I was hesitant to buy a Garmin Forerunner after hearing many people saying that the satellite connection can be spotty at times particularly around thick trees, tall buildings, cloudy days, etc.  I wondered about the accuracy of the pace and distance especially if the watch didn’t have a strong connection with the satellites.  How could the watch give accurate readings if it is going in and out of satellite connection?

I wanted to try it out for myself after reading some favorable reviews of the new satellite receivers included in the 305 and 405.  I can honestly say that all of these things are not a problem at all with the both of these watches.  Some of the earlier models had some problems with these previously mentioned faults, but the newer receivers in the more recent models seem to have fixed all of these problems.

Once linked to the satellites, I don’t give it another thought anymore.

On one particular running route, the trail winds directly under one extremely long and continuous overpass.  I have had the watch beep and let me know that it has lost the connection, but continues to reestablish this link.  By the time that I emerge from the shadows of the overpass, the watch has already re-found me and adjusts for the time that it lost connection.  It automatically calculates the distance between where signal was lost and then found and adds this to your total running distance to make sure that it doesn’t short you on mileage for that run.

With both the Garmin Forerunner 305 and 405, the signal is incredibly strong and records incredibly accurate data from every single run.

When running with my Garmin Forerunner, I am often asked about the accuracy of GPS watches. I wondered this same question before buying my first Garmin, especially when comparing purchasing a GPS watch, footpod, Nike+ sensor, etc.  There are so many products that are on the market to track your distance and speed.

I have found that the most accurate product for me has been a GPS watch.  I tried everything that I could think of to test its accuracy when I bought my first Forerunner 305.  It faired incredibly well through each of my little tests.

After the watch locates satellites, you can navigate to a screen that shows you exactly how many satellites have been found and will tell you a margin of accuracy. Usually, when I check this screen I have found that it says that it knows where I am within 20-30 ft. This is the difference of only a couple seconds over the course of a mile. I’ll take that as being pretty accurate.

When I showed my sister all the things that my Forerunner could do, she immediately ran out and bought one as well.  We decided to go for a run both of us wearing the watches.  If the Forerunner is accurate, when we finish our 15 mile run, they should both say the same exact distance.  At the end of the run, we found that the watches had less of a tenth mile difference between hers and mine.  This small discrepancy is insignificant over the course of 15 miles.

I tested the watch with both driving a course that I ran to check it with my car’s odometer, measured courses on Google Earth (and other mapping software), ran the same loop over and over to see if the mile markers are in the same locations, etc.

It didn’t come easily, but I now fully trust my Garmin Forerunner.  I know on a 10 mile run that when the Garmin says 9.92, it means that I need to keep going because the Garmin doesn’t lie.