Garmin. Hands down. Find the one with the feature set that you are looking for. Most models are available with or without a HRM. Garmin is the industry leader.

Garmin for sure. My $.02 on the best deal out there: Garmin 410 w/ HRM for $199 (shipped) from Costco.com

i just bought this. love it so far. and it's still only $199 for canadians as well. you can buy a polar HRM for $120 here or get the GPS watch for only $79 more. it's a no brainer.

Hi!!!!

I have both (NIKE + wristband and Garmin Forerunner 110) but prefer Garmin by far because it is GPS enabled. The interface on the Garmin Connect webpage is cool and you can see your heart rate, distance, mapping of the terrain where you have run and the exact location by streets plus your average per mile/km, calories burned. Nike + does work well as well but this is merely my personal opinion from 3 months of daily usage. It is very accurate but, yes, you need to spend a bit more money on top of the shoes.

This model is basic and you need not spend more on a more expensive model. They have many more models but the prices can go up to 400, 500, 600, 700 euros.

Read up on websites and reviews.
http://top10watches.net/top-10-best-running-watches/
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-321--13594-0,00.html

All the best.

Chuck