Looking at picking up a garmin GPS watch with HRM and cadence for Christmas, either the Forerunner 310XT or 405CX.
Does anyone have any experience of these on how they preform/their suitability for use on the bike?
I already have a mapping GPS that I use and fancy getting something that can be used of the bike as well hence the reason I'm not considering the edge series
I have the Garmin forerunner 305. basically the 310 looks like a waterproof, more useable version of mine.
It works really well for tracking your route and monitoring performance with the HRM, the GPS chip is accurate (even in the steep sided valley at nant yr arian) and the battery life is good. (it lasted a 7 hour rat race around birmingham). I also got the cadence sensor with mine. not much use on the mtb but pretty good on the road.
Mainly its just for keeping track of my training and events, on the odd occasion I have tried to use it with memory map for navigating a route its been ok but not as good as my smartphone with mm installed.
HTH
Matt
It's mainly for training/monitoring performance. Use my etrex with memory map for navigation.
How big is the 305 on the wrist? Like the look of the 405 as could probably get away with wearing it at work after the commute. Don't think that would be possible with the 310
I think the 405 is a runners only unit. The 310 is a triathletes GPS with run, bike and swim modes. It's also waterproof.
If you want a cheaper alternative to the 310, a Forerunner 305 has run and bike modes, talks to HRM straps, cadence/wheel speed sensors and has multiple bike profiles (with weight setting and sensor settings for each). The 305 is almost identical in function to the Edge 305 but has the running mode and no barometric altitude. They're usually £140 with HRM strap, the bar mount/velcro wrist thing (for quick change bike to run for triathletes) are 15 quid and the cadence sensors are £35. Try Amazon, for cheapness on lots of Garmin stuff.
From what I've read the 405 does have a bike mode and is compatible with the cadence sensor.
It doesn't have a multisport mode, which as far as I can tell just allows you to have a session with more than one sport mode enabled making it suitable for Tris and the like
I've also got a 305, bought it mainly for running, but also bought a bike mount with it just never used it as I now have a satmap. It is chunky but you sort of get used to the size, wouldn't want to wear it as a watch. I think it is a good piece of kit, the only downside seems to be battery life, but maybe I had a duff one. Switching between sports is good and also the ability to configure the screen and save history.
yeah, I'm a teacher and when my battery on my everyday watch ran out and I resorted to wearing the 305 to work all I got was "is that a time bomb?" or " are you under house arrest? what times your curfew?" hilarious. don't notice the size too much in use though. The bike mount is a bit brittle so be careful putting the bike on its handlebars.
I broke mine. not replaced it yet, just wear it on my arm when riding now.
