Heart Rate Monitors

Yes they are accurate, depending on the brand and the model, etc.

You are pretty good if they say "ECG accurate" on the box for the most part. Polar, Mio and Garmin make good ones and are the ones you are most likely going to run into. It is worth the extra money to get a chest strap as that can constantly keep track of the rate and give calories burned, etc.

One that data dumps to a PC is handy but not necessary starting off.

Edit- I use a forerunner 310XT

Really depends on the model. Good brands are Polar, Garmin, Timex, but that is not an exhaustive list. I would probably go with a chest strap unless you find those to be uncomfortable or don't like it for whatever reason. You have a lot more selection with the chest strap types and you'll also get continuous readings. If you don't like chest straps, but still want the continuous reading, you go for a model that has continuous readings without a chest strap - two prominent ones that come to mind are the ePulse 2 and Scosche Rhythm and I know Mio is coming out with a new one - the Mio Alpha and Omron is introducing a new one too. Then, you have the non-continuous HRMs, that require you to touch the monitor with your finger to get a reading - I wouldn't use these unless you can stop for 10s for readings during your workout or if you're doing less intense workouts - such as power walking.

I brought the Sportline watch monitor with chest strap, had it almost a year and it works great.

I have a Suunto M4, its one of their more basic models but with the chest strap still gives you fairly accurate calories and you can set it to your target HR and it will beep if you go too high or too low.
Im relatively new to the fitness world but for what i want (getting fit, training myself to run and losing weight as a side-effect of it)
its great, although a little more expensive than Polar etc

I have a Garmin Forerunner 110 with the chest strap. Absolutely love it! I wear it every time I go to the gym or out for a walk/run/bike ride.

I see the current MIO sync and can run via a download and sync. Does anybody know if the MIO Alpha

1) works with the bluetooth on the 4S or only the 4.0 bluetooth on the 5 iphone.

2) doe the MIO Alpha connect or sync with MyFitnessPal accounts the way the current MIO does?

The Mio Alpha works with iPhone 4S and 5 (but not 4). Don't think you can synch it directly with MyFitnessPal, you need to capture the data with another app which can capture the readings live over bluetooth and then synch that data over to MyFitnessPal

since January MFP has added Digifit sync capability so now you burn and exercise data is sync'd with myfitness pal.

It works great and gives you a net calorie picture without typeing all kinds of junk. Use Digit and then Link the two packages and my fitness pal goes and retreives you digifit diary and plugs it in.