I am competing in IMTX, but my 405 only holds a little over nine hours. Seeing as though I will not be collecting a “slot” I would love to get a suggestion or to on the best way to go for collecting race data. My game plan right now is to go with a timex on the right wrist for total time, keep bike pace with the cateye, and then go Forerunner for the run to monitor heart rate and mile pace when things might be a little hairy.
Thanks in advance, Derek
the dick remark would be to finish in 9 hours…
Cateye for bike, forerunner for run, brain for total time
I agree with the other poster, Derek, but I’ll also add that the 405 is the worst watch that Garmin has made thus far and you might consider upgrading to a 310XT that someone is trying to offload. After all, what’s another $200 in your journey to Ironman!
Yeah, that watch is the worst. I threw mine against the ground a week before IMAZ in exhausted frustration with it and ended up just using my bike computer and a regular Timex.
I’d make the choice based on your goal. If finishing (or finishing happy) is your primary goal, I would use the 405 on the bike to monitor your heart rate according to your race plan and prevent blowing up later in the race. The 405 will last through your bike leg and take you a decent way into the marathon. When the battery runs dry sometime into the marathon, use a regular watch with a lap feature and check each mile marker on the course.
That sounds like a good plan. Two suggestions. Sync your Timex watch to the timing clock before you get in the water and then - Boom - when the cannon goes off it is 7:00 on your watch. Now you know your total based on the time of day and don’t need to worry about pushing start on the chrono after then cannon goes off (or accidentally stopping it). Second, if you aren’t from around Houston, you may not know the havoc that the humidity can wreak on that 405 bezel. It’s as though an invisible gnome is constantly playing with it. Once you have satellite coverage and the screen that you want push {start+lap} to lock that bezel.
Easy…
Use the speed/cadence sensor on the bike (turn GPS off).
In T2, stop and end the recording, turn on GPS, swap gear. When you start the run, start a new recording, now with GPS-based pace data.
This will work if you run under ~9 hours…
… and you don’t need to record where you biked 
my 405 only holds a little over nine hours
I have a 305 and with smart recording I believe I get over nine hours. Is there a difference?
Now battery life can be an issue, but I recently had my replaced/upgaded. I have a 100k run at the end of the month so we will see how far this gets me.
Is there a GPS watch that will last 11 hours?
I hate the 405. It is so hard to run out of T2 and deal with the the bezel with sweaty hands and then lock the bezel… to many sensitive buttons. too much fidling. I just bought a garmin 500 for the bike and I plan to get the low end garmin, i think its the 110-only $. 179. press start and go.
910xt I’ll get close to a weeks worth of SBR without having to charge is about 9ish hours plus its off standby time.
Glad I am not the only person that is disappointed in the 405. I bought it a few months ago and while it is better than nothing it leaves a lot to be desired. I have also wondered about the same timing issue if I were to use it during an IM. I plan to stick to my basic Timex for races using the 405 for the bike only and pacing the run off of the mile markers.
Related to this, what can I expect for the GPS response time for the bike start? Will I be good to go by the time I leave transition or will it be locating satellites while I am riding? Any tips for faster responses?
Thanks for the input. I will look into the 910. I see people coming out of the water with their heart rate monitor on, but I thought you ruin the HRM if submerged under water for any lenght of time. Am I wrong?
Derek
I want to say the HRM is IX7 waterproof so it should be ok for the the swim. DCrainmaker would be the man in the know on that however
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Related to this, what can I expect for the GPS response time for the bike start? Will I be good to go by the time I leave transition or will it be locating satellites while I am riding? Any tips for faster responses?
Turn it on and make sure you get a good GPS lock in the transition area before you head for the swim start. It will fall asleep while you swim but the re-aquiring of GPS lock will be 10x faster if you turn it on at the exact location where it last lost GPS lock.
Are you in danger of not making the 17 hour cutoff? If not then overall time really doesn’t matter so much I would think. I mean they will tell you that after the race. I would just ditch the Timex, use you bike computer for the ride then the Garmin for the run. Keep it as simple as you can.
Now if you are going to be the 16 to 17 hour zone then maybe keeping that Timex with you wouldn’t hurt.
I am competing in IMTX, but my 405 only holds a little over nine hours. Seeing as though I will not be collecting a “slot” I would love to get a suggestion or to on the best way to go for collecting race data. My game plan right now is to go with a timex on the right wrist for total time, keep bike pace with the cateye, and then go Forerunner for the run to monitor heart rate and mile pace when things might be a little hairy.
Thanks in advance, Derek Are you sure your 405 can hold 9 hours? My 410 advertised a similar amount, but the actual gps time was maybe 5 hours at most.
I’d just wear a regular watch for overall time and put on the 405 for the run. Two watches must be better, right?
Guess i’m the only one. I love my 405. love the touch bezel. so much easier to scroll through menus and tap to change screens than dealing with buttons that you need to squeeze. But- I live in the desert. always dry… even when it’s raining- which is rare, so I don’t have the sweaty bezel problem.
But yeah- it’s a running watch, not a tri watch. I was using it as my cycling computer as well for a year or so. worked fine- but when I did my first long tri I just bought an Edge 500 for the bike. Then, just grabbed the 405 at T2 along with my race belt and running hat. Hit the button- it locked sats in less than 10sec. no prob.
I couldn’t live with a 110/210. I need to constantly change variables and screens. love the ability to load custom workouts. it’s just a really cool fully featured running watch- that you can get for around $150 these days. Heard about folks picking them up on closeout at Target last month for $100. (like- WOW). Would I enjoy a 610? sure. Do I ponder a 910? you bet.
I see people coming out of the water with their heart rate monitor on, but I thought you ruin the HRM if submerged under water for any lenght of time. Am I wrong?
The standard HRM from Garmin that ships with the 405CX is not waterproof, and could fail when it gets wet. But they have a “premium HRM” which is waterproof, that is what you are seeing coming out of the water. Get that one if you are going to wear it in the water.
use it only on the run, as that is the only place pace is useful.
I am competing in IMTX, but my 405 only holds a little over nine hours. Seeing as though I will not be collecting a “slot” I would love to get a suggestion or to on the best way to go for collecting race data. My game plan right now is to go with a timex on the right wrist for total time, keep bike pace with the cateye, and then go Forerunner for the run to monitor heart rate and mile pace when things might be a little hairy.
Thanks in advance, Derek
use it only on the run, as that is the only place pace is useful.
I agree, I use it for running and bike training (and soccer refereeing) but do not plan to use it for races. The number of “presses” needed to switch it from “bike” mode to “run” mode is very high, and not at all user friendly during T2. I also cannot see it very well on the bike, as I do not have the bike mount for it.