Garmin Forerunner 405

[currently out of stock at Amazon.com]

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $349.99

Amazon Price: $349.95

The Garmin Forerunner 405 is one of the best sports watches on the market right now.  It generally sells for around $350 new, so this deal on the refurbished model is a real steal.

When you buy the refurbished Garmin Forerunner 405 you are going to get a powerful training tool that will track you as you train and then send this information wirelessly to your computer. It is at the pinnacle of training technology, featuring slick design features like a touch bezel that lets you control your watch with a simple touch. You don’t need to fumble for buttons when on a run, just a precision swipe of your finger and you can scroll through your watches menu to activate the feature you need at that exact moment.

The technology that makes up this watch is very powerful, capable of tracking many key training metrics at the same time. The Forerunner will monitor the amount of time you have been using the watch, the distance you have traveled, your current pace, the number of calories burned, and your heart rate while you wear the heart rate monitor included with this refurbished model. All this information is then stored on the memory of the watch so that you can review it, analyzing the data to see if you have improved or analyze ways to improve. You may even download these runs onto your computer to be keep a longer record of your runs.

If one of your runs was a personal best, you can use it as a virtual running partner in future runs. Simply activate the Virtual Partner feature and watch yourself race against yourself!  While you may not want to talk about how you beat yourself in your run today at a cocktail party, it is great to be able to race against yourself when you want to make improvements to your performance.

Speaking of a cocktail party, this refurbished Garmin GPS is not like other GPS watches on the market – you can actually wear it when you are not training.  Other watches are bulky and make you feel like you have a computer strapped to your wrist, but the 405 really looks and feels like a normal watch.  It comes in two colors, but I personally think the black if best.

This Forerunner also sports an innovative technology that lets you transmit your workout information to your computer wirelessly.  No need to plug awkward USB cables into watch and computer, simply place your watch by the computer and the data will transfer automatically.  You might not even need to take the watch off your wrist to get the information transferred.   Once it is on your computer you can analyze it using some software provided by Garmin or share it online via Garmin Connect.

This wireless technology also lets you share information between Forerunners within range.  Want to share your personal best with your buddy to see if they can beat it?  Simple share your workout with your friend and they can make use of the Virtual Partner feature and race you even though you aren’t even there.  Transferring the data is a breeze and can be done in a matter of seconds.

The Forerunner is by far one of the best training devices on the market. It is very powerful when paired with a heart rate monitor and helps serious athletes of all calibers get better at what they do. The Garmin slogan for this device is, “Forerunner 405: Accelerate your training.” It is generally a very true statement. And if you want to save a buck or two, buying a refurbished Garmin Forerunner 405 is a great idea.