Garmin Forerunner 405 GPS Watch Small Enough to Be Worn All Day

Congratulations to Garmin: Their new Forerunner 405 GPS watch, designed for runners, is the first one small and unobtrusive enough to be worn all day, unlike previous models. (The new 405 is on the right, while earlier models are left and center, for not-to-scale contrast.)

I look forward to the day when GPS is just another tiny chip on the board. (What's holding that back? Antennas?)

The Forerunner 405 should cost around $300. That's a lot of scratch for an ugly watch, but the Forerunner line has always gotten solid reviews from runners, who like the ability to track their routes, speed, mileage, heart rate, and more.

Even cooler, the 405's bezel responds to touch, which should make it much easier to switch to different displays or change settings without slowing down.

Forerunner 405 [Navigadget]

[#1 posted by Halloween Jack , January 4, 2008 8:15 AM]

I think that the Forerunner is handsome, myself, particularly compared to its predecessors. What are some of your favorite watches in terms of looks?

[#2 posted by Anonymous , January 4, 2008 8:36 AM]

I've had two generations of the watch and love the product more than any other tech device with the possible exeption of my treo. The thing really adds another dimension to working out and I can't imagine running as much as I do without it. That said, the 205 is a great device and if you don't need to look cool, it will save you a lot of money.

One concern I have with the new one is that the battery life is terrible. If it's on all day, and it has wireless syncing, does that mean the batter life suffers? Just a question, don' tknow either way.

[#3 posted by Dan Bailey , January 4, 2008 11:33 AM]

As a Forerunner 205 owner, let me just say that it looks like a friggin' refridgerator strapped to my wrist. I won't tee-off on the clunky UI here, but from the appearance, it has one up on the 405 (based on my observations) -- I can detach it from the wristband and, using a special mounting bracket, clip it onto the handlebars of my bike.

[#4 posted by Stakker , January 4, 2008 4:55 PM]

What is holding them back is the fact that you need a big enough screen to be able to read a map and your location on it in order to be able to navigate at all. Receiving GPS signals is easy and cheap batterywise too.

I have a 205 for MTB trail riding and I'm super happy with it. The 405 screen looks way too small to be useful for that. It's just made small for a different purpose.

But yeah, I wouldn't mind a *thinner* version of the 205/305 (but a touch screen is completely ridiculous in the woods :-)

[#5 posted by jeaguilar , January 7, 2008 8:23 PM]

I give huge props to my 205. I owned the 301 before then. Never used the HRM function so I went with the 205. It is the sole reason why I've kept up my running for these past three years (and lost a fw dozen pounds in the process). The 205 with the SiRF III chip and better antenna placement definitely has quicker acquisition. I'm not thrilled that Garmin went with a new lineup with the low-end 50 model that does not include GPS. So that'll force consideration of a $320 purchase. But the 405 promises better antenna and higher sensitivity so it'll definitely be worth a looksy when it drops $75 between now and next year.