Forerunner405
Latest
Hands-on with Garmin's latest GPS lineup
Garmin really didn't hold back on the releases this year, what with the new nüvi navigators, Forerunner 405 watch and Colorado handheld. We got a chance to handle a few of these, and we must saw we're pretty impressed by the thin form factors and sharp touchscreens. The new MSN Direct features probably won't revolutionize your GPS experience, and features like news snippets seem downright gimmicky when faced with the full-on internet access most of us currently enjoy on our phones, but plenty of folks will still find use for the gas price tracker, live traffic updates and movie times, and the interface really couldn't be simpler.%Gallery-12683%
Garmin's new Forerunner 405 puts the 'watch' back in 'GPS watch'
Starting with the Forerunner 305, Garmin finally started producing GPS-enabled watches that didn't make you look like a total goof while tracking your pace and vitals, but these still weren't timepieces you'd be comfortable wearing to the office or even a bar. Then came the Forerunner 50, which had the perfect watch-like form factor, but unfortunately, no GPS. So fans of this line will be pleased to learn that Garmin has somehow been able to shoehorn a satellite receiver into a casing not much bigger than the 50's and dubbed it the Forerunner 405. Besides monitoring and logging speed, distance, heart rate and location, the 405 also features a touch-sensitive bezel for controlling its various functions, as well as the same proprietary ANT+Sport wireless syncing technology as the GPS-less 50. Available in either black (pictured above) or green (pictured after the break, along with a video walkthrough), the Forerunner 405 will start at $299.
