Garmin Forerunner 405 Review

After much anticipation the Garmin 405 has made its debut.  The first Garmin watch that I owned was
the Garmin 201, which at the time I found to be splendid.  It was a technological breakthrough, a
watch that could tell you distance traveled, average pace, map your route, etc.  The Garmin 201 had
its faults, first was the size, which was akin to running with a deck of cards on your wrist.  The major
downfall was the GPS tracking; I found the 201 to loose the signal frequently, especially in areas
covered by trees or in urban downtowns areas with large buildings.

Then the Garmin 205/305 came out, which was approximately six months after I had purchased the
Garmin 201.  I had to make the upgrade, the 205 actually looked like a watch and I had read that the
GPS tracking had improved. Thus, I sold my Garmin 201 on Ebay and purchased the Garmin 205.
The Garmin 205 was vastly superior to the Garmin 201.  The GPS tracking had improved
significantly.  In the 14 months that I had used the Garmin 205, it had dropped it's signal less than
five times.  The other advantage was that the 205 used a USB cord to connect to a computer which
was an improvement over the serial port used by the 201, especially since my laptop did not even
feature a serial port.

The Garmin 405 was first introduced at the Las Vegas International CES to much fanfare.  It was set
to be released in February 2008, but after a few delays it was not released until the weekend of the
Boston Marathon.  The main improvement of the 405 over the 205/305 was in the aesthetics
department.  The Garmin 405 now features a round watch face, the weight was reduced by 20%, and
the screen size was reduced.  It also has a wireless configuration where the Garmin 405 can
communicate with the computer without the use of a USB cable. Once again, I made the upgrade
from the Garmin 205 to the Garmin 405.

The first thing you notice about the Garmin 405 is the looks, in fact now you have two color options,
black and a sage green.  The Garmin 405 has a simple configuration with only two buttons on the
right side of the watch, compared to the Garmin 205/305 which had seven buttons total.  The Garmin
405 is operated by a bezel touch screen display, which takes a little bit of getting used to.  

Setup:

Configuring the Garmin 405 was a breeze.  To charge the watch you have a clasp that snaps onto
the watch at two metal prong points on the watch, the Garmin no longer uses the cradle options that
was featured in the 205/305 model.  When you first power up the Garmin 405, it takes you through a
brief tutorial which helps one get accustomed to the bezel screen display.  The bezel screen display
is easy to use, it's similar to working an iPod and you just spin your finger around the top of the watch
to move up or down the feature settings.  You can also adjust the sensitivity/speed of the bezel and I
adjusted mine to "fast" to make it more sensitive to the touch.  Setting up the Garmin is similar to the
205/305, you can input age, weight, maximum heart rate, settings of how you want to record laps, etc.

Use:

The Garmin 405 locked onto the signal faster than the Garmin 205.  In fact the first time that I used
the Garmin 405 it located the signal in less than two seconds, I'm positive that the Garmin 205 never
located the signal that quickly.  Garmin has stated that this was one of the things improved on the
405. One drawback of the Garmin 405, due to the smaller face size, is now it only has room for three
training fields, whereas the Garmin 205/305 offered four fields on one screen.  This wasn't a huge
concern to me, as I only find three fields to be important, those are overall time, distance travelled,
and average pace per mile.  You can then program two other screens, with a maximum of three
fields, plus a fourth screen if you use the heart rate monitor and to view those screens simply touch
the bezel to flip between.  I found this to be relatively easy on the run; I even tested it with my winter
running gloves on and was still able to operate the bezel.  The bezel also features a lock, ala the
iPod, to avoid any accidental touches.  I have noticed that the screen can get accidentally "tapped" if
you're wearing a long sleeve shirt or jacket, but this is only a minor annoyance and can be avoided
with the lock feature.

I downloaded the Garmin 405 software and plugged the "jump drive" into my laptop.  The "jump drive"
acts as the signal to communicate between the Garmin and the computer.  Once the watch gets
within a few feet of the computer, they automatically communicate and your data is downloaded.  This
is a nice feature, a convenience feature, but plugging the Garmin into the computer via the USB cord
was never a huge hassle for me, but I must admit that I am impressed with the wireless transfer of
data.  The Garmin training software that with the 405 offers some basic features. However, I feel that
software leaves a lot to be desired, in the past I used Motion Based software (which is now owned by
Garmin) but it is not currently supporting the Garmin 405. The Garmin website states that they are
currently in the process of replacing Motion Based with Garmin Connect.

The Garmin 405 does not have an off button like the Garmin 205/305.  It goes into a sleep mode and
functions like a normal watch.  I love the power save feature, often times I would forget to turn my
Garmin 205 off after a run and would drain the battery, only to discover that the battery was dead the
next day before a run.  Another great feature is that the watch tells you the battery charge in terms of
a percentage, which is superior to the old method of bars. The watch is still to bulky to be worn as an
everyday watch, no matter what Garmin claims.

The Garmin 405 is an improvement over the 205/305, but I would not say it's a vast improvement.  
The cost has also increased to $300 for the basic model and $350 for the model featuring the heart
rate monitor.  However, the Garmin 405 with the heart rate monitor is not any different, thus you can
purchase the heart rate monitor at a later date and it will work with the basic model.  The change
from the 201 to the 205 was a fantastic improvement and I would not say that Garmin has made the
leap with the introduction of the 405.  However, if the GPS tracking has improved, it may be worth it
for runners who use their Garmin on a daily basis.  One of the times that my Garmin 205 failed me
was during the Denver Marathon and a watch that is not 100% reliable is frustrating.

In conclusion, I would recommend the Garmin 405 for runners who use the watch on an almost daily
basis.  However, if you're a recreational runner, pick up the Garmin 205/305 for a substantial price
difference and you will be satisfied as well as have a few more dollars in your pocket.