Can someone please tell me which running watch to buy?

[Wrongornot]

Because I am going round in circles!

DH is kindly buying me one for Christmas but I have no idea which to ask for.

Really want:
GPS (want to stop carrying my phone)
Clear display so I can see it when running
It to link up to some sort of app so I can keep track of previous runs

Do I need:
Heart rate monitor - is this useful? Built in or strap?

Looked at:
Tom Tom Runner (no gps)
Tom Tom Cardio (ugly!)
Garmin 225 (expensive)
Garmin 220 (pretty!)

Any reviews of the above or other suggestions would be so appreciated!

[Wrongornot]

Forgot to say, I run 3/4 times a week. Furthest so far is a half marathon but would love to get up to a full - if that has any bearing on which watch to choose

[ragged]

read this? forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?300676-225-vs-220-differences-Other-than-steps-and-heartrate-Same-chipset-antenna

[CMOTDibbler]

I had a Garmin Forerunner 10 (dh now has this) which was great when I was just running. I don't do HR based training, though my 910XT does support this. The 10 has a very clear display, though it does take longer to acquire satellites.

[Anglaise1]

I have the Garmin 210 with heart strap monitor (I bought it 2 years ago when the built in monitor for wrist wasn't available). It does everything I need except for a clear display when running in the dark and also I can't download routes to it, just upload. I link it to Strava to do this. I can set up intervals on it as well as using it for long runs.
Generally I'm happy with it and have used it on 5+ hour trail races without a battery problem, the more sophisticated and much more expensive all singing all dancing bluetooth watches often have battery life problems.

[HollyEllis]

Hi I'm interested in this too. Not so worried about uploading data to computer but am interested in:

Keeping track of distance
Knowing what pace am doing
Doing lap timing on track runs and being able to set target lap times - say for a 3k on track.

Does Garmin Forerunner 10 do these things. I find their website high on presentation but low on detail!

[CMOTDibbler]

Holly - the Forerunner 10 could do that, but it would be fiddly. I'd go for the 220 (which is on Amazon black friday at 1) as you can configure the fields to show lap times etc without button pressing.

[HollyEllis]

Thanks CMOT v helpful