HRM's - Garmin's and any others

[Justy]

Hi, I have been looking at the Garmins and am undecided what to get and what offers what. Not sure what the difference is between the 405 and 405CX - can anyone tell me? Am looking for HRM, distance, GPS - not sure if any other watches are good for this, all I have heard people mention is the Garmin. They seem to be selling on ebay for about $375 is this a good price? I can't seem to find them in any shops. I live in Melbourne. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[margot]

I have the garmin 305 and while it's clunky and not as pretty as the 405, it does the job that I want it to do.
Very accurate and acquires satelites quickly. Don't think I've ever lost satellite when running.

[runningaway]

I have the 405 forerunner (I think) and I love it. Does GPS, HRM etc. I bought mine from an actual shop in Melbourne- Johnny Appleseed in St Kilda. The service wasn't that great but I had problems with a Polar footpod I bought online and Polar weren't very nice to me so I thought I would try to use a real shop like people did in the olden days

[lil_laura01]

I have the 305, paid 250 off ebay for it and love it - really accurate, big & fat on my wrist but I don't mind!

[ajh]

I have the 405 too and love it as well. The only problem I'm having is the battery life seems to be decreasing. Advertising says 8 hours of training, but I'm getting less than 5 now. Not a problem for running, but you do need to charge it regularly. A problem for longer bike rides though (eg the GOOC it ran out with about 20km to go). I think the 405CX is a slight upgrade only, not much different.

[ajh]

As an update to the above for 405 users, I did ring Garmin to see if the internal battery could be replaced and it can't. Once out of warranty, the only option is a "new replacement watch offer" which costs $139 upon return of the current one.

[kudu]

That's an interesting post. My 405 is down to about 5hrs from fully charged, but don't try running much over an hour with it only 49% charged, it died abit after 10k. $139 for a new battery and they throw in a watch to go with it. Still sounds better than the full outlay.

[mightypieboy]

My 205 is still going strong after 3-4 years. The battery comfortably lasts a full week of training without needing a charge. Sure, it's chunkier and not as stylish as the 405 but it's never let me down.