Garmin Forerunner 405CX first impressions
So far, so good with my new “do-everything” GPS watch. I ordered the Garmin Forerunner 405CX a few weeks ago and have since had several opportunities to get to know it better.
My first activity using the watch was a group bike ride only an hour after receiving my new watch. I gave the battery a partial charge and headed off for the ride.
Unfortunately, I had not read the instructions and recording the ride was not successful. I did manage to record 4 seconds of waiting at a traffic light, however.
No hard feelings though. I didn’t expect a quick glance at the instructions to be enough to understand how to use this device. The 405CX is Garmin’s latest GPS enabled watch. It is very similar to the 405 except that the CX model features a more sophisticated heart-rate based calorie computation. By the way, a heart rate monitor is included with the watch. Other accessories, such as a bicycle cadence sensor, are available through Garmin retailers.
Loading workout data onto your computer is mostly effortless. After creating an account with Garmin Connect, you are instructed to bring your watch to within 9 feet of your computer (with the USB Ant stick plugged in) to transfer data. I haven’t found the sweet spot yet and have to either press a few buttons or move the watch to get the transfer to start. But once the data is loaded, the Garmin Connect web site does a fantastic job of displaying all of the information in a very easy to read format.
The internal rechargeable lithium battery does not last as long as I’d like. If I do two 2-hour rides in a week, I need to recharge it to be sure it will last for the next workout. Garmin advertises the battery life at 8 hours in training mode. That seems like a stretch. However, Garmin wisely programmed the 405CX to save the current workout in the event of power loss.
I’m eager to explore other features of the watch and to check out the GPS receiver reception quality while riding MTB trails in the woods. Otherwise, it’s working well and I’m mostly pleased with my purchase.
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June 8th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Here are a few more observations as I’ve had some time to use the 405CX.
1.) I typically charge the battery after every use. I’d rather start the ride with 100% battery life than risk losing the data for that workout.
2.) I think leaving the GPS mode on wears the battery down quicker than if it was off. This seems to happen even when you are not timing a workout. So, you’ve got to remember to turn it off after using it.
3.) If you stop the timer at a water break or a long stop light, remember to turn it back on! You will lose that section of your ride or run if you don’t press start again. Garmin should develop some firmware to signal the user that the timer is stopped.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Recommendation: Use Sporttracks to log and analyze your workouts http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/ It is free (they ask for a donation) and it does more than any other workout log program out there. I have used it for three years now since getting my Garmin 201 and it is great!
January 8th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Possible open source competitor to the Garmin 405, but for much less money? Try the Texas Instruments eZ430 Chronus Wireless Watch. http://www.ti.com/chronoswiki
Seems like a world of possibilites for less than $50. Sync a GPS module and record location data? Exciting.
June 16th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
The Texas Instruments eZ430 looks promising but I have my doubts about it. The 405cx has a lot of great features that I have really enjoyed, especially the calorie counter feature. It uses the hrm to more accurately count your calories during a workout! And the price on the 405cx is slowly coming down. I managed to find it at a pretty good price at http://www.therunstop.com/c-82-running.aspx. Hope this helps and happy running!