Garmin Edge 305 Handheld GPS Receiver

My disappointing Edge 305.

When I first heard of the Edge 305 and all it could do I was amazed!! As an avid road and competitive mountain biker the functions available on the edge 305 seemed to be just what I needed. My wife surprised me with on for Christmas 2006.

My excitement soon turned to disappointment when right out of the box one of the function buttons on the unit did not work. It put a bit of a damper on the gift, but these things happen. What I didn't expect was having to pay for the return of a DOA unit to the seller for repair. $15 in postage and three weeks later I had a new edge.

This time it worked like a charm. I was amazed with the amount and accuracy of the data. I went on many rides and was encouraged by the feedback. The disappointment returned however in June 2007 when the unit unexpectedly turned itself off during an MTB race. I had to turn it back on several times and when I went to download the data it was gibberish. The problem continues on a century road ride the next week. So another $15 in postage to send it in for repair again.

I sent the unit in at the end of June, confident it would be returned a few weeks later as I had a big biking trip to Utah planned. It seems I was being optimistic. After several emails back and forth to Garmin US and the Canadian repair center I had my edge back 6 weeks after I sent it in. I was lucky, I guess, in that I received it before my vacation. Though I was without it for much of my bike training over the summer.

The new unit worked fine at first, then when on a biking trip to Alabama in February 2008 the unit again began to turn itself off during rides. Seems this thing can only go 6 months before it malfunctions. Kind of a pricey piece of equipment for a 6 month life span. I am lucky again, I suppose, that my wife spent the money for an extra year warranty. So I send it in again, another $15 in postage. And now I wait. it has been two weeks now. I sent an email to GPS city (where I sent the unit for repair) and I received the reply:

Dear xxxxxxxxx:

Thank you for your email.

Thank you for your patience, it is appreciated. We are waiting to hear from the repair facility and we will update you as soon as we hear anything.

Again, thank you for your patience!

Best Regards,

x Customer Service Rep
GPSCITY.CA,x


Yes I am patient, but my patience grows thin. I have owned an Edge 305 for about 54 weeks and I have been without it now for 12 of those weeks. A training tool is not useful if it is not reliable. Thought the functions of this unit are impressive, the reliability make it useless. By the time I get it back I will have less than 8 months of warranty remaining and it seems likely it will fail again.
I guess all I can hope for is one more warranty covered repair and another $15 postage bill.

x
Very disappointed



This thing is such a cool tool when it works, but I'm not sure I will buy another when this craps out post warranty.