Which Garmin to Get?

Hi folks,

Would like to pick up a Garmin for Aileen as an early birthday present (since her race is right around her birthday). I think she'll like something less bulky than the 305, and other than being able to see current pace, average pace, HR, distance, time, I don't think she'll care much what other features it has. And ability to create laps, but I'm pretty sure all of them do this. Actually, I'm pretty sure all of them do all of this. So is there any HUGE advantage to grabbing one of the new fancy ones rather than the 405?

I have the 405 and the 610. I know a lot of people complain about the bezel on the 405 but that doesn't bother me much. Actually, I think I prefer the 405 over the 610.

One thing that you may consider is fit if Aileen has small wrists. The 610 fits a little bit smaller with the band that is provided in the box. The 405 has an optional Velcro wrist strap that may be required.

You ask if you should go cheap on your girl friend, Mike?

Tim - Good point. Nice picture, by the way.

Jerry - 50% motivated by budget, 50% motivated by her lack of tech-savvy-ness. Hey, I'm a young, broke post-grad.

I currently have the 610 and vastly prefer it over my old 405:

> better than the bezel
> vibrating signals
> easier for me to read
> up to 4 tracks on a screen

however,

I recently bought a couple of 210s for my daughter's aged 12 & 16. They love them.

> simple and error proof
> you don't scroll through screens
> distance, instant pace and time
> screen flashes after you finish your lap to give you the time
> smaller so they fit and look better on a female wrist than the 405

half the price - 1/10th the complexity.

Unless she's more than a casual, semi-competitive runner, that's all she needs.

I have the 610 and honestly it is way too much for me function-wise as I find I don't use or need most of it (and I had to send it back this morning to Garmin under warranty, but it might have gotten a bit too wet on Sunday). I would second the 210 as a viaable option and I might purchase one for myself if the 610 is kaput.

Can you change screens on 210? For example, lap distance, lap time, lap pace?

I just upgraded from the 405 to the 610. The 405 would switch screens on me whenever it got wet and would not go back to the right screen. I used to say that someday it would piss me off on a payday and that would be the end of it. Well, that is exactly what happened. It went all goofy on my last payday and I went home and ordered a 610. I love the touch screen on the 610 and it is easier to use in general. However, for someone wanting a cheap intro watch, the 210 can be a decent option. I don't know if it has the bezel problems of the 405 or not though.

Women are emotional animals. When you focus on functionalities and budget

Why not the Nike GPS watch with not foot pod for $149. It comes with blue inside and black outside, uploads to a nice web site, is really easy to use and is reasonably accurate.
has: current pace, avg pace, distance, time, auto lap or manual lap, intervals, clock with alarm, or chrono only. In run mode, the bottom screen is big and shows what you choose (I keep mine on distance) and the top either scrolls through the rest, or you can press the button through it. You can see instant results, and like I said, when you get home, you plug the watch into your USB port and it automatically uploads to the web site where you can see a map and how you did.

It will fit all but the smallest wrists.

Or, the Garmin 210 is comparable.

Eugene Greenie<--rain? I am NOT complaining.

carleenp wrote:I just upgraded from the 405 to the 610. The 405 would switch screens on me whenever it got wet and would not go back to the right screen. I used to say that someday it would piss me off on a payday and that would be the end of it. Well, that is exactly what happened. It went all goofy on my last payday and I went home and ordered a 610. I love the touch screen on the 610 and it is easier to use in general. However, for someone wanting a cheap intro watch, the 210 can be a decent option. I don't know i it has the bezel problems of the 405 or not though.

Did you lock the screen on the 405 before your run? Simple solution to the problem you described.

EugeneGreenie wrote:Why not the Nike GPS watch with not foot pod for $149.

Not sure what this means. Is it GPS or an estimate based on the foot pod?

If the former, I have a friend that has the Nike GPS and he feels it is not as functional as the 405.

If the latter, I would offer that it is it less than reasonably accurate, based on personal experience with both the Nike+ and Garmin foot pods.

<---- not a Nike fan. Don't know why, just not.

go to www.dcrainmaker.com he has extensive reviews on all the garmin products. the 610 is obviously the most complex, rich in features and rich in price. Everything else goes down from there, so it's a matter of deciding what you are willing to compromise. there is very good review of the the 210 -- but again, its not the 610.

Martin VW wrote:

carleenp wrote:I just upgraded from the 405 to the 610. The 405 would switch screens on me whenever it got wet and would not go back to the right screen. I used to say that someday it would piss me off on a payday and that would be the end of it. Well, that is exactly what happened. It went all goofy on my last payday and I went home and ordered a 610. I love the touch screen on the 610 and it is easier to use in general. However, for someone wanting a cheap intro watch, the 210 can be a decent option. I don't know i it has the bezel problems of the 405 or not though.

Did you lock the screen on the 405 before your run? Simple solution to the problem you described.

No, because sometimes I wanted to change screens to check the time or heart rate without setting it up for scrolling between those screens. Once wet, I would also have difficulties unlocking the bezel. I'm quite happy with my upgrade too. Aside from it fixing the issue, I love the vibration alerts.

Refurbished 305 or 310.

My 205 finally failed on me last week, so I checked the posts here and then went pricing. Found a 405 with hr strap for $185 at Amazon. Given the price, figured I'd try it. First thing I did was learn how to lock the bezel. Used it for the first time today. I like it. I don't tend to make adjustments on the fly anyway - using the 205, I would never change screens as I ran. So, I didn't mind that I couldn't with the bezel locked. All functionality was good. Only complaint is that the numbers are smaller and my sunglasses are single vision, so hard to read the smaller numbers without my progressive lenses - but that's an old man's problem...

For a very good, basic GPS watch go with the 210.

If not, buy the 610.

The 610 is easily the best Garmini I have ever owned. Way, way better than the 205 and 405, which I have previously owned.

My 305 died this week. Thought I'd look into the 610. Nice watch but 'OUCH', the price. I'm not seeing it under $349 + tax.
I only paid $159 for my 305.....

The 405 doesn't excite me. Not sure what to do at this point. I may look for another 305.

My Garmin just broke this weekend as well, and I just can't pass up a refurbished 405 for $103:

http://compare.ebay.com/like/251115431622?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

The way Garmin stands behind their products, refurbished doesn't scare me too much here.

GregC wrote:My Garmin just broke this weekend as well, and I just can't pass up a refurbished 405 for $103:

http://compare.ebay.com/like/251115431622?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

The way Garmin stands behind their products, refurbished doesn't scare me too much here.

Greg, you should be able to get a 405 refurb through Garmin for $70.00. Mine broke about a year ago and it was something they couldn't fix so they offered me a referb for something like $70 or $75.

I spoke with Garmin and for $79 they will send me a refurbished 305. I plan on going that route.

They will give you a $50 rebate if you upgrade to a new watch, but that would still cost me $300-$350 for a 610.

Had the 301 and the screen finally pixalated itself to a blank death. Popped for the 610, got it yesterday from amazon and I LOVE it!! Took me about 20 minutes to find stuff on the watch and set it up the way I want it. I'll spend a little time with the online manual and start training this weekend with it.

Yahooo!

This thread prompted me to make a call to Garmin for 2 things.
1. Wendy and I have the 610 and our watch band pins keep falling out. They are sending us a fix free of charge.
2. My refurbished 405 that I've had for a couple years got moisture in it and died. They are sending another refurb free of charge.

I love their tech support!

They really are good. My first 305 battery stopped holding a charge at about 15 months, well out of warranty. The tech guy had me send it in and they replaced it free of charge.

Smart on their part. They make a good product and they give you no reason to look elsewhere.