Garmin 810/1000 reliability issues?

[drivin_me_nuts]

I am looking at buying a cycle computer and these seem to be the de facto choice.

However, when I read about them, there are way to many accounts of them being a bit flakier than a cadbury's flake in a wind tunnel turned to 11. Is that just the beta test models (aka the first year production) , or are they stable now that a squillion firmware updates have been applied?

Also, is it easy enough to link an HRM to them?

Thanks,

DMN