Garmin 405CX GPS Watch

I bought this in America; October 2009. Overall it has been good. The only qualm I have with it is that the bezel becomes inoperable when I oversweat and the battery power. The footpod is very useful if you run under tunnels or lots of buildings. It prevents the autolap feature from going haywire.

I've notice that most runners prefer 310XT since it is waterproof, 14 hours longer, and $20 cheaper!

After reviewing other runner stats, it appears there are accuracy problems with the 310XT. I have 405CX and although it's far from perfect, I notice that it doesn't have wacky errors of creating 1:30/km for 1k lap. During the SCHKM, I compared my stats with a friend who ran with the 310XT and his went berserk especially near the tunnel. I believe using footpod increases this accuracy when the satellite can't be found.

Well, this watch WAS working as of 04/27/2010. Now, it's used as a paper weight. I talked to the Garmin Rep in USA and I have to contact Taiwan Rep. Unfortunately they never pick up. I found that the problem is with the watch. I hope I can get it repaired before my 1/2 marathon race in Busan, Korea. I doubt it. Now, I just use my $30 Nokia phone to keep track of my times.

Another note is that the 405CX definately has better GPS/software than 310XT. I believe if you are a true numbers runner, you'll appreciate the better accuracy of the 405 than the 310 even with it's flaws.