They're not too bad actually, I tested my forerunner against a chest strap and it was only a couple of BPM out, although it did take a little longer to respond to efforts.Assuming your watch supports external devices then you could use a chest strap version that actually works rather than the dodgy wrist based measurement that it not accurate when cycling.
It's good enough for me that I'm happy to use it in place of a chest strap on shorter rides (sub 2hr).