Garmin Forerunner 405 > Reviews (4)

If you're not a runner, you may be surprised at how much running watches can do nowadays, not only measuring time taken but exactly where you went, your pace at any given moment and even the elevation profile of your run - information which is really helpful when you're training for a specific event, such as a marathon. The market leader in GPS (Global Positioning System) watches is Garmin, who also make sat nav devices, and use the same satellite technology to produce watches which track distance, location, etc etc.

The Forerunner 405 is the most recent model in the Forerunner series, and after much humming and ha-ing, I finally decided to upgrade my non-GPS Forerunner 50 with footpod - a device which tracks distance by means of measuring steps taken. While I've grown fond of my Forerunner 50 - and thought it was the bee's knees when I got it - I was increasingly frustrated by the inaccuracy of the footpod, despite repeated attempts at calibrating it. Although significantly more accurate overall than the traditional pedometer, even running simple out-and-back routes it would sometimes record different distances for the outward and return journeys. Not drastically different, but still, I was losing confidence in its ability to tell me how far and how fast I was running. So, GPS was the obvious solution.

I picked the 405 over the older 305 for, to be honest, mainly aesthetic reasons. It looks similar to the 50, i.e. like a watch rather than something which is about to launch into space at any moment, and this appealed to me. Having said that, it's a bit chunkier than the 50, but still very wearable, and feels secure on my wrist.

The watch needs to be charged for 3 hours before use. The method of charging is rather unusual, involving a clip which needs to be attached to the contacts on the back of the Forerunner. This involved me staring at the various bits for a while trying to figure out what went where, but once I'd worked that out, it was straightforward enough, and just a case of waiting (im)patiently for the three hours to be up so I could get on with actually using it.

Once fully charged for the first time, the watch takes you through various introductory screens, enabling you to get it set up as needed. The only thing I had a bit of trouble with here was setting the time. Technically, you don't need to set the time. Once you're receiving the GPS signal, time and date are set automatically. What I couldn't initially work out (yeah, not that bright, I know) was why, having done this, the date was correct but the time was several hours behind. Eventually I figured out I needed to change the time zone. No further problems.

The 405 comes with a USB ANT stick which, once set up, will automatically upload your latest data to the Garmin Connect website, including a map of where you ran, your total distance, mile splits, average pace, pace per mile, and even elevation profile. I should admit that I'm not great with technology - this may have already become apparent - so getting the wireless computer connection set up was a bit of a concern, especially as I'd previously had a bit of a nightmare getting the ANT stick to talk to my Forerunner 50.

However, I was pleasantly surprised that - perhaps because I'd done it all before with the 50 - this went without a hitch, and I was able to upload my first run with no problems whatsoever, before spending some happy hours poring over all my data. (Not a normal person's idea of fun, perhaps, but runners are different - right?)

There are an awful lot of features on this watch. I've yet to get to grips with all of them, but am gradually learning. The touch-sensitive bezel (round the edge of the watch face) does take a bit of getting used to, but a little practice goes a long way, and as "start" and "stop" are still controlled by buttons, you don't necessarily need to use the bezel while on the run. As a newbie to GPS, I'm enchanted by the ability to see not only how far and how fast but exactly where I've been running. (Well, almost exactly. Zooming in on the map after my first run showed me apparently running through hedges and over houses. Which I wasn't. But it was close enough.)

The only real disadvantage which I've found with the 405 is that it doesn't cope well with rain. It really doesn't like getting wet. While it's normally easy, with a tap on the bezel, to scroll through the various screens which you can set to inform you of your pace, distance, heart rate, average lap pace, etc etc, rain seems to send the whole thing haywire, causing it to either continually scroll through when you don't want it to, or refusing to budge when you do. The former problem can easily be resolved, however, by locking the bezel.

In summary, it's early days, but so far I am very happy with my new toy. If necessary, I suppose I could have lived without it - my Forerunner 50 performed lots of handy functions including recording heart rate, and online resources such as www.mapmyrun.com are pretty good for measuring distance. But in the words of Oscar Wilde, I can resist everything except temptation, and the 405, with all its features, was very tempting. As a new recruit to the wonderful world of GPS, I am enjoying it greatly.

As you might expect, the 405 doesn't come cheap - prices do vary from place to place, but at present it is available on Amazon for £218.26 (including heart rate monitor) or £192.98 without heart rate monitor. So it's not an inexpensive option if all you're wanting is a watch to tell the time with, but given all the additional features it offers for runners, it's definitely a worthwhile investment.