Garmin Forerunner 405 Wireless GPS-Enabled Sport Watch with USB ANT Stick and Heart Rate Monitor (Black)
by Garmin
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin Forerunner 405 Wireless GPS-Enabled Sport Watch with USB ANT Stick and Heart Rate Monitor (Black)
Customer Review: Fantastic product
Summary: 5 Stars
I was a little nervous making this purchase having read many of the reviews here on amazon and elsewhere. Having now used the 405 for the last month, I couldn't be more satisfied with the product and would highly recommend it to anyone. I use my forerunner for bicycling and running approximately 6x/weekly. I have never had any issues with accuracy of the heart rate monitor, GPS, or cadence. On the contrary I have found it to be quite accurate and reliable. I have used the GPS on one occasion in a slightly wooded area and the GPS reception was reliable and accurate. I was a little concerned about the complaints concerning the bezel and its dysfunction when wet. I do not perspire massively but I do have many sweat glands. However, this has never prevented me from being able to use the bezel with relative ease, so unless your exercising naked you can always wipe your hand off on your shorts. I also read a complaint concerning the size of the display fields. This seems a little ridiculous as all the fields are of similar size to my prior cyclometer. Additionally, you have the option of displaying from 1-3 fields at a time, so if your visually impaired then display one field instead of three and naturally it will be larger. Further you can program the watch to scroll through three different displays each showing from 1-3 fields. In other words, you can see all the information you want and more during a run or bike. In conclusion this device has been everything I wanted and more and I have not had a single issue with it thus far after over 20 hours of use.
Customer Review: Great Tool For A Beginning Runner
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a relatively new runner training for my first competitive races--5ks and a half marathon. The Garmin Forerunner 405 has been a key piece of my training regime. As a new runner, I do not yet have a good feel for the pace on my comfortable vs. speed training runs, on mileage, and on hill heights, etc. The Garmin lets me do my workouts while live tracking all of these items, which I think has really improved the quality of my workouts. I really enjoy all of the options the Garmin gives me for training, and that I can compare all of my workouts at home using the Garmin Connect site. It's really satisfying to see my average pace go up as I increase my mileage! I also appreciate the accurate distance tracking on the Garmin, which I feel is helping to keep my honest during long runs. The fact that I can also use the Garmin on bike mode is an added bonus for me.
Now for fit and function--I'm a petite woman, and although the Garmin is larger than a normal watch on my wrist, I think it fits well and is comfortable to run with. The heart rate monitor is also comfortable once you get used to it. I don't have a problem with the bevel, and I actually like being able to switch between displays during a run. I found that the device was easy to set up and is easy to use--even in places where I wasn't sure I would have good GPS reception (like rural Maine).
Overall, I've found the Garmin 405 to be a good tool in my training, and I feel like it's helping me to be a better runner and to more accurately track my workouts and training.
Customer Review: Garmin 405 is getting BAD PUBLICLY - Awesome Running Watch
Summary: 5 Stars
First let me say that I have no experience with the Garmin 305 so that's why this review is unbiased and will hopefully be helpful to anyone who has read the bad reviews from previous 305 owners or people that don't read the manual.
I almost didn't buy the watch because of all the bad reviews but I did and it's been awesome and I'm going to list a few common concerns from other reviewers and solve the problem for them since they didn't read the manual.
1. The bezel touch wheel is great and you can lock it while running by pressing the two buttons on the side at the same time. No need to use while running if other settings are setup correctly.
2. People complained about limited data showing on the display, however if you go to the Data Field settings in the watch you can display a total of 3 different displays with up to 3 different items showing on the screen (35 DIFFERENT TYPES OF DISPLAYS.) Basically with the heart rate screen and virtual partner screen you could have a total of 5 different screens scrolling at one time.
3. Another important feature is the "Auto Scroll" feature that when turned on will flip through the different screens while running (without the need to touch the bezel screen)
4. Auto pause whichs stops automatically when you stop for any reason and begins again when you start back up.
I hope this review is helpful because I think that this is the ultimate running watch for anyone who wants a complete package watch with everything.
Customer Review: Some Good, Some Seriously Bad
Summary: 3 Stars
At first, the wireless transfer seemed a little like bells
and whistles that I didn't really care about, but it's
turned out to be worse than that. I was hoping to replace
and Edge 305 with this device, so that I could use it more
easily for running. That device uses standand USB cables to
sync and charge the unit---I have them at work, at home, and
in my car. The 405, however, uses a custom charging clip
that I will wither have to carry with me or buy multiple copies
of it and dedicate USB ports to their use. If I lose it,
it is not widely available, and will likely mean I can't use
the device for a while.
Same problem with the ANT stick, which takes yet another USB
port to use. I have to carry this small, easily misplaced
$50 item along with the unit to use it elsewhere. And the
data transfer rate is dramatically lower than the Edge 305
version which uses USB.
Lastly, the MotionBased agent doesn't recognize the 405, so
I am stuck with the much slower and less functional Garmin
Connect.
The sort-of iPod like bezel interface is good, but takes some
getting used to. Overall, it's better that the massive
button pushing that would otherwise be required. It is only
slightly larger and heavier than a regular wristwatch, and it
looks nice enough to wear in a non-training setting.
It's OK, but it would have been much, much better with a
standard USB interface.
Customer Review: Disappointed by Garmin ... AGAIN
Summary: 2 Stars
I had the brilliant idea of using one device for collecting calorie data from stationary workouts during the winter, and gps/calorie data during the cycling season.
WRONG!
I wanted to upgrade from the Forerunner 305 because Garmin refuses to pay the royalty to Polar to calculate calories burned from heart rate. Instead they use some wacky algorithm that uses your weight, age, pace, distance, and apparently the phase of the moon to determine a value which is just plain wrong when you are moving, and zero when you are sweating like a madman on the stationary bike in the basement.
So I decided on taking a chance on the Forerunner 405 after searching the reviews and after talking to some (uninformed) salespeople. Thus was born the title to this review: "Disappointed ... AGAIN". They obviously decided to use the same error prone algorithm in the Forerunner 405.
Now I have to trudge through the slush over to City Sports and get a refund. Ok - not a big deal, but I was looking forward to doing some training this holiday season, not standing in line waiting to deal with some poor bleary-eyed sales clerk.
At least I had a chance to try out the touch-bezel feature. My first impression of this feature is that if you are familiar with an iPod you will 'get' this concept quickly. All others will be condemned to a bottomless pit of frustration. Obviously I will not have the chance to field-test the 405.
Well, here I go through the slush to get my refund ...