Here are my initial thoughts and a quick review of the Garmin Forerunner 405 with HRM. This is my first Garmin Forerunner so I cannot compare usage against previous generations on usage but……..

GarminThe Garmin 405 is way smaller than the 305 or other previous generations. I do not have a big wrist and this watch felt “normal” on my wrist as opposed to an alarm clock on my wrist, which is how I would describe the previous generations when I tried them on. You can wear this watch on a daily basis and not notice it.

Now comes the interesting part, figuring out how this works:

Setup - The Garmin walks you through a menu set up and is very simple to get set up. Piece of cake

Satellites - I am not sure if it is NYC or this watch, but acquiring satellites for the first time took a few minutes. Once acquired I think I lost the signal a few times as the time on the watch showed a half hour before actual time. It took about 25 minutes for the correct time to appear

Screen - I have not gone through many screen, but viewing the screen was easy. I know there were worries that the screen size would be too small but I could see all readouts simply. The other cool thing is if you touch both sides of the bezel at the same time the backlight will go on, super simple and easy. This is a great feature when running at night.

Bezel - I am still working out how the bezel works and it is not that simple. The first thing I did was shut off the beeps for each touch of the bezel, it will drive you insane. Going through the menus is simple but figuring out what to do next and programming is not easy, but a few days with the manual and I think it will be OK.

Heart Rate Monitor - I have not tried this part out yet, so TBD

Pace Accuracy - I ran a route that I know is 5 miles and the Garmin came back with 5.01 miles, so pretty good there. I felt a ran a solid 7:40/mile pace and the Garmin told me I was running a 7:37. Unfortunately the pace was not accurate the whole way through as the satellites went in and out.

Overall I am a big fan of the Garmin 405 and if you do not mind spending (it is pricey) then pick one up if you can find it