Garmin Forerunner 405 Review
May 4th, 2008
The monday of the Boston Marathon, Garmin had the official world debut of the Forerunner 405, their latest entry in fitness GPS products. Given that they’d had product specifications on their website since November (with an ever-shifting release date), it wasn’t much of a surprise, however many individuals were nevertheless salivating over its release, myself included.
Two things make this Forerunner so special. First of all, it looks like a watch, and not like a portable computing device strapped to your wrist. Secondly, it doesn’t require a cradle, and uploads all of its data wirelessly with no fuss at all. In addition to that it does all the other neat things that a Forerunner does: Heart monitor connection, optional foot pod and cycling cadence meters, in essence anything that an endorphin junkie type-A obsessive personality (like myself) needs to satisfy both their compulsion and their high. Add to that the former two options and this geek was sold before it even came out.
I am now the proud owner of a Forerunner 405, and I have to say that for a first release attempt at massive feature expansion and miniaturization it’s an impressive piece of technology. The majority of the interface is no longer handled via a set of buttons, but is instead done via an iPod-like scroll wheel and tap interface. Furthermore it syncs seamlessly and painlessly with my computer- so seamlessly that it stealth-synced on me one night and confused me mightily when the notification popped up.
Yet even with this technological awesomeness, it’s somewhat obvious that this is a first generation piece of technology. The Bleeding Edge (TM) is not without its pitfalls, and there are a couple of things that annoy the living daylights of of me. The first one is that the 405 isn’t supported on the Mac version of Training Center yet. I tried, I failed. Thankfully my computer dual boots so that wasn’t a huge hurdle, and the on-board memory of the watch is large enough that I don’t have to approach the dreaded Windows more than once a week. I just hope the data files will transfer easily once support becomes available.
The real kahuna though is that the Forerunner 405 has a tendency to crash. I don’t know why- it happens randomly, and without any user input. I’ll just be happily running along in that comforting stupor achieved when you’ve firmly told the rest of your body to kindly stop its bitching, and when I glance down at the watch in the vain hope of a psychological pick-me-up I am greeted with a blank screen that no amount of fiddling (short of a hard reset of the watch with full data loss) will fix. I’ve read through the manual (hoping that this behavior was user error) and received no help there, and the product’s young enough that the community hasn’t figured out the cause yet.
EDIT: We have a potential solution to this. Check the comments- it may be due to an improperly gauged battery meter.
Thus I say buyer beware on the Forerunner 405. Wait a generation for them to iron out the bugs, wait for a firmware update or three, and then buy one. They’re sexy, very sexy. But until this crash bug is figured out you really don’t want to get intimate with it.
I’ve owned the 405 and it has crashed only once – when checking the stats after cycling a course. I’d talk to support because after hours spent reading blogs, reviews, etc I haven’t seen stability mentioned as a major issue. I agree with your point, as a first release it is impressive. The main change I would hope for next release is to move the training mode higher in the menu (currently down low under options), which is painful when frequently switching from cycle to run. The date shown in power saving mode would be nice. Struggling to find much else.
My 305 has been known not to boot, sometimes if I don’t fully charge it. I’m not familiar with a crash mid-run, however (other than just the battery dying).
Finally – someone else with the blank screen bug/crash on the 405! It only seems to happen when it’s in training mode, and typically at around 20 minutes after starting. I contacted Garmin (both UK and US support) and they hadn’t heard of this problem before. Apart from this, it’s a lovely device and with the large clear time display I’m wearing it happily as a day-to-day watch.
Unfortunately I can only confirm this bug. In my case it happens typically around 40 miutes after starting in training mode. Actually almost each second run!!! In such case it suddenly switches off and then on again. So I have to start the timer again if I am aware of it. Another possibility is a freezing of the screen. During a workout in certain HRT zones I was glancing at my watch, happy to keep such a constant rate, when after 2km I realized that it just stopped measuring/recording the course. In such cases, even if one restarts it, it might happen that you only see the first two kilometers of your run in the training center when you come home…
This might be very disappointing when running a marathon. I just hope this weekends stockholm marathon is one of those days where the watch works fine. I really wish garmin would have invested more time into their product (instead of these promising product videos), but the way it is now, its not worth anything, since its totaly unreliable…
I had mine (without HR) for 5 days now, and have used it for over 15 hours on 12 activities. Once, it went blank 40 minutes into one of the training runs without being touched (and bezel locked). So far Garmin hasn’t replied to my report. Software version is 2.10 (it’s unclear from the garmin website what the current version is). When I came home I connected it to the power supply, and it showed 40% battery. The activity monitor had the data until the (unwanted) crash/shutdown.
One other thing I find strange: on one of my bike runs into previously uncharted terrain I used the Go Home Navigation feature. To my surprise when I connected to the ActivityMonitor there were no data recorded for the return trip. The navigation was actually quite good, even after returning on a slightly different route for 1 km (one-way streets), the unit re-connected well (by keeping track of the nearest recorded track points). This worked better than on one of my 2-year old eTrex units (which gets confused when you don’t follow the return path exactly).
GPS reception – I believe – is somewhat better than on the older 305. (I don’t really have statistical data, but I have used the 405 under similar conditions where the 305 had a hard time occasionally).
I have a forerunner 405 since about 2 weeks. I wished I would have read this here before I bought it.
Unfortunately I can confirm the crash bug. On nearly any 2nd run the device crashes about 40 minutes after starting in training mode. All track data collected before this point is lost.
I sent a bug report to Garmin Germany but I don’t have any hope that there will be a solution.
Too bad, spent a 350,–€ for such a buggy device.
I confirm the crash bug too.
This morning after 36 minutes running : the screen switched off.
The battery was still 30% loaded.
I don’t understand and I am disapointed.
I’ll try to get my money back because, even if I still love this product, I am not confident enough into it anymore.
Mine has been crashing as well… I got a bank screen about 10 minutes into my ride yesterday… Battery was over 30% when I checked that morning. It revived once plugged into the charger and indicated a 32% battery level….
Anyone receive any useful feedback or suggestions they can share???
Finally I got into contact with the Garmin support in Germany (how I managed this is a different story, the support itself did not answer to any of my requests).
They asked me to send my forerunner in and they replaced it. The new one seems to be ok. Until now I used it for about 15 trainings and no crash. Hopefully this will stay.
Probably the crashes occur only on single devices and there is no general design flaw. So, in any way I would try to get into contact with Garmin support and insist on replacing the device.
I received an answer from the belgian support : they explained me the battery level indicator may be not correctly gauged.
Solution : I have to let it unload completely until 0% and reload it to 100% and the problem should be solved.
Indeed the problem did not occur again until now (crossed fingers!!).
Did you guys have the problem only once? or some of you did encounter it twice?
I have my FR405 for about a month now. Never seen a crash, but had to re-enter my User Profile (DOB, weight, etc) thrice. Basically what happens is that I enter my info, and several days later I discover it defaulted back to factory settings. No clear reason why.
I’m wondering if it does crash (when I’m not looking) and forget everything. Can you guys confirm your User Profile gets reset after crashes?
(support ticket openend with Garmin as well)
Update on previous post.
I figured out that the Training Center software has the same User Profile settings and whenever you upload an activity, the software graciously overwrites your device settings.
So, the solution is to tell training center what to program your device with.
No crashes then. Phew.
Good news,
Garmin released a new firmware (v 2.20), where one of the changes mentioned in the release notes is “Fixed issue where watch could freeze with bezel, accessories, and GPS not working.”. I installed the new firmware today, and tested the watch for two runs (90 minutes in total). No crash! Almost all of my previous runs crashed after 10 to 30 minutes…
Hello!
Thanks for some good tips about the crash problem.
But… the update doesn’t fix the crash. I updated my watch yesterday, went for a 10 km. run, everything was ok. Today the battery was at a 43% charge, I went for a 7 km run and it crashed just before 3,5 km. Just as before… I think there is a memory error. Let me explain: When the received data is saved, at some point it hits a damaged area of memory, it crashes, just as a computer would do.
My watch crash after 3-4 km, it has done that several times. I even tried to remove the battery in the heart monitor belt – to try to reanimate the watch – no chance. The watch doesn’t react to the USB stick either. The only thing is to connect the battery charger – removing that will also get the watch to crash… Sigh.. I get so demotivated…
- HAJ
Hi,
I am dissapointed with the battery life of the 405. I don’t know if the problem is the calibration of the battery guage or when the battery gets to around 40% it just crashed the watch. The later might indicate that the battery hasn’t got the power to sustain the watch at low percentages.
- Max.
The wrist band broke with out any obvious reson. Has anyone else experienced the same problem?
Hi!
I experienced that problem. Yesterday thw wristband of my FR405 broked!!! I have been trying to contact Garmin Support without sucess. It seems to me that the problem is due to the extensions of the case of this watch (where inside there is the antenna). If your wrist is small, as mine, then the wristband will have to be very folded in order to have the watch well fixed and in this case there is a point of inflection where the wristband deteriorates.
The wristband of my FR405 also broked yesterday. I have been tying to contact Garmin Support without sucess. I think that the problem is due to the elongation of the watch case where the wristband begins. If your wrist is very small (like mine!) then you will have to force a little bit the band in order to have fixed the watch and in the point of inflection the band deteriorates easily.
Hi
Anyone had problems with Condensation getting inside their FR405? Only ever used it for running and not in the rain.
Contacted Garmin and they advised putting in the Airing Cupboard! This solved the problem for a little while, but on long runs the screen steams up again. Also the bezel stops responding which is really annoying!
- Steve
I’ve had my 405 since July 2008 and I have just recently started having problems with condensation. I’ll call or email Garmin customer support and see what they say about it. It pretty much happens every time I run now right from the start, so I think it got some condensation trapped in there at some point. I have run a few times in heavy rain with my 405 so maybe that was the cause.
- Matt
Hi Matt, a friend of mine had the same problem and what she put the 405 inside a container whit rice (raw of course! and completely covered) all night long. The rice grains extracted all the humidity from the 405. Try it!
just picked up the forerunner 405 2 weeks ago ,been working great, but the screen just went blank while sitting at work. I checked this morning and it was at 40%.
I’ll try the recharge clip trick to see if it will revive, it.
Compared to my 201, not really impressed with the battery life – especially if I need to recharge every week as compared to 2 weeks. Or if it goes below 50%.
Garmin seems to have major quality issues with this unit.
I got my Forerunner 405 yesterday. My initial experience of the product included a broken wrist band and a semi lock up (could be reset using the vulcan 2-button-7 seconds manuver) and finally a full lock up where the unit just turned of and wouldn’t start again.
Once I plugged it in to the charger the unit showed that it had 68% of battery capacity left and started charging.
This unit is nothing like the high quality products that I bought from Garmin in the past.
//Arvid
For the record, ever since the firmware update ( which took me a few tries- I thought I accidentally bricked my 405 at one point ) I have had no problems with lockup whatsoever.
Just got my Garmin 405 a week ago, I am a competitive runner and freaking love this thing. I had a Polar RS200SD before and can say that my experience with the Garmin has been much better, only because its compatible with Mac, and because I dont have to calibrate the foot pod anymore and worry about my stride being a bit off therefore crippling the distance and pace results that it gives me. The GPS is a great piece of technology and syncing my workouts on Garmin connect wirelessly could not be any cooler. Just need to get the heart rate monitor now. As a long time customer with Polar I can say that there customer service is amazing, and they have always fixed my watch without any ifs or buts. They even paid for shipping and repairs when my watches warranty was expired by a whole year. If you are a runner and have to narrow it down to two watches it should be between the Garmin 405 and the Polar RS300X(which comes with GPS pod with an armband, it is light I have heard. So over all loving the Garmin 405 and recommend Polar to all as well.
i seem to experience the same bug as described above: the screen of my forerunner 405 is blank. once attached to the charger the display states that chargin is completed at 100% capacity. if i deteach the charger the screen turns blank again.
i have the latest fw installed: 2.30
.
how is this problem solved? any hints?
Steve
Dear Steve, what you can try is to push al the same time the buttoms start/stop and lap/reset. This cause the unit to restart.
Best regards
Dear Steve, what you can try is to push al the same time the buttoms start/stop and lap/reset and wait a moment. This cause the unit to restart.
Best regards