I do love my Garmin. I have the forerunner 301 (GPS and HRM, the 305 is the newer one. You can get them for under $200 on amazon right now I think.

I have had my Garmin 301 for several years - Great stuff!

The Garmin 305 has heart rate monitor, the 205 does not.

They are a bit big -- it took some getting used to with the 301 (which is more rectangular than the 305) but now I don't really notice it.

Here is one for Buy it Now.
GARMIN FORERUNNER 305 GPS TRAINER HEART RATE MONITOR
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End time: Oct-04-07 21:17:50 PDT (1 day 17 hours)
Shipping costs: US $19.99
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Yes, my Garmim 305 is much larger than any watch or HRM I've ever had, but I don't really notice it. It doesn't feel like I'm strapping a brick to my wrist or anything.

I had the Triax Elite also, but I lost the watch and chest HRM/band. It certainly was nice, but of course didn't have the GPS accuracy or ability to tell distance on a bike from a footpod.

ok, I know y'all love the Garmins BUT you cannot swim with it and I know my girlfirends who have them hesitate to even run in the rain with them---just something to consider. I like my Polar because I can do all 3 sports in it with out having to swich to another watch and can wear it through an entire race. Just a thought.

but what do you do for a race for example? you cant swim with it so how do you keep a running time? Just curious is all. Perhaps I am just OCD about that. I COULD have both, but just opt not to.

I have a cheapo watch I sometime wear for the swim, or I just don't know that part of my time. Sometimes it bugs me (and it took a while to get to where I just don't wear a watch for that) but I prefer to bike watchless, so having the Garmin set up on my bike beforehand makes that easier.

And it was fun at the end of my last IM to hear Mike tell me I PR'ed the swim since I had no idea :)

Thank you for everyone's feedback so far, I really do appreciate it! I'm debating between the Garmin 305 and the Polar RS200SD. I didn't realize that the Garmin wasn't waterproof so that's kind of a concern for me. Also, it seems like the only negative feedback that I'm hearing about the Polar is that the shoe pod can sometimes be tricky to calibrate.

I'm Tellin ya, Don't buy the polar! Buy the Garmin! It used to piss me off that I couldn't swim with it but then I realized, who cares! My head is under water so I can't hear the alarms and I am not going to stop in the middle of a swim and check my stats.

How confortabler is the Garmin 305 or 301? Isn't it too heavy? How does it feel when you run with it?

I did my first run with the 305 today. It is certainly much bigger and heavier than an ordinary watch, but not uncomfortably so. It fits the wrist much better than the 301 and seemed to work very well. Though I haven't been able to use it thoroughly I am very impressed with all the features and I think it will make a great training tool.

I can't wait to program the autostop feature. I always used to forget to stop my watch once in a while on long runs, or if you forget to start it again you lose any semblance of meaning in the elapsed time. With autostop, just set the Garmin to pause while going slower than 10 min/mile perhaps. Then as you approach a stop light it stops and restarts automatically. Even better, it keeps track of the time it was on pause and counts it as rest time which you can view later (as opposed to just forgetting about it on a normal run).

Just configured my 305 to all my preferred options (user profile, autostop, custom display screens etc). Then I uploaded my first workout, and I manually mapped the route using runstoppable.com as I normally do. I got the same distance within 1/100th of a foot, but with the Garmin I will never again have to scroll around a map clicking hundreds of times! Add in the HR data, and I am definitely sold on this product. :)

I was thinking about a nano ipod with the running device, but I don't want to have to buy nike shoes only. It is decided, the garmin 305 is definitely on my christmas list then :)

I have had both the Polar 625X (the precursor to the 200SD I believe) and now have a Garmin 305, and frankly I prefer the Garmin. I'll do some pro's and con's

Polar 625X
Pros:
Foot pod works indoors
Watch is full waterproof, no problems wearing it with HRM in the pool
Smaller watch
Power meter available at a reasonable price for the bike (accuracy is very questionable though)
Long battery life

Cons:
Does not measure bike speed without buying addons
If you have long arms, and a long stroke, the watch actually goes out of range of the HRM while swimming, so that wasn't much use to me.
Elevation function is not very good
More parts (got to move the footpod between shoes, and hope it doesn't come off while running like mine did)
Less accurate than the Garmin, and needs calibration

Garmin 305
Pros:
GPS data is cool and accurate (except under bridges and forests can give it a few headaches)
Essentially replaces my bike computer (cadence add-on is fairly cheap as well)
Excellent elevation data
If you get lost, it tells you how to get home (useful on bike rides in new areas)

Cons:
Doesn't work indoors (I hate treadmills, so no big deal)
Short battery life (only about 10hrs before you need to charge it again)
Can't be used on the swim (although it is waterproof and can be easily used in the rain)
Bigger watch (though the 305 is much better than the 301)
Takes a minute to locate satellites, so you need to stand around like a fool for 60s.

As I said, I prefer my Garmin. I find the data more useful for logging, as I can compare certain events (ie high heartrate) with the maps of where I was running, and better elevation profiles to help me better understand what was going on. I didn't have the new Polar though, so if anything I have said has been changed, then let me know.

According to the website, you can also purchase the foot pod so you can use it indoor. They should create a shell for the swim part.

I live where it rains only about 6 months out of the year (as a matter of fact its raining right now) and I use it in the rain all the time.