Chris says:

I received my Garmin Forerunner 405 today with the intention to sell my Forerunner 305 (but keeping the HRM strap).

I will be going for my first run with it later today, but here are my first impressions (a review) so far, in comparison to my 305.

The Watch

Hey, it now looks like a watch instead of a PDA on my wrist! With that being said, I am not as impressed with the size of it that I thought I would be. It's still a gigantic watch. In fact, if you hold the 305 and the 405 next to each other side-by-side, they are the same exact thickness! The 405 is just re-designed to be a slicker, smoother-looking watch with a rounded display instead of a big rectangle. It also "hugs" my wrist a lot better than the 405, feeling more like a normal watch. With that being said, I probably will wear it more like a sport watch, but not all the time due to its bulky size.

The wristband is the same rubbery material as the 305, but is wider. The band is easier to latch, and the end of the strap gets locked down which solves a problem I had with my 305 where the end of the strap kept popping out. The only problem I have with the band is that it can tug on ye ol' arm hairs when you're putting it on, and it is a bit of a process. One thing's for sure... once it's on your wrist, it isn't going to come off. The downside is that it's not like a normal watch which is typically easy to take on and off.

The touch-sensitive bezel is nice, but a bit awkward. I'm still getting used to it. Even in the video demos you can see the person operating the watch often over or under-shoots the menu options. Something tells me that I'm going to be frustrated with it during a run if I have to use it.

The Software

First off, most important issue: there is Zero Mac support. The frustrating thing about this is that nowhere does it say this. Not on the box it came in, and not in the documentation that comes with the 405.    Thankfully I have both Mac and Windows PCs, but I primarily use a Mac. Even the 305 has some moderate support for Mac. I called Garmin and they confirmed that Mac support is non-existent, and if you are a Mac-only runner, you'll have to wait for "late Q3 or Q4 2008" to use this device. Merry Christmas!



The product comes with no CD, so you need to go to Garmin's website to get what you need. No big deal, and actually I appreciate this tactic because most of the time the software that you get with a device is already outdated by the time you get it and you have to go online to update it anyways. The docs say to go to www.garmin.com/products/forerunner405 to register and download your software. The problem is that it's not very clear where to do this once you get there. Next, once I did register the 405 all I saw was a browser plugin for the Garmin Connect. This had a Mac option, which was confusing, because it does not yet support the 405.

So I turned to my Windows Vista PC and installed the Garmin Connect plug-in. I put in the ANT USB dongle and expected magical things to happen. Nothing happened, however, and I had to dig around a bit more to find out where to get the ANT USB drivers for Windows. Again, not very self-explanatory. I'm a computer geek, a web developer with end-user application development experience. It's not like I don't know what I'm doing, so this whole startup procedure with the 405 was a bit frustrating. At this point I'm thinking it would have been nice to have an install CD that told me which operating systems it supported, installed the ANT driver, and whatever browser plug-ins that were needed.

More to come...

Off to a shaky start, I'm hoping that it gets better... and I'm hoping that development for the 405 is a possibility. Since there's no direct access to the data (that I can tell, initially) and they use a web browser plug-in only to sync the data, that means there's no end-user software like Training Center for the 305, where you can export your data.

Main Spec Differences

305
buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=349
Mac Support: Yes
PC Support: Yes
Weight: 2.72 oz (77 g)
Battery life:       10 hours, typical
Unit dimensions, WxHxD:       2.1" x 2.7" x 0.7" (5.33 x 6.86 x 1.78 cm)
Display size, WxH:      1.3" x 0.8" (3.3 x 2.0 cm)
Display resolution, WxH:      160 x 100 pixels

405
buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=11039
Mac Support: No
PC Support: Yes
Weight: 2.11 oz (60 g)
Battery life: 2 weeks in power save mode; 8 hours in training mode
Unit dimensions, WxHxD:       1.88" x 2.78" x 0.646" (4.8 x 7.1 x 1.6 cm)
Display size, WxH:      1.06" (2.7 cm) diameter
Display resolution, WxH:      124 x 95 pixels

 Mike says:

nice write up, Chris! can't wait to see more.

 Nordy says:

Cant wait till mine arrives.... feels like its taking forever!

 themediaguy says:

groovy! sounds awesome

 Chris says:

Back from my first run (a short 2mi run) and it went very well. Having the 405 strapped to my arm was a much better feeling than the 305. The 305 never really felt like a watch, whereas the 405 does. I barely noticed it was there! Also, I didn't have to use the bezel at all during my run... there are two buttons on the right-hand side of the watch. I just used one to start and stop my run. Easy cheasy. Also, before my run the GPS satellite lookup was quicker than expected, shows vertical bars for each satellite it found, indicating the strength of the signal. It also shows the accuracy in feet... which was about 19-20 ft for me.

When I got back home I brought the 405 near my DELL Vista laptop so the ANT USB receiver could sense the 405. Sure enough, it started transmitting data from the 405 to my computer which took about 30 seconds to transfer my run wirelessly. After it was done I was able to go to connect.garmin.com and view my run, complete with hybrid satellite map, pace chart, and all the gory details.

So, after one run I would definitely say my preference is the 405 over the 305 for the main reasons that it felt better to wear, and the wireless sync was incredible... no cables, no mess.

Now if I can just figure out how to get to my Garmin data through their developer API, we'll have some fancy Garmin support rocking at RUNNER+ for not just the 405, but the 305, the 205 and possibly the 50 and other devices.

Firmware update question without an answer: Since the 405 sends data to the ANT USB dongle, and the 405 charges via contact with the clip charger, how is it possible to update the firmware on the 405 when Garmin updates it? It looks like the ANT USB communicates both ways, and my hope is that it should be able to send new firmware updates back to the 405 when the time comes. I haven't found an official answer--this is just my observation. The 405 unit itself has no USB ports.

A few other random notes:

1. The Timex-like indiglo backlight is awesome compared to the 305's ghoulishly-green light.

2. The battery life of the 405 with GPS enabled is only 8 hours (compared to the 305's 10 hour life) which may prohibit some ultra marathon runners from upgrading to the 405 and sticking with the 305.

3. I have not yet tested the 405 with my HRM from my 305 (more to come).

4. Charging the battery on the 405 couldn't be easier. You can charge it with the included USB cable to any PC (including a Mac), or attach the adapter to charge via any household power outlet. The way it charges the 405 is via a clip (think of an aligator clip) that clips onto the side of the watch and makes contact with two metal contact points on the bottom of the watch. Pretty cool!

5. The default backlight timeout is 8 seconds, probably to conserve battery life from the get-go, but it's far too short. Luckily it's easy to change in the options menu to 15 or 30 seconds, 1 minute, or "stays on" mode which keeps the light on until you touch the bezel with two fingers. My preference is 15 seconds.

6. Odd GPS behavior: after my run it kept the GPS turned on. This drained my battery life after a few hours from 100% down to 91%. Would prefer that if I wasn't in training mode that it would automatically turn the GPS off. So now it's a bit of a pain to have to turn the GPS on and off, before and after each run. It should be automatic.

7. Time/date annoyance. When the 405 is in time/date mode, it only shows the time AND date when the 405 is "on". When it goes to "battery save mode", it does so by only showing you the time. So "time/date" mode is really just "time" mode. There is no setting to change this to display the date as well, which is a bit annoying. I like to look down at my watch (especially an expensive digital one like this) to see the time AND date, but I can only see the time. Garmin, if you're reading... please add an option to show date AND time on the display when in battery save mode!

8. If you're familiar with the 205/305 beeps and sounds it makes, the 405 is no different. It has the same exact goofy blips and bleeps which I found annoying while using the 405 so I went into Settings and turned them off. Plus, they were a little on the loud side.

9. Like the 305/205, the 405's rechargeable battery cannot be replaced. See, Apple, your iPhone isn't the only one!

 Chris says:

Wearability as a watch

I've been wearing the 405 as a watch all evening and outside of my time/date annoyance noted in my previous post (#7), I'm quite happy with it. It doesn't feel as big as I initially thought it was. It's slightly larger (but lighter) than my big Oakley metal watch. I showed it to my wife and she was impressed with the looks, the indiglo back light, and display.

The consensus is that it's a great watch size for normal daily wear, except when I'm hammering away at the keyboard in front of my computer. I normally don't wear a watch, and this one is definitely too big when computing.

 rtypes says:

Thanks Chris, you've pretty much answered every question I had about this watch and if it was worth replacing my 305 with the 405.

Look forward to your next review :-)

 NicolaRun says:

Thank you for this report Chris, please keep upating us with your findings. As posted elsewere I will have to wait until Mac support is available.

 petergarner says:

Thanks for this exhaustive review, Chris. Sounds like I'll be sticking to my 305, both because of the lack of Mac support (and just when I thought Garmin was becoming Mac-friendly), and because it doesn't sound like much of an upgrade to me. I don't wear a watch anyway, so a more wearable watch doesn't hold any appeal to me.

Looking forward to Garmin support here. I've been running with both systems since I got the 305, which I don't mind. I just hope you can get the Garmin support up and running before my sensor's battery dies. ;-)

 paoloboza says:

Well done Chris! Thank you for your detailed report, it's really awesome.

 berbie says:

If you are looking for something to plan and journalize your workouts on a Mac, take a look at TrailRunner:

TrailRunner is a route planning application and it works with even the Garmin ForeRunner devices as also with the Nike + Apple Sport Kit.

www.trailrunnerx.com

 iDork says:

The problem berbie is that the 405 requires the USB ANT+ stick to communicate and upload.   There aren't even any drivers for this yet so it's impossible to use the 405 with a Mac.

 bobby1970 says:

Thansk Chris for posting your info on the 405. I have been thinking about getting 405. I have my Nike+ and that gives me some info on my runners, but not as much as the 405 would. I'll do more reseach before I get anything.

thanks again

 ricardomt says:

Great review, Chris, thanks a lot! Not having Mac support right out of the box is definitely a downside of the 405... I thought it would be only hurting a few runnerplus folks, but looks like the Mac is really popular platform among runners!! Good thing!! I will probably be getting a 405 soon, but will be waiting for Mac support to be available.

 Chris says:

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. I agree with you all on the Mac support. I think 5 years ago it would have been more acceptable, however these days with Mac dominating the operating system space so much, it's almost inexcusable for a manufacturer to launch a new product such as this with no Mac support. Garmin is a huge company with huge resources--who knows, maybe they'll surprise us with Mac support a lot sooner (crossing fingers).

Now, even if I did have full support for Garmin right now (which I am close to having), the 405 still wouldn't be supported unless you had a PC. The reason is (as ajmiarka noted above), there are no Mac drivers for the USB ANT+ stick--so there's no way at all to get to the data on the watch unless you have a PC. Bummer deal!

 mattlash says:

Nice review Chris. I also just got a 405. No issues with using the HRM from my 305 either. I do agree about the time/date annoyance. I hope that is changed. That is really the only issue I have seen so far. It is quite a nice watch and I'm glad I upgraded.

 Beninden says:

Hi Chris, Just joined and am looking forward to Garmin support. I just bought a 405 yesterday and was dismayed at the lack of mac support. Fortunately, I run windows via Fusion on my Macbook Pro and was able to get the data out and uploaded to the Garmin Connect site. I'm a convert from nike+ and liked the accuracy that the Garmin would bring. I am a little underwhelmed by Garmin Connect site however after using Nike+. (Pace is only displayed as mph for example). .

Thanks for the great site and take care!

 Alvic says:

Can someone tell me where I can find this. I checked online and its only available for pre-order. I really want to replace my Nike+ system with this.

 Nordy says:

try looking at www.rei.com thats where I got mine

 Pierantof says:

Hi Chris, I would like to buy the 405, but do you think I can download my runs on runner+ without the nike sensor? Just using the Garmin stuff?