Customer Reviews:
 Awesome! October 4, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This product has renewed my love for running. It is amazing. You are easily able to keep up with your time, pace and distance. I can run or ride my bike and come home and stick the usb stick in and see exactly what I did and where I went. It is a great product for a serious runner in training for an event or for the novice that wants positive feedback. I would highly recommend the Garmin 405 to everyone!
Garmin 405 vs. Suunto S4 September 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
My last running watch was a Suunto S4 and now I'm using a Garmin 405. This review highlights my experience with both watches.
Suunto S4 experience (used for 2+ years):
I purchased a Suunto S4 a few years ago. It was cutting edge at the time. However, I had to return it to Suunto three different times because it stopped working each time I had to change the battery. My conclusion each time this happened was that the watch had great technology... but it was built with cheap material with poor quality testing. I didn't purchase the PC pod... so, I was unable to transfer my workout data to my computer. I did have a heart rate monitor and a foot pod. The watch worked good when I didn't have to replace the battery. I needed to read the manual several times before getting a good grasp of all the features. I felt that the built in Suunto Coach feature was pretty much useless... it consistently recommended a schedule that was too light for me. Overall feeling of the Suunto S4:
* Great watch for runners a few years ago
* Still good technology in the watch
* Made with cheap material (lifespan of watch was very short in my opinion)
* Worked well on a treadmill and outdoors.
Garmin 405 experience (after 1 month):
I've had the Garmin 405 for a month now. It rocks! It took me one run to get used to the Garmin 405. After one more run I had it configured just right for my needs. I know there are features I still have not taken advantage of... but it works just the way I want it to with the right information displayed during my run. I occasionally use the Heart Rate Monitor to get a feel for my average heart rate on different types of runs. I never installed the software to track my running on my computer. Instead I setup an account with Garmin Connect and it is excellent!!!!! The ability to track my exact course on the map, elevation, distance, heart rate, peaks and low points for each measurement, etc. is incredible. Plus, it's there on the web for me to pull up anytime and anywhere. I've run against the virtual trainer on a few occasions. However, I prefer to monitor my running time, speed and distance (or current HR if I'm wearing the Heart Rate monitor). There is a ton of data you can use to monitor when you run. I can't comment on the longevity of the watch since mine is only a month old (I hope it lasts for at least 2 years). I sometimes wear the watch when I'm not running. Often I'll just snap on the charging clip after a run and leave it until my next run. The ant technology has worked perfect for me to load my runs online. I just snapped in the ant stick this evening and 6 runs loaded off my watch to the internet for my review. One tip that has worked well for me is to lock the watch after I start the run and set the training screen to my preferred view. This will prevent me from changing something by accident and is something I learned to do after running in the rain once. I have not tested the 405 on a treadmill since I have not purchased the footpod. Regarding the GPS signal, it seems to work very well... even with trees overhead. It's cool when the watch tells me there's a sharp turn ahead... and it's right. Also, I like how the watch tells me when my run is half over. In both of these cases, it tells you with a message box and a little sound that prompts me to look at my watch since I wear an IPod when I run. I always strive to complete my workout goal because I get a nice success message at the end with an sound indicating my workout has completed.
Overall recommendation: Buy the Garmin 405 and use it with Garmin Connect. If you are a runner that likes to analyze the details of your runs... you will love it.
 Excellent for heart-rate training September 25, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Overall I like the watch. Like anyone who has spent $350 on a gadget, I went through a period of buyer's remorse when the negative reviews on this watch weighed heavily in my mind. But I've gotten used to the foibles, and am now preparing to buy a second one of these watches for my wife. The thoughtful negative reviews I've read are generally true, and the question you must face is: will you be ok with it.
I use the watch 3x-4x weekly for running & heart rate training, following a metabolic test and training routine suggested by the pro at my gym. My wife began this program first, and got set up on workout routines that are like 2 minutes at one heart rate, followed by 1 minute at another heart rate, etc. She was using a Nike heart rate monitor that didn't allow such programming, so she started wearing a second watch so that she could keep track of times and heart rate more easily.
The Garmin software for setting up such a workout is EASY, and using it during a run is as simple as it ought to be. I run Windows XP and have had very little trouble with the sync; when I walk in the door with my gym bag, the computer and watch find eachother like long-lost lovers, and exchange information without being prompted. By the time you set your bag down, the computer pulls up data on your run. Really slick.
I also like looking over the data that comes out at the end. It's been rewarding to see how my pace is improving and heart rate is recovering more quickly after intense bursts. I'd like to get my 5k below 20 minutes, and I can watch my progress toward that goal. A weakness of the PC-based software is the map. The built-in basemap is so coarse as to be almost useless. Don't expect to use this map to plan routes.
You can transfer up to 25 workout routines to the watch, customized for pace, heart rate, distance, calories, whatever. The watch displays are also customizable, showing the data that I want to see at a glance while running (like how long until this interval is over!).
I had some initial trouble getting used to the touch screen. I seriously question the wisdom of that design "feature." But I can always get the watch to do what I want it to. Note to Garmin: there is a reason why the Timex Ironman was a popular watch for so long; it's easy to USE!
I have experienced some GPS issues. You have to get the watch fired up a few minutes before you begin your run. You can program a warmup period at the beginning of your run so that the watch is finding satellites while you get yourself going. GPS elevation "measures" are notoriously poor, and I think it would have been wiser of Garmin to leave that data off. I live in Colorado and have used the watch to log a bike trip up into the foothills. Even over significant elevation changes (100's of feet) the elevation data were noisier than the hills I was climbing. Another user noted trouble with bias in tree-lined areas. I've seen very little of that in my neighborhood, though the pace estimate does get wonky when I go through an underpass along our bike trail. You can check the watch's "satellites" screen to see the strength of signal. In general, I don't trust the instantaneous pace readouts, but instead rely on the results on the computer when I return home. There I trust data averaged over >2 minutes.
As for battery, it hasn't been a problem. One guy described the horror of the buttons getting pushed when he travels. I just put the watch inside my running shoe (face toward the sole) and stuff a sock in behind. I've had no problem there.
Garmin support has been good. Apparently the watch I bought (local running store for about the same price as Amazon) had been registered to another user (a return?). Garmin responded to my email request about it within 36 hours. They also helped when my watch got hung up and wouldn't sync. Also, Garmin has released a new operating system for the watch that you can easily download and transfer via the wireless connection.
Again, I'm happy with the watch. If you're the type whose glass is generally half full, then my bet is that you will too.
Useful September 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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....).
Great features! September 8, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love the GPS feature that tracks the distance I have run. I travel a lot, and I enjoy the watch because I always know exactly how far I have run even when I am not on familiar paths. And the Training Center program does a great job of tracking progress. It's nice to be able to compare week to week how fast I am running and see how much further I am running. I was worried that the watch would feel big on my arm, but it does not bother me at all.
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