Hey runners - Watch? Or HRM with RunKeeper & iPhone?

I've had two Garmins (one lost at a race, one to puppy teeth). I refused to spend that kind of money again so I went with iPhone and an app (no HRM) for a long time. It was passable but I really prefer the watch. You cant easily see the info if you are using and armband which is a pain. It's hard to do pace workouts. I just broke down and bought a second hand Garmin from a friend. So yeah, for me, watch all the way.

Received the Garmin Forerunner 10 at Christmas. On my second one and actually returning it today. It stopped working about 6 weeks ago with not getting my location and losing the GPS signal. Exchanged it for a new one and 2 runs in, it does the same thing. No one else around me had issues. I like the Nike app on my phone and its accurate and less crap I need to just run. If you want a watch don't get this one!

Thanks for the feedback - what watch did you go with? I'd like to keep it to $200 maximum, though I doubt that'll get me any advanced features.

I've had two Garmins (one lost at a race, one to puppy teeth). I refused to spend that kind of money again so I went with iPhone and an app (no HRM) for a long time. It was passable but I really prefer the watch. You cant easily see the info if you are using and armband which is a pain. It's hard to do pace workouts. I just broke down and bought a second hand Garmin from a friend. So yeah, for me, watch all the way.

Ive had the 301 (like 8 years ago which was over $200) and the 305, which I don't think they make anymore but it was less than $200. Both had HRM. The one I just bought second had is the 405cx, but I am pretty sure it retails under $200. I haven't had a chance to use it yet. It does come with a HRM monitor. I am not sure what other features you are looking but if you check the Garmin website it has the specs for all of the models.

I use a Polar HRM (Ft40 now, I used the Ft7 for almost two years) and Runkeeper. Since I bring my phone with anyway for music/safety, I figured I'd rather spend $100 on a nice HRM than $250+ on a nice GPS watch. Plus, my HRM is nice for more than just running - I use it for all gym stuff too.

I set Runkeeper to prompt me every half mile with pace. I agree that it would be nice to look at your watch anytime you wanted to see your time/distance, but Runkeeper is very flexible in the prompts it allows a user to choose.

When I'm bringing home a run and want to sprint it out, I'll often take my phone out of my SPIBelt and keep a visual watch on my pace that way.

I've had Runkeeper freak out on me, especially if I forget to turn off WiFi during my run...but I'm told by friends with Garmins that their watches have freaked out too, and I saw this great comparison a blogger did among GPS watches, fitbit, and Runkeeper. I wish I could find it now, but I can't - it encouraged me to replace my HRM with another standard HRM rather than upgrading to Garmin since accuracy was pretty similar.

Was a die hard runkeeper fan until I changed to a large Galexy Note phone that is just too big to run with. Husband got me a Garmin Forerunner for Valentines day and I must say I love it. Does not have all the bells and fancy features that more expensive models have but I like the smaller size of the watch itself as I have pretty small wrists. Uploads easily and the the information available on the website is very similar, if not better, than the runkeeper site.