Garmin 405 how many courses

This product has been discontinued by the manufacturer. It's been replaced by the Garmin Forerunner , you may want to check out that review instead. I picked up the Forerunner back when it first came out this spring, and have been using it over the summer and into early fall.

I was super excited about the when I first heard of it about 6 months prior to it becoming available. At the time it appeared to offer everything I might want from a running watch — sleek design, GPS enabled and compatible with all my existing Garmin accessories. One might wonder what took me so long to write-up the review then. While I love many features about the watch, there are some that quite simply drive me crazy. Well…that depends a little bit on which version you order.

In addition, if you ordered a version with the heart rate monitor you also get the heart rate monitor strap see photo down below in the accessories section. The appeal of the is that it almost looks like a regular watch again. Although do note that it is larger than the usual watch. One key item to note is that the first half inch or so of the wrist band on the is hard molded plastic and NOT bendable. Upon powering on your Garmin for the first time it will walk you through a brief tutorial regarding the basic functions and how to use some of the newer features such as the touch bezel.

The menu system on the is very much like the or Garmin Edge cycling products. You can go into the settings menu and change details such as whether or not it will automatically pause your workout if you stop moving for example — at a stoplight.

In addition, you can specify modes such as cycling or running and the data fields to display. You can also choose a graph of your HR — basically showing a mini history that moves as you go along live. Interestingly, you cannot choose a graph of the elevation. The Garmin supports three concurrent data fields being displayed at any one point and time the supports four fields. For me personally, this poses a bit of a challenge while running. The second challenge with the three different screens is in using the bezel.

Many folks have also noted that the Garmin logo at the top of the watch takes up space for a full data field. In particular, you probably know that the features a touch-sensitive bezel. Unlike a regular watch, none of the buttons except the two on the side actually depress.

Because the tiniest of touches will trigger the bezel to react, you can also lock the bezel by simply pressing both side buttons together. You unlock it in the same manner. While locked, the bezel will not respond.

In addition, you can change the sensitivity of the bezel, depending on your touch. The bezel is where virtually ALL of my frustration lies with the When it was first announced, there was much hype and excitement about it. However, as reviews started to trickle in — it became a love it or hate it situation.

Obviously some people differ with me. I personally think the bezel is the dumbest thing ever. It tries to be hip and fashionable with its whole touch concept. If I wanted an iPod I would have bought an iPod.

Instead — I bought a sports watch that has an identity crisis with an iPod. If you are running hard or cycling hard then dealing with the touch bezel is a passive pain. I generally leave it locked, but sometimes I want to change screens or if running at night — turn on the light. When I unlock it and try to change screens while still running — things go downhill fast. I just want simple buttons. Another example, today on my ride I received a low battery error.

Nope, first I have to unlock the bezel, then acknowledge the error, then lock the bezel again. On the computer side you have a small USB dongle about the length of a paperclip.

And it simply connects to the device. Look ma! No cables! Once you finish pairing the device for the first time which can be a bit of a pain , all you have to do is bring your device within range of your computer and it will automatically sync the workouts to your computer. This of course requires the USB stick be in the computer to see the watch. Sometimes the sync works really well and happens while the device is dozens of feet away.

The cradle with the was simple and functional. And it worked every time. It also charged the device — two items for the price of one so to speak. Finally, for those with laptops like me , the tiny USB stick is more of a pain than anything else because I always have to find it.

Where…depends on where you tell it to send it. GTC is the application you optionally install if you want to have a local copy of the data on your computer. This application was apparently written in and not updated since. Once in GTC you can look at them and generally poke them like a piece of over-cooked chicken.

Most importantly, you can export them to other programs to use to analyze your data. One of the most obvious reasons why GTC is so lame is the mapping — just look at the below example. A much better option is to upload the data to Garmin Connect. This is the free web-based successor to site Motion Based which Garmin bought. Your data is of course only visible to you unless you share it or mark it as public great for finding new routes!

When the site initially came out in the spring, it was pretty rough. Lots of good little improvements. You can rename each of your workouts and view all of the data, as well as share it with other folks. While Garmin provides the above noted software — many of us use other software suites mostly because they are better. Just to briefly touch on a few. The charges via a little clip on cable that then connects to either a USB port, or the AC adapter block provided.

I do like the fact that it shows the percentage charged — nice touch! Battery life is an interesting thing with the This means that if you left it in your bag and went to use it a week later — it may not have enough juice to get you through the workout.

So just remember that the battery is always trickling away slowly. It does charge pretty quick though. Just about hours to fill it up completely. Today I got a low battery warning and was able to go another hour to complete my workout and it was still working. This allows you to use your bike indoors on a trainer and to pickup cadence while indoors or outdoors.

Essentially you just attach a small magnet to your wheel like any bike computer , and then attach another small magnet to your crank arm. I had no issues connecting up my existing transmitter to the , or adding a new one to another bike — quick and easy. However, on Friday I went inside and gave it a quick whirl on the treadmill after my swim. You have to first calibrate it outdoors, and that takes about 5 minutes of running around aimlessly while it uses GPS to calibrate.

You can also use a known measured distance such as on a track to calibrate it. Then it beeped an error about lost GPS signal duh.. About a minute later it gave another error and did the same thing. It appears though that it for a brief second picked up a GPS signal and then lost it, causing it to think it was outdoors again and thus change the pace and associated distance. More useful to me however is the foot pods ability to give turnover rates how many times per minute your foot strikes the ground.

Speaking in broad strokes — higher cadence is better — so this is a useful way of see how different paces affect my turnover. The heart rate monitor strap measures your heart rate beats per minute. When you purchase the you can choose to get the unit with or without one. I wanted to call this out specifically. Unlike the , the is not detachable from the wristband.

Thus, a different bike mount is required. Undoing it from the mount takes a solid 30 seconds if your calm and collected — so not exactly ideal during a triathlon in transition. You simply use two zip ties to attach the mount to your handlebars photo below showing it mounted to my mountain bike. There is one little problem here though. You might be able to get by, but it looks horrible note how below is all elongated, whereas two photos above its nice and round.

The problem is that the rubber piece has to bend outward, which in turn makes it just barely too big to get a secure fit on the wrist strap. The problem with using the while swimming is the initial cap placement. See, the can both detach from the wristband, as well as having the advantage of having a relatively flat wristband.

See the below comparison. The contains a really low profile, while the is really high up. This means that under your swim cap will look a whole lot funnier than it would otherwise. Not that lack of style will keep me from using it in a pinch in the water.

I think the Forerunner is a great addition to the Garmin fitness family. However, its not without its limitations. Garmin itself is fairly clear in that if your a triathlete — the is still their premier multisport watch now the XT. I was really excited when I first got this watch, but my excitement for it has waned a bit.

If you found this review helpful in your purchasing decision, you can support future reviews like this or race fees by using any of the Amazon links accessories or the units themselves. And as you can see, I mix and match accessories based on compatibility — so if a compatible accessory is available at a lower price below, you can grab that instead.

As always, if you have any questions — feel free to post them below or e-mail me if you post a question, it gets e-mailed to me. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked. If you would like a profile picture, simply register at Gravatar , which works here on DCR and across the web.

Subscribe me to the newsletter. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can click here to Subscribe without commenting. Thanks for the info on Sports Track 2. While I was waiting in the streets of downtown Portland, among the large buildings, for the marathon start last weekend I saw a huge number of runners frantically waving their older Forerunners in the air in the hopes of getting a satelite connection.

I checked my watch and had full connectivity, so perhaps that is one enhancement worth mentioning for the Ray—thats way too much information for dumb asses like myself. I think you have a new career working for Consumer Reports or one of the Tri-Mag. Seriously, great update. However, I think I am going to stay with my for now.

I like being able to read it while on the go. THank you for this amazing review! I am looking to make some upgrades but after some initial research and then reading this — I am not going to spring for the There just seem to be too many issues that would get in the way — and not make it as versatile for a triathlete — to justify the pricetag. You should send a copy of this to the folks over at Garmin.

I am still rocking the Forerunner — I keep hoping it will die so I can justify the investment in a new one so when it does, thanks for the review!

Great post! Awesome review, Ray — thanks. I forwarded it to my tech buddy who will love this. Maybe the older model still works with the ??? Thanks for posting this. I had a for a while then sold it and got a Polar Sx… Now I want a edge for just bike use. It never ends. Very well-done. Agree with lazy triathlete- I think you need a side job with Triathlete mag reviewing products. I just checked my Amazon. Great review. Maybe they will eventually make it a true upgrade, not just smaller.

Thanks for your detail review. I have been using Garmin for almost a year and I am happy with it. However, recently, I have started wearing whole day in order to keep track of number of miles I walk apart from my running. To save battery, I generally switch it off once I am inside the building and use only when I am outside and walking.

However, as you said in your post, is much bigger and thereby attracts lot of attraction. Basically, I am looking for an instrument which I can use as a watch to see time and wear whole day and also as a mean to keep track of miles I walked.

Do you think will work in my case or do you know of any other product. Another option would have been to use pedometer. He was nice enough to give me a new heart rate mointer and he helped me out a lot with the watch, unfourntely when he was trying to pair it he acciendently hit another language so it took us about 1 hour to get everything figured out, I understand the headache you have with the watch but once you figure it out its a great tool for running , I call it my R2D2, hahah , anyways great blog.

I really want to break into the world of GPS for accuracy reasons but am seriously struggling making my mind up about the I understand your criticisms about the aesthetic qualities of the touch bezel but was wondering if you could elaborate regarding the features of the watch for runners? Can you turn this feature off? How easy is is to set up target paces for sessions?

Can this be changed on the fly? Albeit with difficulty because of the bezel most probably? Erm… thanks for taking the time to read this far and I would appreciate any feedback you could send my way. It looks virtually identical. So based on your description — this would work perfectly for you. I should have taken it with me today as it would have been a perfect test for all my airport travelling today.

Of course, you could just leave it unlocked, but I find it then changes with the slightest accidental touch. But you can turn it off in the settings menu. See my earlier uploading post. Hope this helps! Thanks so much for the review. I currently have the polar I own the and have similar inputs. The one thing you should add is, unfortunately, another downer about the bezel:.

It will think another finger is pressing on it and get confused when you try to use it. Essentially this, in my book, makes the virtually useless for anyone who ever works out in he rain or perspires!!

For example: I once had it mounted on my bike for the bicycle portion of a tri. When I got out of the water there was a light sprinkle. Jumped on my bike hoping to see my heart rate and speed. Unfortunately the start sequence requires you to do some convoluted bezel magic to get the watch operating press he timer button to unsleep, press and hold the bezel training button for seconds, then press the timer button to start.

That press and hold is what kills you. That is just one of what I find are common incidents because of this poor design decision. Just for running I run into the same issue all the time as perspiration gets on the bezel. Try something else. I just read your Garmin Forerunner and reviews. Very useful, thank you. I find the best buy is the which you did not review. I take it as a without the heart rate monitor, which I do not think I need. Is this correct? And how useful is the heart rate monitor?

But yup it looks like the only difference is the HRM portion. Wow, thanks for the in depth review. You have no idea how long it took me to find one this good! I was reading that the can use the foot pod outside too when the gps signal is week.

Can the do the same? I am also wondering if the foot pod data and be recorded at the same time as the gps so both can be compared after the run eg. Regarding workloads, can the same kind of workloads be uploaded to and ? As far as I understand workloads can be created with the but for the a PC is needed not a big issue for me. Yes, both watches operate identical in this manner as both can use the footpod outside and inside with or without GPS enabled. Yes, the footpod will record your turnover run cadence , it will also be used if GPS signal is lost.

It will not however record two seperate distance tracks. Using Garmin Training Center any workout can be downloaded to either the or or Regarding the foot pod : I was reading somewhere that the switched automatic between gps and foot pod when the gps signal gets week and I got the impression that with the you would need to do the switch manually.

So its good to know that they both use the foot pod the same way. Anotherthing I heard was that the has better summary page during advanced workouts but I am not sure if thats true and what information is displayed in either case. Thank you for another excellent review! I have a and just got a Cervelo with your same aero bars.

Thanks for the info. Does it affect the distance accuracy? The like the will basically extrapolate any missing data points.

So it does a simple average to determine pace and. Thanks for the reply. Do you think adding a footpod will remove any distance discrepancy esp.

Only in scenarios where you twist without signal. For example — if you were trail running in a canyon without signal. Or if the tunnel made a significant bend like a U turn. In that case, it may not have picked up the satellites at the other end of the tunnel and thus incorrectly reported the distance.

Interestingly for the DC marathon, the total mileage on SportTracks says Just curious. Thanks for the review. I have the garmin thats way to bulky and big for my wrists. It gets awful signal and dosent always work. I was looking to upgrade to the I live in the country of southern michigan and have a fair amount of trees around me.

Which one do you reccommend? I very much appreciate this review and cant wait to hear your suggestion. There have been significant improvements in the GPS devices since the Given the recent announcement of the two new watches new variant of the and the — a new variant of the — I might look to see if you would utilize those features. Personally, I prefer the Great review! I too have a and have been using it for about a year. Last week I finally had a meltdown after Garmin Training Center crashed.

And so I wrote blog post about it. My thoughts on the are similar to yours: very nice looking, but with definite limits. The device has its issues, as well as the issues with data transfer process and software. I switched to Sport Tracks this week andit has been wonderful and greatly helped out my frustration. Now, if Garmin would just put touch buttons and a mini USB jack on the You can upload Garmin files to Trainingpeaks if you first export them using the Garmin Training Center.

I really like my however I am very disappointed with the battery life. I have been reading reviews on the and Would you agree? Given what you are saying, I do think the would indeed be your best bet for the price.

The only advantages of looking at the newer XT would be for longer activites greater than 10 hours , or underwater usage. Rainmaker, great review. I am going to purchase the I have a question about software. Do any of the free programs you review allow for the same thing? Yes, both Sports Tracks and Training Peaks allow you to do that. Works great, even allows me to include little pictures of them.

You have done really very good site. Great work, great site! Thank you! I think you are the reporter of this products. Great review!! So much good info! Why buy it if all your going to do is winge? How does yours stuff up so bad? At the end of the day the review is merely my opinion. That said, a lot of folks out there seem to share the general opinion that the is a bit complex than it needs to be.

In my opinion, the Forerunner needs a version 2. There are certainly people like yourself who use it and like it. Great review, the most helpful of all reviews out there; better than any Consumer report type of info. That being said wish I would have found your blog a week ago; I just ordered the from Airmiles rewards…. I think the will still be a great training tool for you in training. The can certainly do everything you need to get you through an Ironman.

Great review on the You have covered the watch more comprehensively than any of the other reviews I have seen, good effort and thank you. Aside from the touch bezel, everything else is considerably improved. You can set auto cycle so it can cycle between 2, 3, or 4 screens.

If you are a moderate sweater, or you intend to run in any rain even light , expect one of a few things to happen:. This just happened to me and I was — well, very disgruntled. The workout data was useless at that point. Garmin knows full well about this issue. Unfortunately all their solutions impact the normal usage of the watch I.

Locking the bezel, using auto-scroll, etc. So my advice is — if you intend to sweat — do not get this watch! I suspect that is why the bezel is gone in the FR The batter will last long enough to run a marathon or cycle a century… but not both. It just beeps incessantly and is completely unmanageable. During my last paddle, the unit stopped working for the last third of the workout.

The software and communications is great although getting it to work for the first time was a pain. Using the watch is especially frustrating. I feel like I need some sort of advanced engineering degree to be qualified and capable. I can never seem to get to the screen I want when I want it. The bezel is an exercise in patience and not pulling your hair out. Hi Dc How are you. I have only one question.

I do triathlon and I need to buy a garmin…wich one you recommend me the or the ?? Forget about the price, wich one you think is the best for training more than in the race?? Well, I took back the yesterday and got the The buttons and menus of the are much easier to use. I paddle outrigger canoe and surfski.

The only downside is the size. I can live with that though. I originally went with the because the seemed to be too big. I have small wrists so I notice the size.

I also like the HR strap better. The strap is softer and the sensor is smaller making it more comfy. One more plus is the battery life. Of course it died half way through my workout. In general, the just works where I had to sort of fight and get used to the quirks of the In theory, what you say is correct — but I find it varies quite a bit unfortunately. You may want to look at the newer FR, which although has less features — it has more battery life. Im trying to decide between the Garmin or the Timex Global Trainer.

I run crosscountry and track. I still have a doubt. Or is this only possible on the XT? I am a beginner in running and mainly intend to run and am looking to upgrade from my current Nike SportBand to a GPS watch. I think that you may want to include the XT or FR in your search. My wife bought one of these poorly designed, form over function watches. She insists that it does not have a simple stopwatch function for running or biking.

Thus, she sets it to countdown from her estimate of time. Since you are the resident expert on these Garmin watches, I thought you could tell me if there is indeed a basic stopwatch and how it can be engaged. Thanks for your indepth reviews, I wish my wife would have researched before she bought the She really wants my XT.

My just totally died. It is less then 2 years old and got condensation in the screen I have never worn it in the water and just went crazy. Garmin told me I must have a faulty seal on it so there was nothing they can do. Will buy the new Times GPS unless someone has a better idea for me. Tired of forking out a lot of money for watches! WOW- I was considering the specifically for the touch screen option and thinking that it may be a bit less cumbersome to wear than my for interval workouts.

However, after reading your amazing review, I will consider otherwise. Which leads me to my next question- if I wanted a watch that was just for interval training outdoors, what would you suggest?

He is a weekend runner and road cyclist, and does the odd 10km run, or sprint duathalon. Could you tell me what you know about the new Garmin Forerunner , and if it has any improvements over the ? That said, my understanding is the FR has improved by change via the bezel design.

Ray, I appreciate you taking the time to write such thorough reviews and eagerly await your review of the I just purchased. I remember you made mention of using the HRM feature during your weight training. Do you strictly run the HRM and get a pretty graph showing rest periods and spiked heart rates when you are lifting? Any tips or tricks to share. Thanks in advance. Wow, thanks very much for the in depth review. My friend told me that his allows him to do it. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Ray, What an excellent write-up. The bezel is especially a pain. I have to lock it because if one bead of sweat hits it, it will send the watch into schizophrenic mode. Thanks for your extensive and honest review.

Ever since updating my to 2. No luck. I also noticed that indoors trying to drain the battery quickly with the GPS and backlight on it only took about 45 mins to kill it.

I guess the battery is finally on its last legs after about a year and a half. Other than this new issue, loved it. Else, Pace Alerts would work. Is this watch a better buy for running than the FR60? I was looking for a watch that measures instant pace and time.

Thanks in advance! I purchased the cx after considerable research, and I feel I have to weigh in on the bezel issue. I love the bezel, and I even find it to be much more intuitive than buttons. It has worked perfectly right out of the box, including the wireless uploading. I purchased the cx almost a year ago.

Previously I owned the Forerunner Initially I was extremely happy with the cx. Even though I had occaisional issues with the touch bezel control and with the cx locking up, I was willing to live with these issues because I was enjoying the positive aspects so much.

That changed once I got serious about training for the Marine Corps Marathon Once I began training my run data became like gold to me. Invaluable to analyzing my progress.

Suddenly those lock-ups and bezel craziness were not just mere annoyances… they were impacting my ability to train! I stopped during the run for a restroom break and paused my run on the cx. When I went back to restart the run tracking the bezel control went out-of-control. It must have gotten too much sweat on it. The control started self-navigating all over the menu… beeping and changing displays rapidly.

I am starting to get into the running game. Not sure why I started but its becoming addictive I ran my first 10K Then backed up with the half marathon 2. Excuse my ignorance but I would like to know which models offer this I cant see on there site. I was going to get the but you are making me think of the but it looks huge so Then i looked at the and the timex and after reading all your blosg and posts I have absolutely no idea.

I am a beginner who loves to Run and Ride and would like to get into swimming to complete a mini triathlon one day. The vast majority of the Garmin models offer this, but the ones I would recommend would be the FR budget , the FR mid-range and the FR high end. Thanks all, and sorry for the delay here — been a bit of a crazy few months with wedding and honeymoon, just getting a chance to catchup on all the past comments. Hello, I appreciate how much work you put into your reviews and really like them.

I have a question about the bezel for the Say its soaked from rain or sweat, and you have it locked. Thanks, Greg. In most cases, you can indeed wipe it dry — but there have been improvements in the way that works with the FR since they split up the bezel into different regions to better understand the swips.

Recently started using it in rains and all of a sudden it just runs out of battery. But still after kms it just stopped working. And am sure you will understand how really irritating it is that on a long run you are without a watch. Luckily the road is marked in kms so completed my 17km scheduled long run. Also do you know of any product some transparent cover that i could use to make it more reliable in rains? I am in India and had got this watch from ebay usa and so am not even sure how to get it serviced.

And so including the shipping cost to India the watch turned about to be very very expensive. May be there are some Linux fans using the Garmin G? There is a program called gant-master, such that you can read the data out of your G That was also one of the reasons that I bought the G See here a website with a lot of detailed information link to thefloatingfrog.

My favourite is mytourbooks, see link to sourceforge. Other programs are for instance pytrainer, SportsTrackers, see link to sourceforge. Try to download the latest versions of these packages, but be careful with the 32bits or 64bits programs.

TurtleSport is easy in use even as mytourbook. With mytourbook you can also print the results of some running into a. Mytourbook gives a lot of information of which you can ask yourself why? Oke, but the pictures of the tracks are nice to see what kind of speed you run at some places and also of the heart rate. Have your pleasure with these programs! Specs say that the does not provide heart rate based calorie computation.

But the summary image shows calories. Just found the answer to my question! It uses the age, speed and distance to count the calories. In the programs I tried, mytourbook, turtle and sportstracker I get no graph of the RunCadence. The program RunningAhead gives some graph! I hope that somebody has the knowledge to get also graphs of the RunCadence in the other programs. Initially I wanted an edge , but am leaning toward the as it can be used for running as well. Is the the right choice????

Thanks for the detailed info on the You mentioned that after a workout I can either transfer my workout data into my GTC or go directly into my Garmin Connect. Getting this as a gift for my daughter. Forerunner for custom training is to. You can follow. You can also. Creating Courses. Use Garmin Connect or Garmin. Training Center to create courses and.

Forerunner , see. To start a course:. Select a course from the list. History is recorded. When you are following a course in. To end a course manually, press. Beginning a Course. You can include a warm up before. Stay away from your course path as. When you are ready to.