Luxe watch returned. Style over substance.

Thanks for your interesting feedback. For me, it's not not responding for minutes but for several seconds when in strength training mode and trying to edit the repeat count. This makes it quite cumbersome to edit the count. After using the watch for about one month, I think, it's a Garmin product as usual - great hardware, but faulty software. I won't return it (for that, I like it too much), but I'm also experiencing annoyances. I come from a Vivomove HR and thus, my list looks like this:

(+) great looking watch, even better than the already very good looking Vivomove HR
(+) good materials and finish, sapphire glass feels and looks great - would buy it again
(+) a lot of activity programs (HR only had walking, running, strength and "other")
(+) Garmin Pay included and working well, though it's a bit cumbersome to enter passcode (see later)
(+) battery runtime as promised some 5d w/ gesture on + ~ 2hrs activitiy/day
(+) smart display w/ nice colors and good to read even outsides in sunlight (haven't had a real summer day yet, though) - was definitely a problem of the HR
(+) gesture working well, so time also readable in darkness or when hands are difficult to see

(o) bezel prone to scratches in everyday life; Cape Cod polish is your friend
(o) vibration softer than Vivomove HR, but perfectly fine for me
(o) hands not so easy to see in low light - no problem for me due to smart display
(o) have to enter an activity to get exact HR when doing sports. Could be an technical issue but is annoying when riding a bike and using the Edge to do tracking (but want to use intensity minutes anyway, so have to track with both devices - also quite annoying).
(o) sensors seem to work well (but see later), though values of pulse oxy sensor seem to be unreliable

(-) touch screen (very) difficult to use - very annoying! Hard to enter Garmin Pay passcode or to change repeat count in strength training. Hard to enter menu items like activity. This is something that definitely needs to be improved asap. Was much better (though not perfect either) on Vivomove HR.
(-) installation process didn't work flawlessly - had to reinstall Connect which meant to reinstall Edge 520, too. Also annoying.
(-) very slow in activity mode (a problem of vivemove HR, too) - touching "Pause/Continue" often doesn't work, have to touch it twice or thrice. Same for editing repeat count. Sometimes takes a lot of time and tries to enter the right number.
(-) I can't exactly tell why, but watch software appears to be a beta product overall. Typical Garmin problem and not so cool if you buy an expensive product.

The touch screen not responding in itself makes the watch not fit for purpose. Especially when you're in the coffee shop manically tapping at the screen to try and pay!

+1

I set an easy PIN (no, it's not 0000 :-D), but I'm using G Pay anyway, because it's much easier to face unlock the mobile than to PIN-unlock the watch every day.

Some good feedback (although for me, most of the compromises are understandable and acceptable given how the watch looks - weight, thickness, analog display etc.). Screen took me some time to get used to but I have no significanty issues anymore aside from small things. For example it's very easy to save activity (doesn't require confirmation) instead of resuming it.

Speaking about the PIN problem - I agree it's finicky but I thought that the point of the PIN being valid for 24 hrs is that it allows a person to unlock the watch long before payment is required so that there's no need to fumble at the counter. I go to the shops - I unlock the watch at home.

Got the Gamin Luxe, silver with blue band. Love it and a big step up from the orginal.

Easy to read in sunlight and outdoors. And disagree with the above person.

I get an easy 3 days, could stretch it to 4 but not a good idea to run batteries right down anyway. Usually takes 4 or so cycles for battery to gain full strength.

No issues with double tap as used to it on the first gen one, which I did return it as the first gen had hands getting out of sync issues.

No issues with vibrations on watch, strong enough to know when you get a notifcation.

I have tried many hybrid watches and did not like any of them 

This is simplistic and stylish with a great balance of an ordinary watch with hidden smart watch features.

The above review cliams cannot see it bright sunlight and found I can see it in sunlight and pretty clear if you set it to auto brightness.

As for reading hands in low light, etc once again no issues here.

As for second hand, dont need it and would so drain your battery.

I understand with the Oxy feature turned on you would get a lower battery level and with this feature off I reckon would get 5 days at a stretch.

The guys review above you turned off the Oxy setting it does give a longer battery life and they do warn you about this as it  comes up will effect battery life.

I think after trying many smart watches, For me this is perfect.

No watch is perfect and either is this as menus can at times be fiddly to access but no deal breaker.

I hate these dead display watches and not keen on Garmins reflective display watches either.

Love a watch with physical hands and reminds me this is a real watch.

Here is my impression of the vivomove style: 

As already stated above, the watch is elegant, slim, has good smartwatch capabilities and an intermediate battery life (3 days with my typical usage). Fitness tracking seems to be accurate, only few deviations in heart rate compared to my fenix 5 with chest-strap. Sleep recording seems to be better than my fenix, probably because the vivomove is not so clumsy. However, there are a few annoying things:

(-) the precision when recording activities is very bad. When walking, it underestimates the distance by some 20%. Fiddling with step length did not help, apparently it just counts steps, but does not use the acceleration sensor to guess intensity.

(-) the same is true when using connected GPS. I took a run with my fenix 5 and the vivomove and the vivomove underestimated the distance by 5%.

(-) as a consequence the VO2max is roughly underestimated (38 on vivomove vs. 45 on fenix)

(-) during activities the touch screen is often operated accidentally by the sleeve of my sweater, once or twice it has even terminated the activity

(-) bluetooth connection to my iPhone is unreliable. I frequently have to switch bluetooth off and on to reconnect the watch. Normally this is not a big problem, but when I want to start an exercise and the bluetooth is not working this is really annoying.

I keep thinking about a fenix 5s/6s which is less bulky and has the same features as my fenix 5.

Bluthooth not spotty on the S9 and always locked. Walking with GPS I find as accurate as my fenix 5, which I have now replaced with the viviomove as not into running anymore and the vivomove does all the general fitness tracking I need.

And GPS you say its 5% off? Your comparing it to the fenix 5? Which could be 5% off or overestimating 5% 

Have you tried the same route with no watch just using GPS on your phone?

I love this watch, while no watch is going to be perfect it does all the tracking I need.

With the Oxy sensor on think this alone maybe due to better sleep tracking.

Think the Garmin watches have always performed better on Android. Apple has not preformed so well with Garmin watches I feel which is why spoty bluthooth or to do with the ios on apple.

Also this being a new gamin product will have issues as it will be newer firmware over the older vivimove and as we all know newer products can have issues to start with.

Denodan, maybe it‘s aproblem of iOS vs Android, but it‘s annoying. The GPS measure is definitely 5% underestimated, since this is a track I have been running for years with different GPS equipment and all of them gave me approx. the same distance. I also noted inconsistencies for very simple calculations whennot using GPS. I entered my stride length for walking as 0,87m. On a 3,5 km walk it counted 4000 steps and calculated 2,8 km from it.

I agree that the watch is a good fitness tracker, but I am still doing sports and for my purpose it‘s suboptimal.