I bought this camera for $229, and i think its a really good deal. i really like this camera because its small, easy to carry around, takes great pictures, and is handy wherever its needed.People give this camera bad reviews for its battery life. well, this is a digital camera, like most other digital cameras, this of course will eat normal alkaline batteries like pop corn, thats why you spend a little money to buy the lithium crv3 or the Ni-MH batteries. As for me, i prefer the Ni-MH batteries because not only are they powerful, but also rechargable. i got 4 batteries, and a charger at radio shack for about 26$ (including tax).so giving this camera bad reviews for batteries is just dumb. anyway, again, i like this camera a lot, and it takes great high quality pictures, just not always, but even the best of cameras wont always take the best photos in the world all the time.hope you enjoy this camera more than i do.