Discussion: Heart-rate Monitors

Im going to buy a Heart Rate Monitor for when Im out running but is there a particularly good one that tells you everything you could possibly want to know about your heart rate and is good value, easy to use (works on macs) and can stand orienteering? And is it worth getting one with GPS?
Please offer advice or any personal experiences of Heart-rate monitors, thanks.

Ditto Simon, I've just started looking for one (mine also need to work with a mac). Any help and I would be v grateful!

The Timex Ironman series is as close as a watch comes to being indestructable. The high end ones store quite a bit of information and have uploads to PC; not sure about MAC. It's such a popular watch I have to think there would be 3rd-party software available. I get by just fine with the cheap(er) model, but I'm not super into HR training. I just want to know what it currently is and what the average and max are for each segment of the workout.

I used a Garmin 305 for a while and liked it quite a bit, but the GPS stopped working after just over a year, which didn't thrill me any.

I love the Garmin 50. No GPS. But uses ANT. From their web site it looks like it works with Mac. Beats me. For 50 bucks you could buy a spare computer and put xp on it. What I like the best is the upload is sort of automatic and then you've got all your data on the screen for that run. The watch only holds up to 7 or so hours tho.

I posted one run session last year:
http://www.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_3320/p...

Garmin 305.

The Garmin 305 is great. If you're going to drop the cash for an upper-end HR monitor, might as well add in the GPS. Since the 405 is the current model, a 305 should be competitive with top end HRs, although I haven't priced them in years.

That said, I'm also a Polar fan (250). Takes splits easily, gives avg and max for each split (350 and up download to your computer and give more complete data). Polar even replaced it when I accidentally left it on my roof and it fell off and got crushed by another car before I could retrieve it. And this was with full disclosure on my part when I sent it in for repair - Polar has my loyalty for life over that one. That's an expensive gadget to make that mistake with.

The Garmin 305 is the gold standard in my book. I have had mine for almost 2 years and it has never failed me. It gives you a full HR profile for the entire run and there are abundant software packages for analyzing or mapping your data. Sporttracks is great if you do not mind the software not being web based. A friend bought the 405 and used it for a few months before selling it and buying another 305. Should be able to pick one up at a discount as well. Here is what I do with Sporttracks and Garmin and AP : http://www.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_5263/p...