I know I claimed that my Garmin died before. That's why I frantically bought a 220 as a replacement for my five year old 305 - only to return it as defective after just a few uses. It was refurbished, and it kept changing to German unbidden.
Luckily, right after that, my old Garmin miraculously turned on again! And that lasted for a few weeks. But now it's become too unreliable: half the time, the screen remains blank after it turns on, and if I do get a readout, it doesn't matter, because the unit shuts down in a few minutes. This week at track I couldn't get the screen to come on before I left the house, so I planned to use a stopwatch instead. But then the Garmin came on after the third try. However, in lap two of the warmup, it shut off. So back to the watch I went! Since then, I've gotten it to turn on again once, but again, it shut off in a few minutes.
Here's what I decided to do:
- Stick with the Garmin brand for ease of learning
- I really want the 230 or 235 for the sake of the seven available data screens, so I won't have to reset them based on track vs. race vs. long run.
- But since both are new models, I want to wait until I can get a cheaper used or refurbished one. In the meantime, I can use an old Ebay GPS.
So that's what I did. I bought a used 305 off Ebay for $20, and now I'm waiting for it to come in. Unfortunately, it probably won't be here in time for my Saturday 5k, so I might have to run that by feel.
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I ended up staying with Garmin when mine died last summer partially for ease of learning, mostly for my data history and continuity.
ReplyDeleteI have had the 235 since Christmas and really love it.
ReplyDeleteI've done a couple of good races by feel. Sometimes it's better without the data.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome that you found one on Ebay for $20! I hope it works for you. Being without a Garmin is so awful! I'm so reliant on it and feel so lost without it!
ReplyDeleteA 5K is low-stakes and a good way to practice running by feel. (Well, track is a good way to practice running by feel, but a 5K is, too.) But I know what you mean - I like the data.
ReplyDeleteUgh. Like you I really want to stick with Garmin, but I've been burned so many times & the refurbished ones I've gotten have all died sooner than I felt like they should (with no warranty, obviously). I finally shelled out for the 235 new so I really have my fingers crossed that the quality is better!
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