I'm smiling now but I wasnt smiling in July 2010
I had been running without a watch for 5 years. All that changed last summer, when I found out that the Garmin Forerunner 405 was at Costco.
So I bought it. I though it was about time (no pun intended) that I owned a watch.
I was SO excited!! Finally I could track my distance on my rides AND on my runs, my heart rate and all sorts of fun data.
WRONG.
I could not figure out how to use it. Period. I sat with the manual..with the watch…with YouTube videos and had NO LUCK.
My ironman buddy tried to teach me. NOPE…could not get the hang out of it. I was kinda of pissed, as this watch was not cheap.
Finally last week, while attending a social media party called #whatthehashtag, I met @RobTyrie and I noticed he was wearing the
watch that I had not been able to use since JULY 2010. I told him about my fustration. Rob mentioned that it took him HOURS to figure out the manual.
(I believe him. I really do.) Standing beside Rob was was @aprildunford
who said that it was THE WORST MANUAL EVER and they fired the whole time who wrote the manual.. I asked Rob if he could teach both of us how to use it. He gladly accepted the challenge.
We met on Sunday at The Mad Bean for a coffee and I showed up with the manuals and the watch. Sadly April couldnt join us. He patiently taught me how to use it and it took hours!! (I’m not joking).
I wrote notes…the whole nine yards.
Has anyone else had this type of experience with a product? Does anyone else own a Garmin?
Do rant. I just did and it feels great. LOL
I surprised my husband with a Garmin 405 watch for his birthday. We also spent hours trying to get it to work – reading and rereading the manual and website. We finally got the watch to work but never succeeded in syncing the footpad. Garmin is definitely not user friendly!!!
Three months after I bought the watch the battery died. A month later the second battery the store installed died. I returned the watch and they sent it back to the factory. After waiting for nearly 2 months for the company to decide what to do with the defective watch I went out and bought my husband a Polar FT7 watch. Now we both have Polar FT7 watches that we love! The Polar has a great feature that lets you know how many calories you burn during a workout. We don’t have a footpad but the Garmin pad never worked anyways. The Polar is user friendly in fact it is so friendly that on my birthday the display screen had a little birthday cake with candles on it! In the end Garmin gave us a new watch but were both happy with our Polar’s and the new Garmin was filed away in the drawer!
oh no, i have been saving up for a garmin, hoping to buy one for my birthday.. all my running friends have it and it works amazing!
i love running with them because i know what my distance and speed is exactly!oh well, have to rethink this.i was hoping to get it before jerusalem marathon, then again maybe not.thanks for the info.
Hey mom who runs,
I was looking at buying a 405 and there were loads of great tips on this site. I went for a 310xt in the end for the looks 😉
Garmin FR60
Garmin FR60
Garmin FR60