Garmin Forerunner 405Cx Review

The Garmin 405Cx is a computer wrist that allows you to monitor your heartbeat and track your excercice with the integrated GPS.

After a couple of months of use, here is my observations regarding this watch and the traning program. Also, I compare the Garmin with my Polar 800SD, that I’ve been using since 2005.

The Forerunner comes well packed with a bunch of useful accessories. You get the USB stick, the belt and two replacement wrists (as well as the tools) when using the watch on a bike, for instance. Thus, it works right out of the box!

Features

The Forerunner 405Cx, as its name implies, is targeted to running activities, though you can use it for biking, too.

The main features are:

builtin GPS
• heartbeat
• pace (instant, average, lap)
• speed, elevation
• user profile and calories consumption

As accessory, you can buy a podometer, though I fail to see its usage, as we have an accurate GPS.

Usage

Now to the core of the matter. The 405Cx has only two buttons. To navigate within the menus, you need to slide your finger on the ring surrounding the screen, first gen Ipod like.

Actually, I don’t like this way of interaction. Because when I’m trying to change the display screen, it is while running and many times with gloves. Thus, I obtain rather erratic results. I won’t even try to think using this while biking.

The good news is that you can use the two buttons, instead of the ring.

So far, I could configure the watch without the need of the user manual, which is a good news.

Built in GPS

Garmin builds very accurate GPS and the 405Cx is no exception. Compared to the 705, the 405cx is as accurate.

Yet, the 405cx takes a very long time to find the satellites. More than 5 minutes, no matter if you’re at the same place than the last time you turn off the watch’s GPS, less than 24 hours ago. The 705 and 305 are much faster, but as I’m using them on the bike, I don’t care if it takes 2 or 10 minutes before they find the position.

The problem with the 405cx taking a long time to position itself, is that you cannot do anything with the watch in the meanwhile! For instance, you cannot start your running session. You have to wait until you can use the watch.

The good news here, is that you can record a position and recall it, thus the 405 will start the session from this place and save you some precious time from freezing you a** outside.

Readability

The watch screen is big enough to read it, yet it’s a bit small. The Polar 800SD was a little bit bigger.

A very good feature about the 405Cx is that you can create your own display screen, with the infos you would like to see.

The light is very good and strong.

Battery

The 405Cx has a built-in battery that needs to be recharged from time to time.

Without exercising, the watch battery lasts about one week, with daily one hour exercise and GPS on, it lasts 3 days. The 405x automatically stops the GPS and enters economical mode, so you don’t have to worry about draining your battery accidentally.

Yet, I’m not confident enough to use it as a morning alarm clock. Try to explain your boss that your watch had no more battery if you miss the wake-up.

Software

You can use either Garmin Pro trainer local program, which runs on your personal computer or the online one.

The online program is really basic, it merely displays your data (heart rate, elevation, pace, kcal) on a map. The local one is a bit more complete, though not by far. If you have installed maps on your computer, you can plan tracks and transfer them to you 405Cx, but you cannot build more advanced training programs like I used to create with Polar training program.

Garmin 405cx vs Polar 800SD

For the record, the Polar 800SD was the first of the series to be released, back in 2006. The difference between the latest versions and this one is that the 800SD can only support one accessory at a time. It means either the s3 pedometer or the GPS G3, but not both.

The 800SD was not as accurate as the Garmin, due to the S3 poor reliability. Not to mention the S3 poor battery life.

Yet, I prefer the Polar for advanced training program. For instance, interval training or when you include strides, walk, sprint and so on. With the Polar training program, it’s really easy to define one’s session, minute per minute.

Conclusion

The 405cx is a very good watch, though compared to the Polar 800 series, it lack a good training software. But unlike Polar, you don’t need to buy tons of expensive accessories.

Also, a great improvement Garmin could make about this watch is to make it waterproof! Not that I’m really interested in swimming with it (the 800SD will do the job), but I often forget to remove the watch before the shower.