Fantastic Value

I bought this camera for my wife for Christmas from Woot after doing some comparative research suggested that this was the best deal out there for the pixels.

Vivitar does not have a strong brand in the US, but having spent a lot of time in Europe I was familiar with it as a solid manufacturer.

My wife seems to go through cameras every 2 years - either breaking or losing them, so I did not want to spend toooo much on her Christmas present. However, if I was spec'ing out a digital camera regardless of price then it would probably have looked like this one. And so the price clinched it.

The one concern that I had when I bought it was that it might be too complicated for her to use; She is no klutz, but she is not a geek either! As it has turned out this was not an issue and she has been able to take FANTASTIC pictures very easily, pretty much out of the box.

The only negative is that the carrying case is a bit cheap - the stitching has started to come apart.

If she lost this one today I would just buy another. That's how pleased we are with it.

(In terms of the feature ratings - I am not sure on the quantitative answers as they relate to shutter speed and battery life - but we have not yet had ANY issues.)