Heart Rate Monitors, Advice needed

Without getting into a long story it has been "reccomended" that I where some sort of monitoring device, what I have found is that there ones with enough features to fly a small aircraft!. Do I need all that shit?
I just want to know what my max is, how long I'm sustaining it and a regular watch feature so I can tell what time it is when they load me in the meat wagon.

I quess what I need to know is all the really cool stuff needed or is it over kill?
any help and reccomendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Are you going to be watching the HRM as you near you MHR? Or do you want to look at it at the end of the day and see what has been going on?

If you want to download it and all that shiz then get a good one- i have found the interface much easier and reliable if i spent money getting a good one. I used polar's top of the line one in college for this purpose. We had to wear them in practice and then download the heart rate for practice and recovery when we got back to the dorm.
If not- just get the cheapest one avaliable- it will work just fine.

A HR monitor for every need. http://www.polarusa.com/

You can chose the features you want. I use the cycling CS200 w/Cad. I use all of the cycling functions and about 1/3 of the HR functions. In Zone, Max, and Average is all I care about.

Just look at the compare model page on each of the areas to find the one that has the features you need.

Basic Activity: http://www.polarusa.com/consumer/aw/default.asp
General Fitness: http://www.polarusa.com/comparison/fitness.html
Running: http://www.polarusa.com/comparison/running.html
Cycling: http://www.polarusa.com/comparison/cycling.html
Multi-sport: http://www.polarusa.com/comparison/Multisport.htm