Garmin Forerunner 405 Wireless GPS-Enabled Sport Watch with USB ANT Stick and Heart Rate Monitor (Black) by Garmin
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Digital camera reviews of Garmin Forerunner 405 Wireless GPS-Enabled Sport Watch with USB ANT Stick and Heart Rate Monitor (Black)
Digital camera Review: Comparison: Garmin Forerunner 405 vs. Suunto X9i
Summary: 3 Stars
After two weeks of side-by-side usage, I've concluded that these watches are targeted at very different markets. Furthermore, in many respects, it seems like neither watch is totally ready for prime-time. Both have nice feature sets, but they each seem to be lacking some very important features to make them truly useful across several sports. The Suunto X9i seems to be targeted and more useful to the climbing crowd, whereas the Garmin Forerunner 405 seems targeted at the fitness/jogging crowd. Neither has the complete feature set that the above-average hiker/trail runner/mountain biker needs. Thus, if you purchase either, you have to accept the compromises inherit in one or the other.
If I was pressed to recommend one over the other, I very hesitantly lean towards the Garmin Forerunner 405 due to smaller size, better battery life, faster GPS synch, slightly better navigation screen and of course, lower price. I'm hesitant because of several important cons which I elaborate on below.
STATS:
Battery Life (w/ GPS): 4.5hr (X9i) vs. 8hr (405)
Battery Life (w/o GPS): 16d. (X9i) vs. 12d. (405)
Size: X9i is larger in every dimension than 405
Weight: 74g (X9i) vs. 60g (405)
Water Resistence: 100m (X9i) vs. 3m (405)
Heart Rate Monitor: No (X9i) vs. Yes (405)
Outside Temperature: Yes(X9i) vs. No (405)
CONS: Garmin Forerunner 405
1) Does not display raw latitude/longitude position on standard screen. You can save a waypoint, which they call "location", and then edit that point to see the latitude/longitude (displayed in non-decimal format).
2) Does not have On/Off button to save battery-life.
3) Comes with very basic software with limited maps. Cannot export tracks into GPX format.
4) Difficult to upload waypoints for future route.
5) Limited to WGS84 map datum (limits international usage of tracks)
PROS: Garmin Forerunner 405
1) Easy to use menu system.
2) Fast GPS satellite synching.
3) Can connect to heart rate monitor.
4) If you can get waypoints loaded, there is a nice screen that shows the direction/distance to the selected waypoint.
5) Great fitness monitoring screens and many are customizable.
CONS: Sunnto X9i
1) Large physical size.
2) Poor battery life with GPS on.
3) Slow GPS satellite synching.
4) Difficult to use and complex menu system with 5 buttons.
5) Does not have On/Off button to save battery-life.
6) GPS tracks, which they call "logs", tend to have jumps/errors when GPS drops out, which is often.
7) Comes with very basic software with no maps.
8) No screen to show direction to a selected waypoint.
9) Limited to WGS84 map datum (limits international usage of tracks)
10) Suggested Retail Price is 25% more than the Garmin 405.
PROS: Suunto X9i
1) Does display raw latitude/longitude position on Position screen, but in non-decimal format.
2) Does have temperature feature.
Digital camera Review: Complaints are valid, but there is a simple workaround...
Summary: 4 Stars
Most of the complaints about this product are entirely valid. The watch can be frustrating. The bezel does strange things in humidity or in the presence of sweat, the watch will start doing some random things sometimes when it gets wet, etc. I have experienced all of these things and have wanted to beat this watch to death with a hammer...until I found a simple solution (which is why I give this product 4 stars).
The solution is to just lock the bezel when you start your run.
Once locked it behave in all of the extreme conditions people have been talking about, in humidity or rain. You can configure the watch to scroll through all the stats you want to monitor so there really is no need to operate the watch during a run. I think this is where most people feel frustration with this watch. When you're done with your run, upload to Garmin and view the details there. This watch makes a great cornerstone to any training program.
Digital camera 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.
Digital camera Review: Cool training tool!
Summary: 5 Stars
Great product. At first I just wanted a heart rate monitor. Then I saw this and had to have it. At first I couldn't read the heart rate number on the wrist read out because it was too small. But I called and they told me how to program the data fields to my own liking. Great company and product. Also love the rechargeable battery.Digital camera Review: Could be improved
Summary: 3 Stars
The warnings don't seem to function properly. I used the practice software to create my jogging 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 wrote to 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. 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 sleek! The disapoinments: 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.