Garmin 405 not measuring correctly?

Perhaps you got a bad one...mine is within 10 feet of marks I measured with a wheel. YOu should try getting them to replace it.

L

Does anyone know how to adjust the 405 so it records the data points every second? I think that might be part of your problem. A girl my team has the 405 and when we put her run on motionbased, it showed how inaccurate it was. While running around a track at a fairly easy pace, it would completely cut off the turns, etc.

On my 205 there is an option unders 'general->date recording' to record every second or to use smart recording. Any idea?

I ran with mine on the track, and my 800s were registering at .51 miles. I shook this off at first, but then realized that .01 is around 3 seconds (give or take), and 6 seconds/mile on a track is pretty significantly off.I hope there is an update, I still like it on training runs so that I get a better sense of how far I actually just ran.When you say the pace/mile is off, which direction is it off in? I am hoping you say it registers slow because I really don't think I run as slow as it tells me I do.

JBM wrote:

I just received my new Garmin 405 last week. Although I like it a lot, I've noticed that it measures consistently "long" compared to accurate mile markers and other people's 205's and 305's. Also, the pace per mile is off compared to others 205's/305's when running the same pace (significantly off).

Has anyone else noticed this?

I called Garmin and they said that this issue has been reported but they can't give me any more information than that. The Garmin retail store in Chicago had reported that the 405 was delayed this year due to software problems. My guess is that they didn't fix them before sending them out and will just rely on a software update. Pretty frustrating...

thats about as accurate as you can expect a GPS to get

I have the 305 and although it is accurate on the road, it is definitely WAY off on the track. I do not use it at the track.

Why you would ever use a GPS watch on a track is beyond me.

well 800's are not half a mile they are .51. a mile is not 1600 meters so your garmin is working quite well

Let me see if I have this right...

A road is more accurate than a track.

800 meters is .51 miles.

GPS is accurate.

This is why this board is pure comedy.

uh 800 meters would be less then .5 of a mile.

Actually, for a GPS (which is most accurate over long straight distances) the road accuracy might be equivalent to a track.

A mile is 1609 meters, so if the Garmin is showing .51 miles for 800 meters, it's actually off by even more, since 800 meters is more like .49 miles or so.

As irrelevant as it may seem to wear a GPS device on a track, it also syncs with the computer, so if I want all my workout data in the same place, it would make sense to use it for every workout.

haha, YO wrote:

Why you would ever use a GPS watch on a track is beyond me.

Yeah, it makes sense to wear on the track so you don't need to memorize your interval times if you want to later record them in your log. They are all automatically saved for you.

When I am at the track, I still use the Garmin, BUT I turn off the GPS and take the splits (like how you would with a regular watch). That way, you get the splits on your watch, your HR, AND the right distance & split (which IMO are fairly important).

Interesting read:

http://www.romdas.com/technical/gps/gps-acc.htm

http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/waas.html

So....

How accurate is GPS?

Today's GPS receivers are extremely accurate, thanks to their parallel multi-channel design. Garmin's 12 parallel channel receivers are quick to lock onto satellites when first turned on and they maintain strong locks, even in dense foliage or urban settings with tall buildings. Certain atmospheric factors and other sources of error can affect the accuracy of GPS receivers. Garmin® GPS receivers are accurate to within 15 meters on average.

http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/

http://www8.garmin.com/graphics/WAASaccuracy2.gif

Accurate at best with WAAS to within 3 meters.

So...we're talking accuracy to within 3-15 meters. So, at 15 meters and 5:00 pace we're talking about 3 seconds per mile....4 seconds at 7:00 pace.

Alan

One thing I've learned about Garmin units is that each new unit generally needs a couple of firmware updates before it becomes really solid. Whatever inaccuracy there might be will probably be corrected in the next update or so.

For me, the 405 has consistently measured at about .96 for a true mile. So mine "beeps" for a mile a good bit after friends running with a 205/305. Over a long run, this tends to add up.

Plus the pace indicator seems to be off (on the slow side) compared to others Garmins (and compared to my general feel of "pace".)

As someone else commented here, Garmin will typically post a software update at some point to correct it. But when I called they weren't able to tell me when this would happen.

I have the 305 after being disappointed by the polar sd800(horrible product, horrible customer service and I will never purchase another piece of equipment from them EVER!!!) and it's perfect!!! I hope the 405 gets the problems fixed. I'm thinking they may have been better off holding it off the market until it was up to Garmin's standards.

Those ARE Garmin's standards. Don't confuse Garmin with Timex.

Timex is crap. They dont deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the far superior Garmin.