I love my Garmin 405. It has suffered with me through
countless terrible runs and half-hearted efforts since I purchased it on
Thanksgiving 2009. Dark Atlas has seen
eight states and even Paris, France. It
was with me for my 50M race, was with me for my marathon PR, and has carried me
to three of my four consecutive BQs.
But we are both getting older and sadly showing signs. Myself, I have a mildly serious case of shin
splints that may or may not be a stress fracture depending on a doctor’s diagnosis…which
I have conveniently avoided. I’ve had
shin splints before, and always reduced my running and mileage to ensure they
didn’t evolve (like a Mogwai into a Gremlin).
But this is the first time the pain in my right leg has forced me to
take off primary runs (skipping a 8M tempo run and a 18M long run this past week). In
lieu of my long run, I did two hours on the elliptical on Saturday and then a
three hour cardio session on today (elliptical, bike, elliptical); all pain
free. My hope is to make it through my
speed workout on Tuesday and then maybe skip my tempo run and hopefully be pain
free for my 20M next weekend.
Now, back to the important matter; Dark Atlas. The battery lifespan is getting shorter and
shorter. A 20M all but exhausts the battery
starting out on a full charge. Worse,
somehow the satellite reception is off, causing me to add about .02M to every
mile I run. Many times I’ve run next to
Racer and her Garmin is right on while I keep adding hundredths. Also, running my base 4M, 5M, or 7M routes
all coming up about .02M per mile short.
I’ve spoken to the fine people at Garmin and run completed
both a satellite reset and a factory reset. Nothing solves the problem. “They just get old and stop performing as
well,” the Garmin representative told me.
Don’t we all.
However, Garmin no longer makes the 405. Or even the 410 for that matter. They do make the 610, which I’ve never really
loved and is perhaps more watch than necessary.
But the 210, which Racer owns, lacks a simple feature I really like…the
ability to look at the individual laps of a run on the watch (the 210 requires
you to download the run before you can dissect each mile). The good news is that I can find new 405s and
410s online—relatively inexpensive.
Or should I go with the Nike GPS? Does anyone have this watch that really likes
it? Can you review your splits on your
watch? Is there anything annoying about
the Nike GPS watch?
While I await your input, I will continue to be an elliptical
god as I rest my leg. Because there is
little need for an aging Garmin on the elliptical.