Garmin, known for innovative products, laid an egg this time. The newest member of the Forerunner family, the 405, brings one real improvement to the table: slick, smaller design. The rest of the newly tooled Forerunner 405 lacks the pizazz which came with the new, smaller design. This is too bad. And Garmin's support person, who quickly emailed back, explained that the 405 wasn't intended to be a new version of the 305 but its own "distinct" product, huh? Then why does it share the name of all the other Forerunner's?
Here is what Garmin should do for the next Forerunner. They should focus on increasing the battery life. The should get rid of the new touch bezel which was another new feature of the 405. They should allow the user to completely power down the unit. The new 405 watch feature is always on, which constantly drains the batteries. The "distinct" 405 can also be used as a daily wear watch. If I wanted a daily wear watch I would buy one that doesn't have to be recharged and has a battery that lasts months or years! Also, Garmin should focus on useful features like being able to read altitude in real time, on-the-fly, instead of when you are at home looking at the uploaded data. This would help them gain more market share from others like Suunto and Highgear. I wonder if the developers at Garmin have gotten out much? Of course, altitude is not that important when you live in Kansas (Garmin HQ).
You are probably asking why I bought a 405. Well, my 305 battery died (after 3500 miles) and when I returned it to REI I was able to "upgrade" to the 405. I should have looked into the new model a little more. I may return it for a 305...in fact, yes I will!
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