Basic Comfort Ultimate Crib Sheet

Basic Comfort's crib sheet simply attaches to the crib's bars.

Measuring 52" x 28" Basic Comfort's crib sheet will fit all standard crib mattresses, and its 50/50 cotton/polyester blend means you can machine wash it. As with any time saving product as brilliant as this, we suggest you buy two: one for the crib while the other is in the laundry.

View Garmin's Forerunner demonstration video.

Choose from 12 data fields to display on the 305's screen. View larger.

The design cleverly integrates the GPS antenna and aims it towards the sky when you're running or walking. View larger.

The simple docking cradle makes charging and data connectivity a snap.

The Virtual Partner function makes your workouts more competitive. View larger.

Choose from three workout modes that help you target your training goals. View larger.

The 305 features rudimentary mapping and location marking functions. View larger.

Not so with the 305. Garmin's engineers obviously burned the midnight oil and have come up with a waterproof design that, while certainly not as small as a sports watch, feels just as comfortable. The curved casing allows the unit's antenna to face the sky when you're running, while the widescreen display is perfectly positioned for viewing when you need it. And the display certainly deserves a few kudos. While it's smaller than the display found on previous Forerunners, its resolution is far higher, offering incredible clarity and crispness.

Garmin has smartly given the 305 a simple button layout and the buttons have a nice tactile feel with good pressure response. The right side houses the menu selection and enter buttons, while the left houses a power/backlight button and a mode button. This simple and elegant solution is a big improvement over the sometimes confusing button functionality of previous Forerunners. View button layout.

The underside of the 305 is pretty nondescript, except for a row of contacts that interface with the included charging and data cradle. The cradle is small and unobtrusive and its single mini-USB port connects to either an included AC adapter, or a USB cable that connects to your PC. In addition to data transfer with the USB cable, you can also charge the 305's embedded lithium-ion battery via a powered USB connection from your computer.

GPS Performance
The big news about the Forerunner 305 is that it features an integrated, high-sensitivity SiRFstar III GPS receiver. What does this mean? It means that the 305's ability to both track, and maintain a lock on, your position is better than anything before it. After an intial battery charge, the tester had the 305 on his wrist and was tracking speed and distance with GPS satellites within 3 minutes. The next time we used the 305, satellite acquisition was nearly instantaneous. A run through dense trees didn't faze the unit either; tracking remained true and steady. Performance on a bike was equally impressive. Whatever witchcraft has been cooked up by the designers of the SiRF technology, we like it!

While the Forerunner 305 isn't billed as a GPS navigation device, it does have some rudimentary mapping, waypoint marking, and routing capabilities. In addition to marking locations along your journey, you can zoom in or out of a simple map that displays your current direction and path. There's also a "go to location" feature that routes you back to your starting location, or to any location you have defined. Once you have defined several locations, you can save this information as a route, allowing you to travel the same path in the future. As you'll see below, the 305's new "Courses" feature gives you new levels of control over how you define your favorite runs and rides.

Training Functions
The 305 is first and foremost a training tool, and its ability to organize a ton of data types into a user experience that is intuitive and simple is no small feat. Whiz-bang technology aside, if you can't use it and make it a natural part of your exercise routine, it's worthless. When it comes to these factors -- and here's the take home message on the 305 -- this device is successful where many other devices fail.

The heart and soul of the 305 can be found on the data screens, which give you real-time information about all aspects of your workout. In fact, the 305 can display a dizzying array of data, such as calories burned, distance, elevation, grade, and heading, as well as multiple lap and pace modes. The 305 adds the ability to track heartrate, lap heartrate, average heartrate, and heartrate zones via the included coded heartrate chest strap. With the purchase of a separate wireless cadence and speed meter, you can also track bike performance data.

Thankfully, the device makes it easy to define how much or how little data you want to view during a workout. You can arrange the data that's most important to you and then make that data appear front and center on the device. Indeed, within a few minutes of skimming the manual and fiddling with the device setup, you'll have your most important data displaying just the way you like it. The ability to display heartrate is a big plus, too, as it's a fairly good indicator of excercise output, fatigue, and fitness level. The 305 has all the heartrate functions you'd expect from a full-function monitor, including the ability to set target zones and alerts to maximize the effectiveness of your workouts.

Garmin's Virtual Partner function was cool feature of previous Forerunners and they've decided to keep a good thing going with the 305. If you're the type that performs best when you've got a competitor egging you on, you'll love this function, as it allows you to set up virtual running or biking companions that compete against you.

If you're looking for an complicated workout with a variety of intervals and intensity levels, or just a quick three-mile jog against your best time last week, the 305 has you covered. Navigating to the Workouts menu on the device yields three options: Quick Workouts, Interval, and Advanced Workout. A quick workout is just that; set the distance and time, distance and pace, or time and pace of your planned workout and off you go. Interval workouts are just the same, but they allow you to add repetitions and rest between them. When you really want to get fancy with your exercise, you can step up to advanced workouts, which include goals for each workout step, as well as varied distances, times, and rest periods. You can use the Garmin Training Center software to set up these workouts and then upload them to the device.

PC Connectivity and Software
Garmin has been outfitting their devices with USB connectivity for some time now -- a welcome move for those who struggled with serial port connections in the days of yore. Thanks to USB, the 305 integrates seamlessly with the Training Center software and we quickly had workout history uploaded and stored on the PC (Sadly, Training Center is not Mac-compatible). Not only does Training Center make it easy to track your performance, you can graph data such as heartrate alongside your speed and distance. Over time, this is a great way to view your fitness levels increase, and it also helps you see what types of workouts are necessary to strengthen your weaknesses. For instance, if you see your heartrate begin to spike after a certain distance, you know you need to increase your endurance workouts to train that area of fitness.

In a first for the Forerunner series, the Training Center software also lets you define courses on your PC that you can upload to the device. When course information is combined with uploaded workout information, the Forerunner becomes a complete guide, telling you where to go, when to make a turn, and what kind of workout to do when you're on the road or path. Back on the PC, the software's ability to overlay workout data on maps of the course makes it easy to see where the course offers up the tough hills and the easy recovery spots. Plus, the ability to track historical performance on a given course is a great way to measure your improvement.

The 305 is also fully compatible with Garmin's MotionBased service, which takes your training to another level by connecting your data with the Internet. While we weren't able to use the service, the promise of sharing courses, maps, workouts, and performance data with other users is intriguing. And if you're a serious endurance athlete, you'll be glad to know that the 305 is also compatible with TrainingPeaks.com, an easy-to-use web based training system designed to help athletes train for any event.

Pros

• Radically new design is better in every way
• Amazing accuracy and fast satellite acquisition time
• So simple to set up and use, you will actually use it

• No Mac OS compatibility
• Okay, it's bigger than a sport's watch -- but so much more powerful

Usually, I write Good Things and Bad Things, but I have no complaints - so this time, only Good Things!
Good Things:
1) Easy to get on and off.
2) Soft cotton top over waterproof bottom.
3) You can put your 'cute' sheets underneath, and really never have to change them, because they never get dirty. So you only need 1 set of pricey sheets if looks are your concern.
4) What else do you need out of a crib sheet? :)


Convenient and efficient   March 16, 2002
Kathy Livingston (East Texas, USA)
71 out of 72 found this review helpful

I have loved having these crib sheets! I only have to use one regular sheet, and then this goes over the top. When it needs to be changed, a few snaps does the trick and off it comes. Otherwise I'd have to have a mattress pad, a waterproof pad, and a regular sheet, and all three would have to come off for each change. With the thick mattress on the crib, changing them would be a real chore. The Ultimate Crib Sheet saves time and money.


One of the best baby products ever!!!   June 8, 2001
29 out of 29 found this review helpful

It is the ULTIMATE crib sheet!!! It's easily changed w/o having to remove the bumper pads to get the mattress out... You avoid the struggle of trying to get the fitted sheet over the mattress pad and mattress (which is always a tight fit). It allows you to leave the pretty bedding sheet on which still shows from the sides. I bought two when my fourth baby was born (they didn't have these w/ my other three) and they have lasted for over 2 years!!! A great gift and a must for every

new Mom!


Ultimate crib sheet   May 30, 2001
acjrg@aol.com (Gurnee, IL USA)
21 out of 22 found this review helpful

This crib sheet is fabulous. It snaps over your sheets and under the bumper pads. When it needs to be changed you just unsnap the six snaps and wash. No need to struggle with changing a tight crib sheet. I have never had to change my sheet on my mattress due to the protection the ultimate crib sheet gives with its waterproof pad. A must have for cribs.


Definitely worth getting   May 20, 2006
Joelle Jensen (Honolulu, HI USA)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

Having never changed a crib sheet before our daughter was born, I wasn't sure if this worth the price. Believe me when I say it is. Changing crib sheets is more of a pain than trying to balance your cell phone, coffee and infant in your arms while you unlock your car after the battery in your car remote has died. The Ultimate Crib Sheet is easy to take on and off; it just sits on top of the crib mattress and snaps to the crib bars. The elastic straps on the short ends are even removable in case you have solid head- and footboards. My newborn leaked out her diaper one morning and I had this laundered and back on the bed before her morning nap. No need to change the sheets at all. This protects your crib sheets and eliminates the need for a fitted mattress pad. You can see it in our crib -- we don't have crib bumpers -- but our nursery isn't appearing in the magazine pages anytime soon. With bumpers, it would only be visible when looking down into the crib.
If you're creating your registry and you're not sure you should register for this, go to the store and pick up a crib mattress; hold it parallel to the ground at chest height and lower it to your knees, keeping it completely level and not moving it more than half an inch horizontally. Now repeat 10 times. If that isn't your idea of fun, add this to your registry. Or even better, don't leave it up to the whims of your friends and family -- who will probably just buy you one more dressy outfit for your child to spit up on, add it to your cart now.