Garmin Forerunner 410. To buy or not to buy?

Yes you can add routes via Garmin Connect, though I think you can only have one on at a time. 

Does anyone have any experience with the 410 and it's water resistance?

I'm wondering if it will cope with adventure runs where there's plenty of mud!

The manual says waterproof to 1 metre for 30 minutes. After submersion wipe and air dry before reuse

I've run with mine in a storm and it was ok - I put the running jacket arm over it and it kept the worst off, though it still got pretty wet.

I'm also thinking of updating to the Garmin 410, as the battery in my much-loved 305  loses its charge before I get to the end of a run these days. My question is this: thanks to a really useful post on this forum, I set up my 305 so that it has four lots of data showing at once: time run, distance, lap pace and overall pace. I know the 410 only has three data fields showing at once, so is there a way of getting the same info displayed, even if it means flicking between two screens?

Go Caz - yes, you can. You can set it to auto-change between screens or you can use the bezel to change screens.

Techinically you have four screens because you can add other things to the HRM-dedicated screen.

Also, can you not replace the battery in the 305?

Good question, King of Fife. I phoned Garmin support and they tell me that the batteries are not replaceable, you have to replace the whole device! (I have read on the internet of people changing their own battery but you need to be handy with a soldering iron!) If I sent back my 305, which is out of warranty, that would cost £51.48 (plus presumably the cost of sending it securely) for a new one and take 10 working days. So that's a fair proportion of the cost of a new 410 (currently reduced on Amazon) and also I really don't want to be without a watch for that long! Good to know for the future though.

The 410 has a replacable battery so this shouldn't be an issue for you with that unit.

It seems to always be reduced on Amazon. I picked it up for £147 with the HRM between two days when it was £159.99 so it may be worth watching it for a day or two.

You could get the 410 and in the mean time give replacing the battery a go? If it works return the 410, if it doesn't then it doesn't matter as it was unusable anyway.

That's interesting. The woman at Garmin told me the 410 didn't have a replaceable battery either and that it would cost around £45 to replace the unit. Cheaper than the 305 because that is an old model. I asked which models had replaceable batteries and there were only two, neither of which I'm familiar with. Have ordered the 410 from Amazon now as I am going away on holiday and will need a running watch. Also, I have watched things on Amazon before (ie Garmin 305) and the price has gone up considerably and I've kicked myself!

I changed mine recently because the bezel is touch sensitive and if you have a jacket on, it makes it do things you can't easily change when on the run.  When it gets wet, it won't respond to the touch bezel either.  Mine also had condensation even though I've not used it for swimming.  My partner has one too and has these same problems.  I bought the 205 which does me fine and works well - although I had to replace the original because of condensation too!!

IAN Pennicott wrote (see)

I changed mine recently because the bezel is touch sensitive and if you have a jacket on, it makes it do things you can't easily change when on the run.  When it gets wet, it won't respond to the touch bezel either.  Mine also had condensation even though I've not used it for swimming.  My partner has one too and has these same problems.  I bought the 205 which does me fine and works well - although I had to replace the original because of condensation too!!

You can lock the bezel so that it doesn't do this - see the instructions!

These are down to £135 on Amazon at the minute (not as low as the £125 they sometimes get to, but lower than the £140-160 they generally seem to hover around).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0046BTK14/ref=ox_ya_os_product

Just ordered one. Intrigued to have new toy to replace nike+ and excel spresheets!

I've owned my 410 for well over a year now and it's still going strong! I use it 4-5 times a week and it's never let me down. Being able to map a route online and download it to the watch is a great feature and has ensured I don't get lost on numerous runs...

I heard the 410 had recently been discontinued. I can understand why - the bezel really wasn't popular with anyone. I find it okay, as long as I remember to lock it, but buttons do work better!