which is the best bit of kit that will do the following but without bells and whistles.
(i'm not into too many gadgets and i don't care about downloading data)

distance
time
heart rate
ave speed/pace.

OH not too expensive please.

Thanks in advance,

Craig

first thing to ask... do you want GPS or footpod type?

gps as more acurate, but cost more...

as an owner i would strongly reccomend the Garmin 305.. one of the best £125's ive spent

i have the garmin that is used for cycling and it's good, so i'll google the 305.

where did you buy yours?

just a random site I've found that has HRM's with running speed/distance features...

Heart Rate Monitors UK, Polar Nike UK dealer, Suunto, CicloSport, Cardiosport Heart Rate Monitor, Timex Speed and Distance. Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) online Polar HRM specialists Best UK prices, lowest prices

With the features you've mentioned, you'll probably find most of them come with more features than you're ever likely to use, but nevermind eh?

__________________
www.richardsimkiss.co.uk

i got mine from here

the NOH basically means that its a factory re-con.. but they also do brand new ones but they are around £150+

I think new units are available around the £136 mark, or at least they were

__________________
www.richardsimkiss.co.uk

How cheap do these type of things go without being rubbish? I'm just after something that I can use to monitor speed, distance and time, but would prefer not to fork out £70+...

the Nike+ sportband may be worth a look essell. Not quite as accurate as the GPS systems in my experience, but some people have found them to be fairly accurate!

__________________
www.richardsimkiss.co.uk

I just gave in and bought one of these, hehe:
Amazon.co.uk: Garmin Forerunner 101 Wrist-Mounted GPS Personal Training Device: Electronics & Photo

Will report back on how I find it in a week or so

It just arrived in the post today, and the first thing I've noticed is that it's a bit massive! What you get for plumping for the entry level one, I suppose. Hopefully it won't look / feel so big that I feel like a mong when I go out running with it on...

The 205/305 is hardly what you'd call small, so I wouldn't worry about the 101 being slightly larger. - still if it was discreet, nobody would be able to see how geeky you are

Hope you get on well with it

__________________
www.richardsimkiss.co.uk