Garmin Forerunner 405

I am still happy with my Forerunner 305 but the Forerunner 405 does look sexier. The difference is not as great as the style improvement between the Forerunner 301.

Damn there is catch – it has a few less features from what I can see. Then the heart rate monitor is extra and has a shorter battery life. The only reason I got the 305 was because of 3 things:

1. Being able to upload my run data to my pc – (something that for other sports watches end up being quite expense).
2. Heart Rate Monitor
3. GPS route tracking

Now with the heart rate being separate it is becoming a bit of a hard sell. Now I wonder how long Garmin is going to continue support the 305.

I think Garmin is pulling a Vista. The situation is like me and XP it works. I think I will stick with the 305 and save up for the 505 whenever that comes out.

After thought:
Selling the Heart Rate monitor as an extra make sense because the previous models 201 and 205 did not have it as a feature. Now there is one model that should allow you to buy a heart rate monitor later on. Also not everyone can or wants to use heart rate monitor.

The Forerunner is what it is. It is not a GPS device for navigation geo caching and missile guidance nor is it a stop watch for a 100 meter sprint. It is the first real “toy” I have ever had. I don’t need it – maybe, but now I associate it with running and feel naked when I run without it.

Comments:

Megan commented that you can use the Forerunner 305 heart rate monitor with the Forerunner 405 and you can save some bucks. Wonder if that means that they have not changed/improved the HRM.

You can go here to compare the each of the Forerunner models by their features.