Garmin’s Forerunner 405 is a chunky wristwatch GPS receiver with heartrate monitor and internal mains-chargeable battery.
A touch-sensitive bezel and two conventional buttons control the unit. Scrolling through layers of menus to find functions was bewildering, but once we’d found the programmable interval sessions and virtual partners they made for good motivation.
Satellite lock usually occurred in under two minutes, though the Forerunner was less reliable under cover than their Edge 705 model.
It’s not a navigation unit and doesn’t carry base mapping, though it can point you back to a pre-marked start point with a basic arrow.
Data transfer occurs wirelessly via the USB ANT stick to your PC, with heartrate, track and speed data uploaded and ready for use with Garmin’s Connect online training logs – while the unit’s still on your wrist.
As usual, Apple users are obliged to run a virtual PC to use the upload functions as it’s not Mac compatible.
The Forerunner’s major flaw is that it doesn’t like getting wet and rain drops or water splashes sent it into a bleeping frenzy. You can hide it under a sleeve but we feel that somewhat misses the point of a training tool that we’d usually want to see and operate as we ride. Strange.