Garmin Forerunner 405CX GPS Sport Watch with Heart Rate Monitor
May 22, 2010 | In: Forerunner 405CX
- Loaded with serious training features, Forerunner 405CX continuously records your time, distance, pace, calories burned and heart rate.
- And advanced training features will challenge you to step up your pace race against Forerunner’s Virtual Partner
- Forerunner 405CX comes with a flexible, wireless heart rate monitor to help you make the most out of your training.
- With Forerunner 405CX, you can share your locations, advanced workouts and courses wirelessly with other Forerunner 405 users.
- Once you’ve logged the miles, innovative ANT+ wireless technology automatically transfers data to your computer when Forerunner is in range.
Amazon.com Product Description
The Forerunner 405CX is the evolution of GPS-enabled training. This sleek sport watch tracks your distance, pace and heart rate, then wirelessly sends the data to your PC for later analysis. The 405CX features heart rate-based calorie computation and comes with a second wrist band option suitable for smaller wrists. The evolution of GPS-enabled training. Continuously records your time, distance, pace, calories burn… More >>
Garmin Forerunner 405CX GPS Sport Watch with Heart Rate Monitor
5 Responses to Garmin Forerunner 405CX GPS Sport Watch with Heart Rate Monitor
T. Merrill
May 22nd, 2010 at 8:11 am
When I ordered this watch a second watch was included for free. Today the 405cx arrived but no second watch was delivered. I will return this watch next week unopened.
Rating: 5 / 5
G. Giles
May 22nd, 2010 at 9:15 am
Quite simply, the heart rate monitor does not work, period. Garmin needs to team with Polar. The GPS functions are great. Now I wear the 405CX on my left wrist and my “old” Polar on my right wrist. When I bought the 405CX from Amazon, I also received “free” a Forerunner 50. It didn’t work. I returned it to Amazon for a replacement. It didn’t work. I gave it to my daughter. It didn’t work for her. Junk. I guess it still works OK as a watch.
Rating: 3 / 5
Patrick Darden
May 22nd, 2010 at 10:57 am
This is a very frustrating gadget. I have gotten most of it’s functionality to work, but it has been a challenge, and key pieces remain unworkable. Here are the problems I ran into:
1. It defaulted into Russian. Try doing an initial configuration in Russian. There are no entries in the manuals on how to change the language, and the on-board menu system doesn’t help when you can’t read it.
2. The quick launch instructions give outdated information–e.g. the URL given to download the software for your PC to work with the watch is completely wrong.
3. I have been unable to get the watch to synch with the foot pod for pacing information etc. They don’t work together.
4. The watch still will not synch up with my PC. They sense eachother, communicate initially, attempt to transfer information, then it flashes “Failed.” It tries again every couple of minutes they are within range of each other. This is a common problem. If you do a Google search you will find hundreds of others with this problem–with some esoteric solutions that work for some and not for others. None of them work for me.
5. Tech support. Tech support is unresponsive. You can stay on hold for as long as you like, but nobody will ever answer. This is very frustrating.
6. It is hard to read, and hard to manipulate when you are running. Some of the readouts are too small, and the touch dial is difficult to operate, when you are in motion.
7. It is bulky and heavy. I thought it would be thinner and lighter. I was surprised when I put it on. It felt like it was from the 1980s.
Total for the watch, heart monitor, and foot pod was about $450.00. That is a lot of money for a piece of junk, which is what this is when the major functions don’t work, the functions that do work are hard to use when you are using it (i.e. when running), and you can’t get any help from their support.
Rating: 1 / 5
Newton P
May 22nd, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Over the years, I have owned four Garmin GPS units, so I was confident that this one would meet my expectations. But after a week of frustration, I have given up and returned it. I never could get it to communicate with my computer and found it almost impossible to work with on the go. On top of the technical issues, it’s not even truly waterproof. This is the most disappointing purchase I have made in years. Sorry Garmin, this one needs to go back to the drawing board.
Rating: 1 / 5
A. Shunn
May 22nd, 2010 at 12:49 pm
I tend to buy these types of gadgets on a whim but I read the reviews and was fairly satisfied that I would be getting a decent GPS watch. My previous Garmin was so ridiculously large that I have only worn it on two occasions. Hopefully I can find a man who would like to buy it from me.
Here are my initial thoughts after spending about 20 minutes trying to fix my settings.
- Garmin, please employ some talented female engineers so that you can design something that fits a WOMAN’S wrist. Did you know that women are quickly becoming the majority gender at races? We have tiny wrists (my wrist circumference is only 5 1/2 inches), and big hunks of hard plastic and ugly wrist bands do not fit well, nor are they very comfortable. Either make a woman’s watch or design something more flexible!!!
- Take a cue from Apple and design a GPS watch that is intuitive and easy to use even without the manual. I wanted to throw my watch against the wall when I first started setting it up, and I wondered why the hell I spent $400 on something that sucked out of the box.
I’m taking the watch out for a spin tomorrow (regular run & intervals) so we’ll see how it actually works and feels.
Rating: 3 / 5