Garmin Express doesn't recognize my Forerunner 305 on macOS High Sierra beta

So after a couple of months break I went back to using FR305 and to my surprise I wasn't able to connect... I thought the unit went dead but lot's of googling led me to this thread. It's really sad that they removed the driver (why would they do that if it works just fine?!) :/

At any rate -- have anyone found any workaround? maybe virtual machine?

Or - is there any replacement for 305? GPS + HR monitor, great readable display and basically a solid, sturdy device? I don't really care about "cloud sync" (having local app like in the days would be way better) but I think this is the trend currently so all devices have it

It's really sad that they removed the driver (why would they do that if it works just fine?!) :/

They might have done that for two reasons:
1. No one wants to spend any more resources to maintain a driver for devices that are 10+ years old.
2. There is some inherent design incompatibility between the latest OS release and the way the garmin driver works, meaning it would had to be completely rewritten to work in a safe and proper manner.

At any rate -- have anyone found any workaround? maybe virtual machine?

I'd rather try a dual boot setup.

Or - is there any replacement for 305? GPS + HR monitor, great readable display and basically a solid, sturdy device?

Tough choice. I'd recommend the FR310XT. Refurbished units can be bought quite cheap. But it's an ANT+ device which means that ANT+ support is needed on the OS side. I think it still is supported by the latest MacOS, but I'm not sure for how much longer.

Same problem here on macOS 10.13.2 and Forerunner 305... :-(

They might have done that for two reasons:
1. No one wants to spend any more resources to maintain a driver for devices that are 10+ years old.
2. There is some inherent design incompatibility between the latest OS release and the way the garmin driver works, meaning it would had to be completely rewritten to work in a safe and proper manner.

AFAIR APIs hasn't changed that much from Sierra to HighSierra. I would say this is more in line with darn Apple "let's remove something because we are trendsetters" (floppy, cdrom, jack...). Some are OK, but in case of the driver (and no way to supply your own like with windows) this is quite terrible choice.
I usually don't change devices every (second) year (current MBP is reaching something around 5 years and I'm not planning on getting new MBP because current one works just fine and the new one sucks ;) )

I'd rather try a dual boot setup.

That would be highly inconvenient. To that end not having sync would be simply easier... I've tried with one VM i had lying around with WindowsXP but TrainingCenter doesn't seem to support it...

Tough choice. I'd recommend the FR310XT. Refurbished units can be bought quite cheap. But it's an ANT+ device which means that ANT+ support is needed on the OS side. I think it still is supported by the latest MacOS, but I'm not sure for how much longer.

Wouldn't there be a problem with ANT+ devices support in the future (same as current FR305 problem)? I would assume I need a dongle to sync with the device so that would mean same problem with the support (tho, this is supposedly a standard so this should work better (?!).
Also - I'm not completely agains cloud sync so if there are devices that sync through BT-LE via smartphone that would be also a good choice I could consider them :)
Btw. would my HR monitor from FR305 work with FR310XT?

AFAIR APIs hasn't changed that much from Sierra to HighSierra.

API might be the same, but the OS might impose some restrictions on what a driver might be allowed to do - depending on changes in the internal system design, which might not be reflected in any API modifications.

That would be highly inconvenient. To that end not having sync would be simply easier... I've tried with one VM i had lying around with WindowsXP but TrainingCenter doesn't seem to support it...

TrainingCenter does not support Garmin USB connection directly. It needs the Garmin USB driver for Windows XP (in your case) to communicate with your watch. Anyway, I kinda doubt if an OS installed in a VM running on an OS that does not support Garmin USB driver would be able to access it anyway.

Wouldn't there be a problem with ANT+ devices support in the future (same as current FR305 problem)?

Yep, that was exactly what I had in mind.

I would assume I need a dongle to sync with the device so that would mean same problem with the support (tho, this is supposedly a standard so this should work better (?!).

ANT+ is standard, but the dongle hardware needs a dedicated driver, similar to the proprietary Garmin USB connection. So the risk of abandoned support is always there.

Also - I'm not completely agains cloud sync so if there are devices that sync through BT-LE via smartphone that would be also a good choice I could consider them :)

Then it boils down to what kind of money you are ready to spend and what features you expect. The trick is, though, that most modern Garmin watches have a color display, which is less visible in low light condition than your old trusty FR305. And the build quality is also controversial. A year ago I switched from a 7-year old FR310XT to a FR735XT and my feelings towards it are mixed at best. I appreciate many of the new features of the FR735XT, but in some aspect the old FR310XT was superior to any watch of the current lineup.

Btw. would my HR monitor from FR305 work with FR310XT?

If it's ANT+ then I believe it would. I think there were some very old Garmin HR straps that are not compatible with later devices, but I think the FR305 already had standard ANT+ HR profile.

hi everybody,
i have the same trouble with my Forerunner 305 and MacOS High Sierra. The answer from the french Garmin Hotline is "the device is no longer supported now, buy a new one with this 25% discount code available by phone." Funny, isn'it ...

API might be the same, but the OS might impose some restrictions on what a driver might be allowed to do - depending on changes in the internal system design, which might not be reflected in any API modifications.

You're right, and Apple tend to limit that quite severely...

TrainingCenter does not support Garmin USB connection directly. It needs the Garmin USB driver for Windows XP (in your case) to communicate with your watch. Anyway, I kinda doubt if an OS installed in a VM running on an OS that does not support Garmin USB driver would be able to access it anyway.

I wasn't able to get TrainingCenter running on that XP in VM (some dependencies on .net o_O). At any rate - sometimes in the past it was recommended to use VM with windows to flash some ROMs on old-gen smartfones for the same reason - drivers availability, so this should work... At any rate - I would use some windows machine every now and then to upload the statistics...

ANT+ is standard, but the dongle hardware needs a dedicated driver, similar to the proprietary Garmin USB connection. So the risk of abandoned support is always there.

That that wouldn't be very "future-proof"....

Then it boils down to what kind of money you are ready to spend and what features you expect. The trick is, though, that most modern Garmin watches have a color display, which is less visible in low light condition than your old trusty FR305. And the build quality is also controversial. A year ago I switched from a 7-year old FR310XT to a FR735XT and my feelings towards it are mixed at best. I appreciate many of the new features of the FR735XT, but in some aspect the old FR310XT was superior to any watch of the current lineup.

Price-range - something similar to FR305 - I paid roughly 150eur a couple of years back. It could be bumped to 200eur... it seems that Garmin devices are getting more and more pricey :| I don't plan to put device under some high pressure/endurance but still - using FR305 was quite worry free :-)
Thanks for all the help and tips!

At any rate -- have anyone found any workaround? maybe virtual machine?

VM doesn't work, presumably as it relies on the host OS drivers to virtualise the USB interface. At any rate, creating Mac OS VMs is a pain in the arse as Apple don't provide ISO images for their OS installers. Linux doesn't have any Garmin software so it would have to be a Windows VM. Dual boot isn't much more hassle really and tends to work a lot better.

I have the same issue, it's annoying but I can workaround as I have an old mac running a previous OS. It's pretty reasonable for Garmin to drop support for ten year old devices running a legacy USB driver but an announcement would have been nice, even if it was after the fact when they realised Apple had removed it.

Well, I thought I made have made some progress ... sadly not ... but I'll explain anyway in case someone out there can make it work...

Same problem as you all - Forerunner 305 no longer recognised on my Mac. Last time I sync'd was last November. Had some back problems, had treatment, getting back in to running. Win7 laptop is fine, just tried syncing on my Mac. Big fat nothing. Found this forum and saw the ideas about using a virtual machine. It just so happens I have a Win7 machine running under VirtualBox.

I'm not convinced that the Garmin drivers are completely missing from OSX now. If I run the VB, then on the VB menu bar click Devices/USB one of the options is "Garmin International GPS". So it seems the Mac can see *something*. I click that Garmin International GPS to give access to the Win7 VB. Installed the Garmin drivers - well well, Win7 can see the device and successfully installed & activated the driver. Installed and ran Garmin Express ..... and big fat nothing. It cannot see the watch at all. OH SO CLOSE!! Many attempts, unplug, replug, reboot, etc. Zilch.

I still have a Win7 laptop that I use as a media machine connected to my TV so I can still sync, etc. Disappointing not to be able to use the Mac though. Very short sighted of Garmin not to address this. If there are us lot taking the time to post about it here on the forum, there must be many more out there with the same frustration. "Go buy a new watch" is Garmin's advice? Rubbish. I don't have the money for a new watch, and there is nothing wrong with my Forerunner 305. It has served me well for years, and does what I want it to do. It ain't broke, I don't want to fix it. It's Garmin Express/OSX that is broke. GARMIN / APPLE PLEASE FIX!