A step up

By Mark B Ranked #605 - Trail Running Accessories March 26, 2009

I wore a 205 for years, up to the point it died recently. The weak points for that unit are as follows.
1. Battery life insufficient for ultramarathon distances 50 miles & over.
2. Running or cycling in rain (i.e. downpour) allowed water under inside, and the unit either behaved erratically, or would not turn on again.
3. Contacts on the back to get data in/out and power in corroded and were generally unreliable. I managed to get them to work, but this was a genuine annoyance.
4. Elevation data is unreliable (Wrong!). This was correctable via post-processing on the website, and since I am not yet a mountain runner, I could live with that.

I didn't consider the size or aesthetics of the 205 negatively, though the 405 is a considerable aesthetic improvement. The 405 is not really much smaller than the 205.

The 405 clears up the interface contact issue by virtue of its wireless data interface. This is a slick solution, once you have it working. The power interface seems to work well so far. I'm hopeful that the water resistance has improved, though I'm not anxious to test this. Battery life is not an improvement over the 205, and I would personally like to see some provision for an auxiliary battery pack for endurance athletes, perhaps as an aftermarket product. Elevation data correction is not even up to the standard of the 205 yet, since the website does not even support this feature for the 405 yet.

Time to first fix is usually a minute or two. Tracks are reliable. The 405 even functions like a regular sports watch, which is a big improvement. It is a step in the right direction and a useful tool.

View Details: Garmin Forerunner 405 GPS Watch

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