly. For me, it looks too big on my wrist to make a fashion statement… but it is invaluable for my running!
