Why are Forerunners so expensive this year

Supply and Demand. Garmin made an assload of 305s, too many. When they discontinued the watch, they had a ton of stock left to sell, and so did retailers. The retailers had to drop the price to get the stupid things off of their books. Now that they're low on supply and people are still looking for them, they can charge a little more.

Oooor, you could get a Garmin 210 for around $200, which gives you the features you want in a regular sized watch. One that you don't have to wait 1-2 minutes to pick up the sattelites, and won't drop signal in the woods.

costco.com, <$200 (take home price).

Don't know about GPSs, but I know some computer components are expensive right now because of huge floods in Thailand

Just go with a 110, they are simple and work great. http://amzn.to/v9rOWP

You can get a used 405 for $110 or new for $169.

http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Forerunner-Water-Resistant-Running/dp/B0011UIXNE/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1325378385&sr=8-10

Global warming = Thailand Flood = expensive GPS parts