Garmin Forerunner 405 Review

I must say, I'm pretty excited about my new Forerunner 405. It took a lot of deliberation to decide which model would be best for me, while considering the price. I'm definitely happy that I asked Mrs. Clause for the 405.

First I'll start off with the most notable positives:

Looks like a watch: This was not a deal maker for me when deciding, but now that I've worn it around a bit, I think it's definitely a selling point. This is the first GPS Forerunner that looks like a (slightly big) plausible watch. The others look like you've strapped a PDA to your wrist; which is fine for running, but not for everyday life. Garmin did have to sacrifice a few little things to accommodate this, which I'll get to later.

Satellite Antenna: Amazing!! Keep in mind, my frame of reference with this is an old Forerunner 201. However, with the Forerunner 405, I have yet to wait more than a few seconds for a signal outside. Not to mention, 7 seconds to get a signal inside my house!

Wireless: Yes, it is cool that the watch will sync to my PC wirelessly when I get near it. But the really great thing for me is that I can create workouts (such as certain pace goals for each mile) and beam them to another friend's 405.

Heart rate monitor option: I did not get a heart rate monitor with my 405; mainly because I haven't been using HR for a quiet a while, and I have a Polar watch that I can use if I really need to. However, the nice thing with the 405 model is that you can buy the monitor later and pair it to your watch. In previous models, you either had to buy the model that supported heart rate, or the one that did not.

Granted, there are some negatives:

Screen size: I personally think the lower profile watch is worth the smaller screen size, but others may not agree. The numbers are a little smaller, so you may have to bring your wrist a little closer to read it.


GPS waypoints: You can still mark waypoints and navigate to them. The watch will point you where to go and tell you how far away you are. However, it does not have a little mapping screen of the nearby waypoints, nor the breadcrumb trail of where you have been. I'm thinking this feature was taken out due to the smaller screen size. Since the navigation feature will still work for the once or twice a year I use it, I'm still happy.

Then, there is the bezel (touch sensitive silver ring around the watch face).
Most people are put off by the bezel at first. Scrolling through options by circling your finger can be touchy and make you wish you could just push a button to toggle through them. Yet as you get better at it, you start to appreciate the bezel. When running, you can switch views by touching anywhere on the bezel instead of finding a button. You can also lock the bezel if you have problems bumping it unintentionally. You can turn on the backlight by touching the bezel in two places, which is handy. I still don't know for sure if the bezel is better than having a couple extra buttons on the watch; but I've gotten used to it enough that it's not a hinderence to me.

Overall, I'm very happy with the Forerunner 405 and think it is definitely worth the money if you are really serious about running and training. I may post additional thoughts on it as time goes on.