Fathers Day Right Around the Corner...

Unfortunately at some point in the past couple of years I lost my Forerunner 201. I am pretty much resigned to the fact that it is gone as I haven't seen it in over a year. For now, I'm going along fine in training without it but I'm going to need (read in needy voice) one when I get to intervals and as my long runs get longer and more complicated.

Looking at the various options on the Garmin website, I fairly quickly narrowed my search to being between the 205 and the 305. The 405 looks super cool but it has less battery life in training mode and doesn't have the Courses feature that the 305 does. The wireless data transfer to your PC looks neat but, I'm not sure about the feature of being able to beam your routes to other 405 owners so they can compete against runs you have done - a little too geeky for me (never thought I'd say that).

Anyway, here is the feature comparison I came up with:

Model	Price	Wireless Transfer	Multi Sport	Heart Beat	Courses
405	$300	Y	Y		N
305	$300	N	Y	Y	Y
205	$200	N	Y	N	Y
201	$150	N	N	N	N

I also found this rubric, which I thought was good.

So, the only feature the 305 has that the 205 is lacking is the heart rate monitor, which would be nice but I'm not sure worth the extra 100 bucks. Does anyone reading this have experience with the 405, 305, or 205 that you would be willing to share? Also, have you used something besides a Garmin product that you liked better? Help me Dear Internet....