Update: My special lady loved the watch!

Ok - first disclaimer, I'm a man and I bought this as a gift for a lady. My review is based on my experience setting up the Lumi and trying out all the features as I set up the product for to get it ready to be gifted. I did put it through its paces though to see what it had and whether I got what I thought she wanted.

First -- Its a gorgeous product. A woman can wear this hiking, to the mall, to work, and to most dinner events, and to certain night events short of black or white tie. It'll show her love for the outdoors in any setting.

Second -- I had a really hard time finding this information online or anywhere and thought I'd post -- This is not a small watch. In the Suunto tradition, it is about the size of a silver dollar and almost as big as my Timex Ironman for Men. This is not a pro or a con it just "is." So be forewarned as you purchase this, if your'e expecting a small watch this is not it. For athletic active taller ladies 5'7" and up, this will look right at home. For the more petite ladies, it will still look pretty but it will stand out a bit more. Please don't get me wrong, it is not huge, is very feminine, and it looks very nice on a woman's wrist just not small.

Ease of Use -- One of the simplest products to use I have found to date. Setup was almost self guided and very easy to setup. Nontechnical people will find this a pinch to set up. It has 5 buttons and that's a good thing as you don't have to triple click or hold anything to find a feature. You can push the mode button and then up and down to scroll through features. It doesn't read minds though and its a technical watch but as far as these watches go - I rate it a 10 for 10 on ease of use.

The Band -- basic watch comes in 3 options: Black, Terra, and Red. Black and Brown bands appear to need to be cut and are priced about $100 over the red strap which is the only buckle style available. I got the red band option for a few reasons:
a) none of the included band options were perfect for my lady
b) the red band option was the only buckle style option, the others seemed like you had to cut to size
c) I really liked one of the other option packs offered that I need to pick up to customize the watch and figured that also having the red buckle option would be easy to use out of the box and a nice band to have.
d) about $100 difference - so if you're going to accessorize, probably better to get the basic option and spend the $100 on the exact band accessory pack you want (2 to a pack for about $80 or so US)

I've read commentary online about the quality of the bands that need to be cut (easy to make mistakes cutting them) and also how some people think the band looks cheap on such a nice watch. I personally think its part of the look for this watch plastic against sheek metal. And, with the accessory options allowing easy customization and adding to a very distinctive look (appealing to the distinctiveness of each individual woman). Also, I think the buckle basic option is probably the most versatile to put on and off out of the box. The bands attach with screws so losing the watch due to a band failure is pretty low and although the bands look plasticy, they're tough.

Also on bands, there are multiple band accessory packages available from Suunto and the watch can even be worn as a pendant. Of note, our European Union friends get a nice online store to buy the accessories but in the United States you have to go to an authorized dealer. I could not find the right accessories on Amazon, just the watch so going to find an authorized dealer.


General Features:
This watch is much more feature rich than I had first thought which is nice and very in keeping with Suunto -- good that its very easy to use. I'm not going to go into technical details much but I did put in the details on Baro/Thermo/Alti only.

1) Barometer - 300 to 1100 hPa / 8.8 to 32.6 inHg
2) Thermometer - -20°C to 60°C / -4°F to 140°F
3) Altitude - -500 m to 9000 m / -1640 ft to 32760 ft
4) Compass
5) Time
6) Alarm
7) Dual Time
8) SunRise SunSet - Really Cool Hiking tool can be set for different cities
9) Backlight
10) Four Languages (French, English, Spanish, German)
11) 12/24 Hr
12) English or Metric Settings
13) Tones on or Off
14) Button Lock - Handy feature since the watch has 5 buttons
Day-Date
15) Daycounter - Handy feature Use it to count to a date (days left to a date)
16) Stopwatch
17) Storm Alarm - Can be set to ring if air pressure drops fast (sign of bad weather)
18) Logs - 5 logs store information like lowest point, highest point hiked etc

A couple of important features
19) Easy Change Battery - You can use a coin to open compartment...very nice
20) Water Resistant - 30meters / 100ft. Not a swimming or water sports watch -- this is designed for the outdoors person.

Overall, a gorgeous product and a very nice release by Suunto for the active lady out there. If you have an active girlfriend/wife, this is a great way for her to show it and have a feminine touch. This could be a hard to find product in certain geographies where the outdoors is prized like the Pacific Northwest, Rockies, SouthWest, NorthEast.

Bought from Amazon at the peak of Christmas Season - in stock, arrived next day --- wonderful.
5 stars

very suprised at how large a "woman's" watch can be. you'll love the watch...but, it is the largest female wrist watch EVER! 5 stars

I have a Lumi with Florette band. Bought it back in September 2007 when it first came out.

The computer is really great, finally one of this kind that is especially for women. However, I had issues with the butterfly clasp since day one. Wanted to have it repaired but the closest authorized service is in ... UT. I did not want to go without the watch for 2 weeks so I hesitated to send it. Did not want to spend extra $100 for a new band either.

That clasp issue turned out to be way too annoying and I finally decided to send my Lumi in for repair. According to DHL the package was delivered last Monday, 4/21/08. As of today, 4/28/08 I have not been sent confirmation from Suunto, did not get a phone call, nothing. Tried to call them today at 8:30am EST (www.suunto.com states that the Cust. Svs. Center works "24 hours a day 5 days a week between Sunday 9 pm and Friday 9 pm CET") but there was a recording saying that they open at 8 MST.

There is no way that Suunto does not know about the clasp issue. If they really respected and appreciated their customers, Suunto should have sent each one of us who bought a faulty clasp Florette a new Sportif band, free of charge. To make up for the everyday frustration (and the additional 2 weeks without a watch during the repair) we had to go through after having paid more than $300 for the Lumi. That is the right thing to do if they are to have loyal customers.

What will you do, Suunto? 3 stars

I've had several Suunto watches and was unimpressed with the Lumi. First of all it's very heavy! And huge! The features are awesome but the sacrifice (size, weight) aren't worth the trade. I'm an averaged sized female (5'7" 145lbs) and the heft of the watch made my hand fall asleep after 5 minutes. I am accustomed to wearing men's watches that are too big for my wrist but this one was too much even for me. Also, I was expecting a red--(true red) watch band but when it arrived it was more like crash-test dummy orange! 2 stars

I was so excited to receive my Suunto Lumi watch! So far so good... Everything has been fairly accurate, including the storm alarm and compass. My small complaint is that even though I followed the directions carefully regarding how to adjust the watchband, it still resulted in a tight fit. I wish they had created a regular watchband that doesn't require snipping the plastic (just a regular adjustable would have been great). The band is pretty and seems durable. Maybe it's too much to ask but I wish they had included a heart monitor too. Another cool feature is the sunrise-sunset time. I don't have much trouble switching to the feature I'm looking for e.g. stop-watch. Doesn't feel overly heavy even with its big watchface. I like that it is a mirrored face- my husband was teasing me that I could look into it to put on lipstick- ladies, you actually can =). Anyway, I'm psyched to take it on a hike or trail. 5 stars