Discount Electronics Shop

Just consider it an outdoor-only camera (2009-01-05)
We've been VERY happy with this camera. We bought two, one each for our 5 and 7 year old kids. Pictures taken outdoors look INCREDIBLE. It may sound silly, but I do believe that outdoor pictures taken with this camera rival just about anything out there. I'm saying this as a rather critical DSLR owner -- you would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between pictures taken outdoors with this camera vs those taken with my DSLR. We bought with the expectation that it would be of limited value indoors, and that's proven true. Indoor pictures are fairly horrible. Flash doesn't expose right when used, and without the flash the pictures are grainy and underexposed. Video seems ok, though I realized after taking a bunch that it was on a lower quality setting. Sound quality of video was rather bad.

All in all, if you consider this a no-frills, outdoor camera that can be used in a pinch to take video, you won't be disappointed - it's more than worth that money (very small and light, as well, so even though I bought it for the kids I plan on taking it on some overnight hiking trips). Four-to-five stars on that front. But if you think you'll be able to take indoor pictures, you will be SORELY disappointed. Only one-two stars for indoor pics. Since we expected that upfront, I think a 3-star rating is appropriate.

A great purchase!!! (2008-12-27)
We bought this for our 3 1/2 year old son, who kept wanting to take our digital camera from us. He LOVES it!!! I especially love that you can plug it into the wall to charge the battery, instead of hooking it up to the computer to charge. It came with a cable/usb cord, so the same cord plugs into your computer and into the tv...this makes me happy, because I am constantly trying to find which cords go to which product and trying to remember how many cords there were. The resolution is pretty good, not as good as our Kodak...but works for our son. Of course he is still learning how to take pictures, so most of his were blurry. With that being said, my husband and I took a few pictures and they all turned out pretty good. There's also a flash to help in poor lighting. All in all, this was a great purchase for us and I am glad we didn't go with the Fisher Price camera, this will last him a lot longer.

Merry Christmas - non functioning camera (2008-12-25)
Yeah, charged the camera overnight. Nothing. Won't turn on at all unless plugged into the charge cable or USB. Similar experience as the other reviewer. Will give it one more try with an exchange but I'm not very pleased. Daughter was thrilled to have her own camera for Christmas, but now she gets to wait for the exchange process. Way to go Argus / VisionTek / Chinese manufacturer.

Good for kids or as an expendable second camera (2008-12-22)
I bought this for a 13-yr-old who is interested in photography. I like that it has 5 different white balance settings and a manual exposure control, but that it also functions fairly well in "auto" mode. The camera can record video with sound, and can even function as a web cam. The internal rechargeable battery means never having to spend money on alkalines, but if it goes dead and you are not near an outlet, then you are out of luck. It is rugged in the sense that it can take bumps and splashes, but I can't see this camera lasting more than five years due to the joystick and the lifetime of the battery. It can be set to imprint the date and time of your photo, or you can turn this off easily.

The flash is completely worthless and should be avoided. The manual exposure control allows some compensation in low light, but this is more of an "outdoor" camera. The included software is mostly useless, but you don't need it. The camera is instantly recognised by the PC and functions like a flash drive to allow for drag and drop. I would advise not even installing the software unless you have a very old PC.

This camera will NOT replace a $200 point-and-shoot, but it's a decent option when you don't want to risk damage to or theft of your $200 camera. It's also a preferable option to letting your child use your more expensive camera.

There is no tripod mount thread and there is no flat surface on the bottom to rest the camera on, so you are restricted to hand-held operation. It has a self-timer option (10 or 20 seconds), and it there is a "burst mode" that allows three automatic shots in rapid succession. The picture quality is better than most cellphone cameras, as long as you don't use the flash. It's about as good as disposable film cameras, but without the cost of developing the film and with the benefit of instantly being able to see how the picture turned out.

Great Camera for Kids (2008-12-22)
We bought this camera for our seven year old and it was a great choice. Keep in mind that this is an inexpensive camera and was designed to be handled roughly. It packs a lot of features for the dollar spent. If you are looking for precision and high quality photography, this is not the camera you want. But, it is EXACTLY what we wanted for our kiddo. It is very easy to use and our daughter mastered every feature on the camera in short order. We put a 2MB card in it so she can take a ton of pictures, look at them and delete as she pleases without having to load them on the computer. It does much of what the more expensive cameras will do. It turns itself off after a short period of inactivity, which is a good thing for kids that tend to just set things down and walk off from them. Also, we like the fact that it can be charged rather than having to load it with new batteries all the time. Highly recommended.