I'll not go into a detailed review of the Lumix DMC-LX2 as this would be a bit OT for this forum but needless to say I'm very happy with it.

I've spent a couple of wonderful days in Sydney playing with different lighting conditions, scenes, portraits, close ups (macro mode) and so on. Now I'm back in Fiji with lots more to do (ended up spending some of my free time taking macro shots of tropical plat life today). The camera is IMHO the works though there are a few none SLR cameras out there that probably do the low light quite a bit better (every reviewer complains about this).

My decision was indeed based on the superb http://www.dpreview.com website. The main competitor for DMC-LX2 is the Canon G7. The G7 is, on the face of it, in many ways a better camera (and certainly looks better - to me - for a pro wanting a coat pocket "about town" device). In the end, the classical style and fairly hefty price difference (we're talking approx £100 more for the G7) won me over.

The only thing I don't like about the camera is one of the very classical things that attracted me to it: If I want to switch the camera on and take pictures, I have to use my fingers (yes, my fingers) to remove the lens cover (fortunately connected to the camera so can't easily be lost).