Would like to keep a close eye on the ticker...

Standalone, or integrated into your computer? I use a Garmin Edge 500, and would recommend something that will interface with other sensors (speed, cadence, etc.) if you decide you want them. But if you are sure HR is all you want, others can help.

I have a SIGMASPORT PC7,,&it works well,and I think was reasonablely priced,,,monitor is either wrist ,or handlebar mounted,wirelessrec.
Bud

I love my Garmin 705.

I have a Sigma BC1909 with HRM. Works ok for me. I'm 66 and haven't died yet.

If you want to go cheap there are lots of them out there and they all seem to work ok.

I've been using a Polar CS600X since last fall with no complaints. Polar has a wide variety of products so they probably have the combination of features that you want in one of them. I've no reason to steer you away from other brands either, Polar is sold at a good discount at the company health club, it would have been foolish for me to use something else. If you belong to a health club you might check with them to see if they offer good prices on HRMs.

Most Polar products come with a means to download data from the HRM to your PC and an analysis program that you can use to view it. Those are good features to have and I assume most other brands offer the same so when you compare, look at those items too. One brand's supporting features may suit you better than another's. Actually I do have one minor complaint about my Polar, the USB to IR adapter that came with it was a very fine, professional looking piece of junk. I could hardly make it function at all and at one point when I tried to write some data back to the Polar unit the poor communications link managed to put it in "Equine Mode" somehow. Yes, my Polar was convinced that I was a horse! I had to call Polar tech support to get the magic handshake of button presses that allowed me to turn back into a bicyclist again. It cost me maybe $12 to buy a properly functioning replacement USB/IR adapter and the whole thing has worked very well ever since.

Ken

There are so many choices out there as you see.

If you just want heart rate and nothing else, than Polar is good, but most other brands work just fine as well.

If you want more in the package, you have a great deal of research to do.

I have an old Polar HRM that does not get used much anymore,

and I also have a Garmin 705 GPS with HRM that I use for touring and long road rides.

I used an Omron HR100C for a year and some until a few weeks ago when I got a Garmin. It was cheap ($31), effective and the batteries are user replaceable. It is one of the type with a chest strap and a wrist watch readout. I found that if you get a couple of inch long piece of split foam pipe insulation from Home Depot or wherever, the insulation will go around your bar and the watch will strap to it. I found that the readout on the watch was hard to see on my wrist and I also found (!!!) that I need to keep my hands on the bars, especially during those physically demanding moments that are exactly the times you may want to note your heart rate.

I used my old wrist HRM by strapping it to a 2 inch piece of pipe insulation on the bars. It was great for pacing on long climbs. I could stay in the 140-145 range for hours, maybe 5 minutes at a time above 150, and a minute at 155+. It had settable alarms for too high or too low, but I didn't use them. I never really used the average for the ride, and it didn't track the maximum heart rate either. So a simple monitor was fine.

Edit--exactly like TomD77 said..

(Now, I got a Garmin 705 for following uploaded mapped routes. It also records the speed, heart rate, elevation and cadence. I do like reviewing ride data on my PC when I get home. )

Polar CS100 worked great for me until I changed to Garmin.