To add my 5 penny worth...I have worn a Garmin with a heart rate monitor strap for maybe 6 years and only once did it start reading nonsense and had to buy another strap not just replace the battery. So they generally work well for me. I also have Tom Tom watch which senses the changes in the colour of your skin on your wrist to measure your heart rate....amazing but true... and I guess the 225 uses the same technology. I have found if you make sure it is tight and once you have warmed up it works pretty well but for my money not as accurate as the Chest Strap and Garmin but much more comfy!

By the way it is easy to download the data from Tom Tom watches to GRG by setting the tomtom site to automatically download to a a gpx file on your computer each time its plugged in then use the upload from gpx facility on GRG....not quite as easy as the auto upload from Garmin though :-)

Rather exciting - Garmin have brought out the Forerunner 225, which has built-in HR monitor.

http://www.runnersneed.com/pws/UniqueProductKey.ice?ProductID=RGAR0077BR&gclid=CISx1--EkMYCFQsCwwodAygAtQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

But I only bought my 220 about 8 months ago. Can I justify a new watch already??

I`ve had my 305 for about 3 years without issues. the only time i had a problem was when the battery was on the way out.

I've had a Garmin Forerunner 210 for just over 4 years. The "Premium" strap it came with lasted less than a year before the readings were all over the place. I replaced it with a Polar soft strap which lasted longer and then replaced that with the latest Polar soft strap a year ago. The Polar straps have been better than Garmin, they've lasted longer and are cheaper to buy.

I agree with Dan - it's really important to at least rinse it well after every use.

I'm just curious about the comment below where it was recommende to try wearing the HR strap back to front - did this work in terms of readings still? I have a garmin 620 and have had no problems with the HRM, but I find (being a girl) where you have to wear the strap is right under the strap of a sports bra, which obviously is quite tight fitting and so I often get some chaffing from it.  Wast thinking it is worked just as well back to front this might be a better option to try...?

I use an adidas smart run watch which uses an optical heart rate monitor. seems pretty accurate provided the wrist strap is tight enough. The tom tom uses the same sensor and my mates one also seems pretty accurate and neither seem affected by sweat.

I like my smart run as it also measures stride rate, has gps, mp3 etc however the battery life with everything switched on and playing music via the bluetooth, is little nore than two hours or so. 

Andy

Just to add my pennies worth; I use a Polar Heart Strap (and watch) with the detachable technology bit, and have had problems with this as well with widly innaccurate readings and not working at all.

However, washing it in warm water after every use (non-detergent) and also soaking the strap in water before use has reduced the number of problems; because it's next to the body, the sweat we produce affect the strap itself with regards to how it functions, therefore washing in warm water after helps remove these deposits, and soaking it beforehand makes sure that the contacts work correctly. 

Hmm, thanks guys. At least I know it's not just me!

I might give it one last replacement because I like everything else about the watch. But they must be warned! My patience won't go on forever. It's a real shame because I've really got a new lease of life from running in the last 6 months with HR training.

Glad to read this, and see that it's not just me having problems with the Garmin HR monitor.  After a year of use, about halfway through a run (whatever distance) my heartrate apparently dropped to around 40 - 50 bpm.  I contacted Garmin customer services, and was told to change the battery (no impact) and to try wearing the monitor back to front.

I've decided to cut my losses, and use the old fashioned method - that is, judging effort by the level of my ability to talk whilst running.  Seems to be working fine - but would recommend to anyone thinking of buying a Garmin not to bother with the extra cost of a HR monitor.

Roland,i too had nightmares with garmin hr straps.Think i had 4 over period of 15 months,did everything possible,as recommended in their user manual...but gave up in the end :( .So i went down the route of Polar.I still have my original FT1,HR only watch,and it still works after 6 years.The watch i decided on was the new Polar M400,and had it a couple of months now.Easy to charge,using a standard usb cable(supplied),no faffing with garmin clips.Lots of info available on Polar Flow,when downloaded after a run.Think there is a way to download onto GRG,but i am a bit thick re computers,so i manually enter stats into the site.Take a look at DC Rainmakers evaluation of the watch,he gave it a good review.Did have a glitch with the supplied usb cable,but easy to contact the service team,and posted replacement to me following day.Plus you can contact them via facebook page,and they seem more" customer friendly",than garmin were. :)