Gadget Mania.

You might suffer from an addiction to latte art or roller coasters, but I have an addiction to a certain category of gadgets. My particular "fix" comes in the form of gadgets that perform an automated data acquisition task. (Geek Alert!) An example is the real time temperature monitor I recently installed at our data center. The latest "kick", however, is Garmin's new Forerunner 305. Having previously owned two of Timex's Ironman speed + distance systems (one with, and one without heart rate monitoring) and several other handheld GPS units, I can authoritatively state that Garmin has finally succeeded in an odyssey strewn with antecedent carcasses.

"Such strong words," you say? I'll let you in on a couple dirty little secrets about most portable GPS units. After spending between $300 and $500 on each, you'll learn to your chagrin that they only work in the middle of a desert on a clear day for the ten minutes that their double "A" batteries hold out. That's right. They're so pathetic that trees and clouds will reduce them to nothing but a battery consumption apparatus (which, ironically, they are exceedingly good at). Did I mention high-tension power lines? How about outside tall city buildings?

Don't get me wrong. GPS has held enormous potential. It's just that those of you, like me, who have purchased model after model need to start being honest about their shortcomings. Or, like me, you need to toss the lot of them and buy the Garmin Forerunner 305. (No, I'm not being paid my Garmin.) It's compact, easy to use, and reliable. I'm searching for something I don't like about it.

Let me explain.

The Forerunner 305 is an oversized wristwatch combined with a traditional heart rate monitor chest strap and, optional, cadence sensor (for cycling). I've been using it for running, cycling and hiking. In those activities, I most often have the unit's display set to indicate event duration, distance, pace or speed, and heart rate. Unlike pedometers or bike computers, GPS provides truly accurate speed and distance measurements. (Elevation calculation is a bonus that pedometers don't even pretend to deliver.) The advantages, however, aren't limited to the course or trail. A provided computer interface enables transfer of the acquired data to a web-based training log and analysis service (subscription required: www.motionbased.com). That's where the trifecta of GPS, data acquisition and Web Services reach a mesmerizing crescendo.

Take, for example, the following log of the past three running events at Greenlake. They were all fairly slow and short runs, but you can begin to image how such a log would aid in training over the season.

Motion Based logs all of the data acquired by the Forerunner, and combines it with weather data, a graphing system, and a handful of mapping systems. For instance, I can see that this morning's Greenlake run weather was noted as "scattered clouds at 1000 feet" (from the Boeing Field weather station). The average, low and high temperatures, relative humidity and wind speed were also recorded. Sitting like a maraschino cherry on the top of all this delicious data acquisition dessert is the Google Earth feature. (Your jaw will drop when you first see a Google Earth tour of an event recorded with the Forerunner.)

The image to your left is just a still photo of the Google Earth tour. If you want to experience the real thing, here are a couple Google Earth files from my training log: Greenlake (running), Lake Washington (cycling), and Rattlesnake Ledge (hiking). [You'll have to right-click on the links and save the files to your computer. You will also need to download the Google Earth software from http://earth.google.com.]

I'm not even scratching the surfice of Motion Based's data analysis features with this blog post. You can combine the data in several different ways to produce line, distribution and pie charts. Here's a simple one showing heart rate and elevation of this afternoon's hike to Rattlesnake Ledge.

The Garmin Forerunner 305 receives my strongest endorsement.