Garmin Forerunner 405 Wireless GPS-Enabled Sport Watch with USB ANT Stick and Heart Rate Monitor (Black)
by Garmin
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List Price: Our Price: $159.99 You Save: $122.62 (43%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: CE See more product details |
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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: Sometimes extra features don't add to a product
Summary: 3 Stars
You know, I have used the Garmin products for a long time. When the 405 came out I was really, really pumped. I had used the 305 for a couple of years and before that the 301. While I loved both of those models, they were really clunky and felt huge on my wrist. When the 405 hit the streets I was really excited because of the size of the unit.
Before I get too into my review, know that I love the 405. The features it has really impress and help me track my training. While I don't use the software -- Garmin Training Center -- that you can get for free from Garmin, I do use another software program commercially available to track my training. I use the data files from my 405 and from my Edge 500 in the other software to track the impact of my training and to help me plan when to peak and when to taper for a race.
The Forerunner 405 is a fantastic tool. You can read most of the other reviews here to determine of the features that it includes are necessary for you. The only reason I do not rate this a five start product is because the bezel will freeze up on me, which locks the unit. I am a heavy sweater, and when the bezel starts to get wet, I have trouble rotating screens. When the unit gets wet from my sweat it also locks the entire unit, which means that I can't start or stop the timer. If you do reach the end of your workout it will stop the timer automatically, but you cannot do it manually. To me this is a design flaw, one which I hope Garmin is able to work out in the next version of this product.
Customer Review: I have never spent more money for so much frustration
Summary: 1 Stars
I've struggled with my Forerunner 405 for a year now. I have never spent so much money for such a terrible product.
I'll begin with its second-most annoying feature: it cannot be turned off. You may be done with your run, but it's not done stubbornly insisting that it display the time, thereby sucking its battery dry so that for your next run it's going to be stone dead. So you have to hook it up to its charger every time you're done using it -- which creates an "energy vampire" and (I'm guessing) degrades battery life.
And now, the most supremely irritating feature: the "touch bezel". It is reason enough for everyone to avoid this product. It is a ridiculous interface designed by clueless techies. The touch bezel accepts commands from ghosts -- so that, while running, it will inexplicably switch screens away from the one I've selected (say, heart rate) to one I couldn't care less about. Then as I am putting myself at risk of a dangerous stumble, I poke furiously at the damned thing to get it to switch to the screen I want and it IGNORES my poking completely. Finger too sweaty? I try to dry it on my shirt. My touch is too long? I try shorter. Too short? Longer. I shouldn't have to be struggling with an expensive gadget while I am running.
Boy, did I get hosed on this one. Don't make the same mistake. Oh Garmin, will you buy it back from me? Give me a full "store credit" and I'll buy one of your products with real, solid buttons.
Customer Review: For running ONLY
Summary: 2 Stars
If you are a hard core runner who takes a different route everytime or travels a lot, you will probably like this watch. It is a good GPS unit, tells speed and distance well. And doesn't feel like you have an iPhone on your wrist like the 300 series. But if you're like me, looking for a good all-around fitness watch, this thing blows. Here's why:
1. My primary gripe is the buttons on the side are so sensitive, doing push-ups can cause them to depress and stop the timer. I am a crossfitter, so I am often timing routines that include a number of exercies: running, push-ups, pull-ups, etc. I have been reduced to setting the timer and then leaving the watch on the floor while I exercices.
2. The bezel controls are quirky. If you are sweaty or in the process of running, it can be unresponsive.
3. Another device I need to plug in to charge; woo hoo! The poster who complains about it draining battery while sitting in his gym bag didn't read the directions; you can lock the bezel and send the watch into sleep mode which uses very little battery power. That said, I have to charge the watch about once a month, and I don't use the full blown GPS functions that often. And it does cause me to carry the bulky power cord in my gym bag 'just in case' it runs out of juice.
4. For a watch that cost me ~300 bucks, I expected a lot more. I basically need to go buy a $40 timex for every day use and save this guy for long runs or business travel when I'm running an unknown route.
Customer Review: Useful
Summary: 4 Stars
I had one of the first generation, oblong rectangular Forerunners. It was useless. It was uncomfortable to wear, took a long time to acquire location, and lost the satellite with any tree cover.
This one is wearable in public without looking too geeky. It picks up the satellites very quickly (about a minute). Finally, it can handle tree cover well. The battery does not last a whole week, but I can live with that as the price of smaller size. The touch wheel is erratic but usable. My real issues are with data transfer. They went with wireless data transfer for some silly geeky reason. I suppose it would be useful if it somehow used the Bluetooth my laptop already has, but, drat, it uses some USB dongle as the wireless transmitter. So, when I want to download data to my laptop, I have to fish through my drawers to find the dongle, set a couple fiddly settings on the watch, and make sacrifices to the wireless vodoo god to bring the data over. So, if I have to hunt for the dongle, where is the advantage over hunting for a cable? Am I missing something? Basically wireless is cool but has no advantage for a laptop user (IMHO).
There is no MacOSX wireless driver yet. They promise it within weeks. It does work with XP on a MacBook running under VMWare 2. Too bad they didn't just ditch the wireless data transfer. A driver for USB wireless transfer would probably be easier to write (not that they would have considered developing the Mac driver at the same time as the Windows driver....).
Customer Review: my new constant running companion
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my first GPS watch and I studied all of the reviews of all Garmin watches before I made my purchase. This is the most advanced watch in their product line, so based on features, this is the one I wanted. Many have commented negatively about the touch bezel and I just want to say that it functions fine. Sometimes you have to touch the bezel 2 or 3 times to make your selection, but that is only a very minor inconvenience considering all of the awesome features of the watch. I even tried it while driving my car and it works perfectly tracking my route, speed, elevation, etc while going over 60mph. I can't wait to take it on a plane to see if I can get the display to show 500mph with elevation of 36,000.
I use it with heart rate monitor and it is flawless.
I have now used the watch on all runs for the past month, and have run over 100 miles with it, at about an 8:00min/mile pace. I used it in the snow and cold (19 degrees F), and I often wear it around the house as it is very stylish and not too bulky at all. As an experiment, I even ran 8 miles with my sweatshirt sleeve covering the watch completely, blocking the line-of-sight to the satelites, and it still worked perfectly.
It seems that the introduction of the 410 has driven the price of the 405 down. I paid only $205 on Amazon for this $299 list price watch.
I have no complaints and am amazed every time I use it. Great technology, great fashion, great GPS watch!