Garmin 405 Release Date (Read 4388 times)

You're mean.

I have played with this thing a little bit and here are some first impressions: The bezel ring will take getting used to. It's sort of like the thumb-wheel on an iPod and functions essentially the same way. You can adjust the sensitivity of the ring from low to medium to high. You can also lock the bezel ring like you lock your iPod or cell phone. It's very easy to lock and unlock. There will be problems trying to work the bezel ring with gloves on. In fact, it might be very difficult. However the start/stop & lap/reset buttons will be no problem. But if you get it set up properly you really shouldn't need to mess with the bezel ring while running. I took it outside and it found a satellite in about 90 seconds but that's in the heart of downtown Chicago. There are 4 data screens with up to 3 fields each. One screen is labeled HR but you can throw anything in there you want (it's not limited to just HR data). If you have three fields set to display, obviously one is considerably larger than the other two. 2 data fields are split 50/50 on the screen, etc. You can also turn any of the screens off and here is why: the unit has an auto-scroll where it will scroll through your set data fields while the unit is operating. The auto-scroll also has three speeds. I don't know if the 305 had this feature but it's pretty cool. In every other way I can see it sets up and operates like a 305. When I get home tonight I will do all the wireless uploading and write a bit about that. The band is very wide, probably about the width of a quarter, but is very comfortable to wear. MTA: The Heart Rate Data Screen will only display if the unit is receiving HR data.

As well, they do hope people wear it as a watch. I understand that battery life if pretty good when the GPS is not on.

According to the manual battery life is 8 hours with GPS on or 2 weeks on stand-by, i.e., no GPS activity. About the wrist watch thing: I have preferred Timex HRM's over Polar models because I don't like to change wrist pieces and the Polar HRM's always looked weird to me. I imagine I will get lazy and just keep this one on all the time. IMHO it looks more like a normal watch then Polar HRM's. I have some nice, expensive watches but rarely wear them, much to DW's chagrin.

305 also does this under Settings-->General-->Display. I've tried it out but didn't care for it. If it's scrolling, odds are the screen you want to see isn't there 67% of the times you randomly look at the watch. I hated waiting for it to scroll, so I set to to fast. It scrolled too fast, so I set it too medium. Still didn't like it so I stopped using it.

Ahh. Ok. Well on the 405 if you want to scroll through the data screens all you do is push the bezel ring when it's in training mode. You don't have to touch and drag...thank God.

Alright, I am here to turn myself in. Anyways, I ask for leniency, as my intentions were pure. Kenny

No harm, no foul.

Where is it $166 for the 305...

What? No love for the TWO-O-Fiver?? My 205 works so much better than my old 201 that I am still in love. If all goes well, it will last unitl the 405 is a has-been and I can get the 505 or whatever they call the next gen. Unless, of course, I roll over the 205 with my truck (like I did the 201)!