Garmin Forerunner 405 vs Garmin Forerunner 310xt - A Review

I've been the proud owner of a Garmin 405 for almost 2 years now, and have just upgraded to a 310xt, so I thought I'd drop a quick review here for all who are interested.

Firstly some history...

In September last year I snapped my Achilles and had to have surgery, which included 3 months in a cast. As a result I'm very unfit and only got back onto the road about 2 weeks ago (10kgs heavier). I'm basically walking 5kms per day, with the odd jog down a hill or along a flat section, so believe it or not my first use of mt 310xt was a walk.

Moving on the the upgrade...

Firstly let me say that I don't want to dis the 405. I absolutely loved this watch. Its small (for a running watch), light, and has a fantastic range of features. Having said this, I did have problems. On my first 405 the charging contacts rusted, so I returned it to Garmin (Avnic). To their credit, they replaced the unit, no questions asked.

My second unit didn't get much use, as shortly after receiving it I ruptured my Achilles. When I did get back onto the road, I strapped it onto my wrist, and set out walking. I hadn't locked the bezel, and the watch started going crazy, changing screens and beeping. This was clearly a problem with the bezel since the timer (luckily) is control by the buttons and was not affected. I locked the bezel, and the problem stopped.

At first I thought it was the old 405 issue of, if you get sweat (or any fluid, including rain) onto the bezel, it gets confused. This however wasn't the case since the bezel was dry. I also dried it well when I got home, and then unlocked it, and the bezel wouldn't respond to any touches.

At this point I contact Avnic and they suggested I upgrade the firmware, which I did. I tried the watch a few more times and the bezel never responded correctly while exercising. Sometimes it went mad, other times it didn't respond at all. I did try changing the sensitivity, but this didn't help at all. Eventually I took it back to Avnic, and they were kind enough to let me change to a 310xt at a small charge.

Let me say it again, I loved the 405 - its a great watch - but the bezel is not a good design for anything exercise related. Any moisture on it drives the watch crazy, as it seems unable to differentiate between moisture and a genuine touch. Luckily you can get around this by locking the bezel while running, but then you loose some functionality such as the light (and we all know runners are often out in the dark), and the ability to change screens. Again you can get around this by setting the watch to scroll through the screens automatically, and automatically turn on the light at each km, but should we really have to do this?

On to the 310xt - Its back to the old style of the 305, which is bigger and more computer looking. Its also not quite as light as the 405 (I haven't checked up on this, I judged this by using it), but none of this worried me. The screen is a lot larger, and easier to read. And it also allows you to display 4 items instead of 3, which the 405 was limited to due to screen size. And despite its size, it is still very comfortable on my wrist, as the strap is a lot softer than that of the 405.

On to functionality, which is 99% the same as the 405, except that its more geared towards triathletes. You can easily switch between sports with the press of the button. Or set it up to automatically change sports modes if you know the race layout. It also offers the old map screen as the 305 did - I suppose this only didn't exist on the 405 due to screen size.

Another nice feature is that the watch is completely waterproof (to 50m I think). Now before you get too excited this by this, it doesn't help you too much, since every time your arm goes under-water, you loose GPS reception, so it isn't very accurate on swims. If you want it to accurately measure you swims you'll need to stick it in the back of your swimming cap, to keep it above water level. The heart rate monitor is also waterproof, but also doesn't work well under water, so you won't get a reading from that either.

While we're talking about the HRM (heart rate monitor), it is infinitely softer than the previous versions, and feels as if it is made from fabric, as apposed to the old plastic version. As a result it is infinitely more comfortable - I really couldn't believe the difference.

I also found the watch a lot easier to use than the 405 while running. Since its back to buttons you don't need to worry about the bezel getting confused by sweat. Yay - no more trying to dry my fingers before touching it, and worrying about remembering to lock the bezel. The bezel was a great idea, and worked well in the lounge, it just wasn't geared to sweaty hands while on the move.

Another great feature for the 310xt is the 20 hour battery life, as apposed to the 8 hour life of my 405. I can't verify this myself, as I've only used it once, but this will be great for all us runners who can't run an 8 hour Comrades.

Since I snapped my Achilles I've also been doing a lot of riding, as its easier on my foot than running. The 310xt has an optional bike mount, which means you can snap it off your wrist after the swim, and clip it to the bike. AWESOME! This was something that the 405 was lacking. And as I mentioned earlier, its a lot easier to change between sports modes than the 405.

I could go on and on, but this post is already getting quite long, so let me end it here by saying that I love this watch. I would still recommend the 405 if you want the smaller size, and are aware of the flaws, but for me, the 310xt is an absolute winner!