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: Loved the 305, bought the 405, just bought a Suunto
Summary: 2 Stars
I used and loved the 305 for two years, however I am 110lbs and it looks like a 70's startrek communicator on my arm. I bought the 405 because it was a bit smaller and my 305 got ran over.
The 405 is a hugh disapointment. I've sent my 305 back for repair ($106) and they sent me back a refurbished unit. I've stopped using my 405 and went back to the 305.
Here is what I hate about the 405
- they dumbed down the advance workouts, you can only write them from a computer.
- the Ant+ upload only uploads to garmin training center and no other program, and it is slow. It also doesn't always find the device right away so I have to sit around for it to locate it then upload.
-the bezel sucks
-they removed the "snooze" function on the alarm function.
They should have stayed with the buttons,
-the bezel either doesn't recongize you are touching it or it keeps getting activated. In fact even with the bezel locked I heard it waking up in my sports bag when I was driving...I go around a corner...beep, hit a bump...beep, stop...beep, speed up...Beep. 3 hours later when I to where I was going to workout, the battery was 50% used up. This happens all the time.
- the bezel isn't user friendly...as you go through the menu you accidently touch the bezel to long and it switches screens...or you accidently touch a differnent part with the other hand and it chooses something else. Drives me nuts.
The charge clip is hard to get on just right....not difficult but you have to make sure it is charging.
Anyway. I love the 305 but I want something smaller and It would be nice if I could swim with it too. So I will keep my 305 but I just bought a Suunto T4. It looks like it will do everything the garmin will (and some) but has a significantly smaller display. I wasn't excited about the seperate gps pod but now that I have it,I think it is better. I just clip it to my water belt or my race belt. As a triathlete the watch stays on and the gps gets put on when I put my race number on.
Sorry Garmin...you lost me as a customer over the 405.
Customer Review: The worst product ever made for a runner!
Summary: 1 Stars
I have been running with a Garmin GPS watch for almost 6 years (see my previous reviews of the 205 and 201). I purchased the Garmin 405 about a year ago and stopped using it a few months ago. I've decided that it is the worst product ever invented for runners.
The love-hate relationship with this watch is what made me hang on to it for 11 months. The form factor, the GPS accuracy, and the features are wonderful. Especially, after running with a 201 and 205 brick on my wrist for 5 years.
But... The touch bezel and the battery life make this watch unusable. Nothing works on the watch without the touch bezel. Unfortunately, the touch bezel doesn't work if your hands are sweaty, there is any amount of rain or moisture, or you are wearing long sleeves that accidentally touch the bezel. I've spent countless runs unable to change modes, get data, or see my time, because the stupid device rubbed up against my shirt. These features work great in the store and out-of-the box, but clearly nobody at Garmin actually runs outside. They should have left the touch features and finger motions to the iPhone and used real buttons for real runners.
The battery is also useless. Out of the box with a full charge the watch only gave me about 4 hours of charge. Over time, the battery has degraded, so now it only holds about 45 minutes worth of charge. In a marathon earlier this year, it cut-off at about 3:30, becoming a useless dead weight on my arm for the last half hour of the race. It would be great to use it as an everyday watch (as advertised), but the "auto off" feature doesn't always turn off the GPS and the battery is so weak I have to charge it after every run.
Bottom line: If you sweat, wear long sleeves, run in the rain or fog, or run for more than an hour you shouldn't buy this watch. You will love it when it comes out of the box, but you will curse it over time.
I am sending mine back to Dr. Min Kao (Chairman & CEO of Garmin). Garmin should be ashamed for developing such a useless product in such a pretty package.
Customer Review: Fantastic watch but bad manufacturing quality
Summary: 3 Stars
I have had the Garmin 405 with heart monitor for a year and a half now. I use it quite intensively for both biking and running.
The first watch I received had a defective GPS reception and I got a replacement which works flawlessly (thanks Amazon for the great post sale service).
I have had no issues with rain (I just block the bezel and have the watch cycle automatically through the needed information), ease of use, GPS reception, thickness, etc. I recently ran a marathon and the watch calculated 42.4 km which is only 0.2 km (0.5%) above the official distance. Given that we need to do some lateral movements to pass other runners, get drinks, etc. I think this is a great result.
I agree with many reviewers who find the PC software package underwhelming; however I get by by using a free third party log program (RunningAHEAD which, among other things, does a great job at importing all the GPS data).
I really miss the 'sleep' feature available in the Polar watch. It would be great to be able to have the Garmin hibernate while not in use so that, when needed, the watch has a good battery level.
However, my main issues are about the poor craftsmanship of the watch.
- The heart rate strap stopped working a few month after the purchase. I got a new one and I am having issues with it. Some times, it works fine but more often than not, I get very low heart rates measurements, especially when the training intensity increases. I am now using the HR monitor less and less.
- The paint job on the watch has peeled in many places. The Garmin looks really ugly now and is no longer wearable anytime else than during a sport activity.
- The rubber watch band is just plain junk. Through wear, it is now severely peeled, has a bad cut in it (fortunately, it is still usable), and the band gives up when exposed to vibrations from some dirt road downhill rides in the mountain bike .
I still like my gadget a lot but I will likely not buy it again if it stops working. Maybe the 305 because it costs just half as much.
Customer Review: Very Disappointing - Returning and Buying a 305!!
Summary: 2 Stars
I've used the Forerunner 305 in the past. It is an excellent GPS enabled sports watch/HRM. Sorry I didn't stick with the 305 when I bought a new foot-pod based/HRM. But I didn't and after a year of waiting and after saving the big bucks for the new and exciting Forerunner 405, I couldn't wait to get back to the GPS-based training world. How disappointed I am to realize that I spent major dollars on a tool that has some serious flaws. I like Garmin, but I am really surprised that this went to market with the many user-reported flaws that are out there. Shame on me for not reading them first! I'm boxing up the 405 and sending it back for a 100% refund tomorrow. Yes - I just ordered a NEW 305 to replace this stylish bugger!
Problems: the 405 doesn't respond to wet (can you say sweaty) fingers! That bites! And the motionbased user forum has several user complaints about screen malfunctions, etc when the unit gets wet from a rain, etc. Never had that problem with the 305.
The alerts don't function properly. I used the Training Center software to create my running workouts for distances and pace zones. When I first start my run, the 405 alerted me that I needed to 'speed up' and shortly thereafter alerted me that I was 'within my zone'. That's that last I heard from it. Even when I would slow below my defined pace zone while ascending a hill or exceed the pace zone when descending a hill, the 405 was silent. No audible alert or visual message was given to speed up or slow down as the case may have been. I called Garmin and we walked through all the settings that I had gone through to establish my Pace Zones and create a new 'advanced' workout. We all agreed that the 405 should be alerting me when outside the defined zone for the workout. They concluded they would have to escalate my problem to their engineering group to see if we were missing something. Hmmmm.
I cannot wait to get my new Forerunner 305 tomorrow! If you are looking for a great and accurate GPS/HRM training system, save some money and buy the Forerunner 305!
Customer Review: Waiting for the next revision
Summary: 3 Stars
I love GPS devices, and when I heard about the 405 coming out, I figured that it was worth a try to replace my Edge 305 when it came to jogging and cycling. Well, not everything seems to go according to plan.
Pros:
1) Fast signal acquisition. I didn't have a problem getting a signal, even in the middle of downtown Chicago (sure, it took a bit longer, but it got there). The tracking and accuracy was pretty good.
2) The size. It looks like a normal watch and doesn't stand out like the Garmin Forerunner 305 does.
3) The virtual partner. He's my friend when I ride, although I don't have a name for him yet. It's a good way to duke it out with someone while on a solo ride when you're bored.
Cons:
1) The UI. I like the idea of finger swipes to change from menu to menu, but it sucks when you're on a run or ride.
2) The ANT stick. Sure, it's cool to sync wirelessly when you walk in a room, but why not just a generic USB cable? It takes more work than necessary to get my watch to force a connection to my PC.
3) Land navigation. I thought, hey, GPS watch - maybe I could make this be a geotracking toy. Well, I thought wrong. It's good for recording where you are and where you're going - providing you input the stuff beforehand - but you can't bring up a latitude/longitude on the watch, or have it function as a compass. If it could do these things, it would totally kill the Suunto X10.
4) The watch strap could be a bit bigger (this will barely fit on big guys.)
I was never able to get it working with my Garmin Cadence meter for my bike (I couldn't get it working on my Edge 305 either, so it's a wash). It worked just fine with the heart rate monitor, and it was cool to see the metronome at work.
Overall the watch gets an "eeeh" from me. I'm ambivalent towards it. Part of me wishes I would have saved money to get the Forerunner 305 instead (ugly, but it worked.) But this watch could be so much more, provided Garmin wanted to expand upon this watch.