Looking to get a Garmin - which one? (Read 1095 times)

I am thinking of splurging and buying myself a Garmin but i was wondering which one I should get. I like the idea that the 405 looks like a real watch and seems a bit smaller at least, but I could also save $100 or so by buying a 305 (wearing it on a daily basis is not really an issue. I would probably still only wear the 405 when I work out). Any thoughts out there? Anyone use the 405? One thing I liked (based on what I have read so far) is that the 405 looks like it may have a quicker connection when finding the GPS signals.

I would go with the 305. Regarding the time it takes to acquire satellite signal, at least for me, it only takes 5-10 seconds. How much faster does it need to be?

Bonkin is spot on. I just received my 305 and took it for a spin today. I'm not sure how I managed without one for so long. I am still geeked out. I run in the city and it took about 15 seconds to catch all the satellites but this was while I was warming up so it made no difference. Last night when I set it up at home in the burbs it caught the sats within 5 seconds. I looked at the 405 but I got this 305 at a great price and it has more bells and whistles than Quaker has oats. Go with the 305. I can't wait to get home and download this data to really dig into the data. I will soon be lost in the forrest for I can only see the trees.

I posted this earlier in another thread, but I'll add it here:

I'm curious: how many of you bashing the 405 have tried it? Or at least had it around your wrist for a few minutes and played with the features?

And now my advice: after you get done listening to all us message board 'experts' (cough) and doing all the comparisons and research ... make sure you actually TRY them both. Go to the store, put them both on your wrist, and play with them for a while. Better yet, see if you can borrow one of each for a run or two. I had a very firm opinion on the 305 vs 405 - until I put them both on my wrist. Now I have the opposite opinion. Try them both. Check the prices. Then decide. And ask Marcus what he thinks. If he ever reads these threads, because I'd like to hear it.

I wanted the 405. Then I put it on my wrist. Now I am happy with my 305.

I've had my 405 for about a week and I'm happy with it. Pros: Wireless syncing with computer is nice. Loads of useless interesting data to display on the screen. Cons: Touch bezel is sensitive and needs to be locked out sometimes. Wearing sleeves on cool days can set off the bezel. Switching to bike mode requires changing from pace to speed manually.

I'm happy with my 205. As far as I know, it's only different from the 305 in that it doesn't have a heart rate monitor. You can go to the Garmin website and compare them.

Ditto. The 205 has plenty of functions and geeky data, if you can live without the HRM. But that's really a personal choice. Chris

I was surprised too. But to me it is not worth the $150 upcharge for the features or for the look and feel. It may be worth the higher price just to have the latest and greatest tho...

And ask Marcus what he thinks. If he ever reads these threads, because I'd like to hear it.

I had a 305 for 2 weeks until the 405 became available. From an essential function standpoint they are about the same, but the 305 can display 4 data fields at once, the 405 has a max of 3. The smaller size was what ultimately sold me. I have small wrists and the 305 got very annoying after about 45 minutes of rubbing up against my wrist bone. The 405 is very, very comfortable and I actually wore it as a wrist watch for a couple of days until my wife caught me, smacked me, and made me wear something less dorky looking. My 405 gets signal much, much quicker, like 15 seconds compared to up to 90 seconds. The wireless uplink is nice but not necessary. As someone else wrote the bezel is touchy, but after a few days you will get the feel for it. And also as noted a heavy sleeve can activate the bezel ring while running which just changes the display page. This can be overcome by locking the bezel, which I normally do as a matter of course. I only need 3 data fields. Now if I can get healed up maybe I can use the damn thing again as it's collecting dust right now.