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: Great Watch
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had this watch a little over a week now and love the watch.
I have to agree with the reviews that say the bezel is hard to use, however you do not need to use it while running. Start, Stop & Lap are done with the buttons, not the bezel.
Can't switch between displays, but you can completely customize the 3 data fields on the display.
Also you can set the watch to auto scroll through the 3 screens.
Light is on the bezel, but even that can be setup to go on automatically when you take a lap.
Accuracy is great. I used it for the USA 20K national championships (a course that I'm sure is very accurately measured) and the final distance was 12.45 miles. All the mile splits were 9.98 - 1.01 miles. The extra 0.5 was between the 12m marker and the finish. I also used to for and out & back course 2x and the distance was exactly for both runs, and the splits were accurate as well. I used to have the nike bodylink GPS and that was always giving different distances for the same course.
My only complaints are:
1) when taking a lap, time for the lap is displayed. I'd like this to be a fully customized 3 field display like everything else.
2) when reviewing the lap data you can't see the running time. Only the lap time.
Overall I highly recommend the watch.
Customer Review: Love it, but quirks a plenty
Summary: 3 Stars
I recently got into jogging and decided I need a new watch to time how long my laps are taking. Being the nerd I am, I went hog wild and ended up with a full blown HRM, GPS and stop watch. Overkill? Certainly! Do I love it though? Of course! That said, I have a number of reservations that keep me from giving it 5 stars.
The bezel is finicky, requiring very exacting presses. When I'm at rest I don't always get it to behave as I would like. When I'm running or biking, forget about it. How can I be expected to subtlely press the bezel? Some times I'll touch the bezel and nothing will happen, other times it'll take the wrong action. For example, I wear a biking jacket that seems to trigger the watch to think I hit the bezel when I didn't. Work around is to lock out the bezel while riding. UGH! A similar problem with pressing the lap button. I thought the lap button didn't work for the longest time, until I realized I was touching the bezel then the lap button. Silly me. The bezel is a neat idea, but it doesn't work for something you need when exercising. I think Garmin should replace it with a button or two.
Transferring data to the PC is extremely slow too. Data from a 40 minute bike ride took 2 minutes to download. Come on! And where's the Mac support? Having to use boot camp or Parallels/Fusion isn't a real option.
Customer Review: Overall great product! (even despite the negative reviews)
Summary: 5 Stars
I was hesitant to try the Garmin 405 due to the previous reviews that seemed to be against it - BUT, I am a gadget nut and when at the REI sale it was marked down to $259 - I could not resist.
I run average of 8-20 miles per day and limit myself to tracks/paths that are marked so that I know my distance. I am on the smaller side and didn't want to wear something as big as the previous models (305 and 205). I even tried the Nike+ but found it very unreliable and burned through two of them (when the second one wuit working I gave up).
After easily setting up the watch and installing the software, I was out for my first run that afternoon and logged a very accurate 13.5 miles (it was beautifully sunny and I used a known route) - the distance was spot on. Now I have the freedom to run whereever and know EVERYTHING! Pace, HR, distance, elevation, etc. I ran through open skys and forest canopy without hiccup.
The bezel and menus are easy to use! The watch I am wearing all day as a normal watch as well.
The software that tracks your runs gives you a map of your run and all your variables graphed out. I am looking forward to continue to train with AWSOME watch.
(I usually never write reviews but if this influences just a few that this really is a great watch then I will be happy)
Customer Review: A dismal product planning and design failure
Summary: 2 Stars
This product incorporates features inappropriate for its purpose. Start with the very erratic capacitance switching (touch bezel). You cannot sweat and depend on reliable switching. It either starts insanely jumping around from bogus command to bogus command, or freezes until you dry it off. Try lowering the sensitivity and this partially alleviates the problem, but makes it more difficult to control. This feature is more appropriate for an I-phone but not a product that experiences this level of service. The old fashioned "watch face" is a legacy of ancient times when watchmakers used gears and mainsprings. What the heck were the designers thinking here? A round face does not support rectilinear readouts such as my predecessor 305 did pretty well. The only trouble with 305 was its satellite reception, not as good as 405. The decision tree in the electronics leaves something to be desired since the engineering geniuses tried to cram so much into it. I would like to program my 405 through the computer to get rid of junk like "calories" and other extraneous stuff and, rather, be able to set up my screens with the info I need.
In summary, this product has failed as a dependable training and racing device and should be scrapped in favor of an advanced son-of-305 that works more intuitively and reliably.
Customer Review: Consider the older 3x series instead
Summary: 1 Stars
Recently my Garmin 305 died, after many years of reliable use. So I bought the 405. After using the 405 for a few weeks I appreciate the 305 even more.
While it seems to be just as accurate (~99%) and as quick to obtain a signal (~2 minutes) as the 305 the rest of the experience leaves something to be desired:
1. The bezel is horrible - if you like water torture or identify with Sisyphus buy one and try navigating up or down through menu settings.
2. There's no way to power off the device - it goes into power save, yes, but that still consumes some power, more so than it being off. This leaves me charging it twice a week even though I'm currently running only 15 miles per week.
3. Wrist strap is a bit uncomfortable.
I wrote Garmin customer support. Their response was to chastise me for not registering my product (so I guess they could give me junk mail) and tell me the bezel takes some time to get used to.
Some time to get used to? I've been trying it for two weeks and it still doesn't work! Maybe I have fat fingers or whatever, but many others have complained too.
If you want a sport watch you can use right away, without an extensive training program and the need to babysit it to ensure it has enough charge, look elsewhere.