Garmin 405 and footpod question?

GPSs don't work very well on a treadmill. Also for times/places where you cannot get a GPS signal (cloudy days, heavily wooded areas, canyons, among skyscrapers).

 Personally, I would have little use for it.

Bear, thanks for the tip! I'll try it without the footpod and see how it goes. I should be ok living in Dallas.........SHOULD be. Thanks again!

If you are training on roads or at the gym, than the footpod with the 405 is the way to go.  The footpod will give you instantaneous pacing, cadence and pretty accurate speed and distance.  I think accurate pacing and cadence is important in training so I like the footpod.  You can still track the cool maps with the GPS on while using the footpod.

A 405 with GPS on and no footpod will give you overall pacing or interval pacing (such as every one mile, etc) but is very inaccurate with its instantaneous pacing.  It provides very good overall speed and distance but cannot provide cadence.  The GPS is very useful for trail running, skiing, and other sports where the footpod could not be used.

You probaobly already know this if you were on the Garmin website, but I'll mention anyway.  The 405 is not meant for swimming.  This makes it a great running watch but can be kind of a hassle racing a triathlon.  It could be me, but I just don't need one more thing to do during transition such as fiddle with my watch.

In winter I run on an indoor track.... using the footpod means I dont need to count laps.  Also... several of us from Garmin did the Hood to Coast relay this past weekend... those with footpods didnt lose miles in the heavily canopied portions of the run. Those who ran without the pod had shorter mileages on our legs.

cxk9758 - 2008-08-29 8:08 AM Ok here is a bump, because I am wondering if those that use the footpod outdoors find that the results are more accurate both during the run which would then lead to more accurate times for downloading? thanks chris

When I owned my 405 with the footod, I ran with the pod on a track (10x800) the day I bought it to calibrate and test it.  I found it to be quite accurate after calibration (so make sure that you calibrate).  It was less than 1% off (about 2 meters for each 800 if I remember correctly).

I also tested it on the local roads against my brother's 201 at longer distances of 10-15km. It seemed to be accurate there as well.

I use the pod outside when I know I will be running in a canopied area.... e.g. when we ran the Hood-To-Coast relay last weekend.  Those on our team who did not use the pod dropped some distance.