I went cheap and got a Garmin 10. I love it. It only gives pace every mile (beeps) which is good enough for me. I mostly use it for distance since I like to wonder when I run. Its about $50 cheaper than other garmins.

I use the Garmin 910Xt and the 610 and I like them both. I find having my pace useful so it's important to me, but you may not ind it useful. As far s using the markers to estimate pace and such, given that markers can be grossly inaccurate and that others might have a specific set up going, I prefer to rely on myself for that info. But do whatever works for you.

Garmin Forerunner 10 has been really unreliable for me.

Bouncing around and tracking my runs wrong (was really shocked that it said I ran a 5 minute mile)...takes forever to start the gps tracking...

Someone suggested it may be because I'm using it in the city and the buildings interfere with the gps.

I had a garmin 405cx and never used all the features, I now have a garmin 210 and love it, suits me to a tea. The hrm that came with the 210 isn't the best though, so I've swapped it with the 405 hrm.

I have an old Polar FT-1 and FT-60 but don't use them anymore. I'm using Garmin 210, simple give me my actual pace, milage and HR. And I can programme my interval training on it beyond this be able to analyse the data later on Garmin Connect.

I have a 310xt, I've only had it for 2 days and I LOVE it!! You can use it for running, swimming and biking. I got the heart rate monitor and foot pod with it. It's awesome!

Garmin 410 here....great watch.

I ordered the 210 on Amazon. I'll give it a try. (I can always return it if I don't like it)

-- No tri planned as I can not swim -- I hope to work on that but it will still be a while before I sign up for a tri

Looks like you made a decision, hopefully it works out for you. Last holiday season, Costco had the 410 on sale, so that's what I have. The 410 is fine, I have the occasional gripe, but it's nothing I can't live with. I do consider it a vital part of my run ~ I never leave home without it.

As for swimming - do learn to swim! How amazing would it be if you learned to swim and then completed a triathlon?! That would be a huge accomplishment :-). I think you should go for it.

I've got a Garmin 405 with HRM. It works just dandy, but the bezel is a bit annoying

I decided to go down the route of a GPS watch - quite fancied the new Tom Tom multisport but it was not being release until August sometime.

I read all the reviews I could - DC Rainmaker does excellent reviews on all this stuff

I finally settled on either the 910xt or 310xt

As I'm only using it to help me keep fit, do some running, cycling and perhaps in time for a mini triathlon I didn't think I could justify the extra for the 910xt so I bought the 310xt with HRM.

I didn't get the foot pedal monitor - I'm no elite athlete - I'm a 57 yr old that's lost over 2 stones since December and found some energy from somewhere and liking it!

I've been running 5K every saturday morning doing Parkruns - fun events for people that just want to be out there - I've done 9 runs in total and managed to get a PB each time I run.

My latest was 23:15 for 5K - my first run was 28:53 so I've been improving.

The Garmin helps me breakdown all aspects of my runs, my heart rate, my recovery etc it's quite amazing recently.

I love my gadgets so it's right up my street - I also use a Fitbit one to monitor my steps taken daily.

I hope this helps

Another vote for the FR210!

Got mine as I had trouble with apps on my phone losing signal so most of the information was totally useless (I run in a wooded area mostly). The Garmin finds a signal before I go into the woods and so far has kept it the whole time.

Now I'm getting used to it a bit more I've found the intervals feature invaluable. I also like the way I can select it to show either my current pace, average for that lap/interval or overall average pace for that run - quite handy! I got it with the HRM strap and I'll probably buy the optional foot pod just in case I want to use a treadmill if it's icy this winter.

Probably the only thing it doesn't do that in hindsight i'd quite like (didn't think I'd get into running this much!) is the ability to set intervals on the Garmin Connect site then download them to the device but you need to go to a higher spec for that (410?). Not the end of the world as I'm a dab hand at programming directly into the watch now.

Already mentioned is the DC Rainmaker reviews of this kind of thing - the best I've ever read.

I use the 310xt. I like the multi sport function since i ride and swim also. I have to say i am quite addicted to it. But data analysis has been my job for about 20 years so i like playing with the data and comparing traing years and seasons , war hot cold runs....etc. i am kinda a running geek that way! I love mine.

^ I'd echo this.

It's a great tool. I love the large screen, I can track 4 different highly customisable things on a page (e.g. last km pace, avg km pace, avg HR, distance run) and you can have multiple pages you scroll thru. It looks bulky when you first see it but it took no more than 1 run to get used too - a damn sight better than having my iphone strapped to my arm as I used to do.

I really like uploading the data to Garmin connect and using that to compare performance and improvment.

It's been very reliable.

Minor niggles -
1) I live rural and the GPS at home sometimes takes a while to lock onto satelite signal - easily solved by turning it on and leaving it outside the front door as I put my shoes on and grab water. When I run at work it locks immediately.
2) Uploading the data to garmin connect, it sometime loses the pairing with the wireless USB stick. It's the work of 20 seconds to re-pair but it's an annoyance when it happens.

I also have a FR210.

Only thing I HATE about it is the back connector; very unreliable. Sometimes it connects first shot, sometimes I waste alot of time trying to make it works.

Garmin needs to find a better way than that!