garmin 405

How much was it?

It looks nice, but for the price (I think, $299) I would rather just buy a 205 (got mine year ago for $160) and not wear it other than when I am running and enjoy the bigger screen.

shaggy wrote:

even though the guy helping me told me they didn't have any more of the black version (the green looks like puke in my opinion), after a little prodding he 'found' four more. didn't apologize for the hassle of my having to return to get a new watch and looked annoyed that i took it out of the box in front of him to check on the band...can't say i was impressed with the customer service. are you paying attention garmin?

anyone else?

hey shaggy. do you remember the name of the guy who gave you the problems? a good description may work also. and yes, garmin does listen. ;-)

shaggy wrote:

mileage by gps said 26.36 at the finish (making it accurate to about 0.6% of the total distance).

I'd say that's accurate considering the back and forth for water and such a runner does over 26.2 miles. BTW, did the rep say when they would be on sale for everybody?

You do realize that unless you follow the EXACT route of the marathon, meaning they basically have a line they draw when they are mapping the course, then you will run extra. Also take the fact that you probably added extra in the water areas.

$350 with the HRM (they didn't have any without). yeah, lotsa $$$$...but it was a special treat i have been putting aside for.

don't know when they will be out on a large scale.

i was just passing it off as an inherent error in GPS, but the point about the water stops and the inability to run tangents in a crowded race is probably a big contributor to the extra mileage too. thanks for the advice.

No problem, it happens in huge races like that one. Also is it more watch size or still bigger than an average watch? I am just looking for a normal watch gps that no one will know right off the bat that its a gps.

its just natural wrote:

Also is it more watch size or still bigger than an average watch?

it is pretty much normal watch size.

So, you got it with the HRM option, then? How well did that work for you or have you used it yet? Can you set zones? Did you try the garmin training site to analyze your data from the race?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but I'm thinking of getting one with my government bribe - er rebate. I want to make sure that the features it has that I want work well and make the investment worth more than the 72 beers and 12 pizzas I'd otherwise spend the money on (or the kids college funds....)

Compared to a timex ironman, like how much bigger?

after playing with it for a couple of hours last night, it is very flexible in setting the zones. i am not one to use the zones very much--i use the HRM in a very general way to gauge my workouts--but it seems like this watch will make you happy if you are looking for something that will allow you to set and workout according to the zones.

garmin seems to offer two choices for analyzing data...the "training center", which is a program you download to your PC, or "garmin connect" which is web based. the "training center" has a nice interface, but the MAP IS TERRIBLE. it is outdated and it doesn't have most roads. for instance, there were very few roads shown in downtown boston. the "garmin connect" basically uses googlemaps, which is much better. the gps in fact was virtually perfect in transposing my marathon route on the map. the only deviation was on boylston at the finish, where it looks like i was drunk and running through the shops on the north side opposite the prudential center. i imagine that was due to the tall buildings in that area.

that said, with "garmin connect" i found that there was no flexibility in editing the workout (i had accidentally pressed start again the day after the marathon...i could delete that last bit on the "training center", but i can't seem do that on garmin connect and so it looks like the marathon took me 25 hours).

in terms of size, it doesn't weigh a great deal. they say 60g in the spec sheet, if that is anything to you. in terms of feel, it doesn't feel any heavier than your average watch. it will look a little bigger than a timex ironman on your wrist...the gps system is sort of built up in the band portion so things look a little fatter on the edges. but overall, if you wear it around other than for exercise, it won't get a lot of attention.

Just ordered one

kathryn krieger wrote:

shaggy wrote:

even though the guy helping me told me they didn't have any more of the black version (the green looks like puke in my opinion), after a little prodding he 'found' four more. didn't apologize for the hassle of my having to return to get a new watch and looked annoyed that i took it out of the box in front of him to check on the band...can't say i was impressed with the customer service. are you paying attention garmin?

anyone else?

hey shaggy. do you remember the name of the guy who gave you the problems? a good description may work also. and yes, garmin does listen. ;-)

I was at the Garmin booth too and was asking questions (to whom I assume was the same person) about the 405. The guy was pretty much a jackass who seemed like he couldn't be bothered.

Any ideas about the accuracy?

I have the 205 and it works OK, but as you know, it's not completely accurate. It can be off by 5-10 seconds/mile.

Any news about the 405 accuracy?

If it's better I'd consider getting one.

has the 405 been officially released now? I ordered one from amazon and they have no idea when it will be able to ship