Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB Portable External Hard Drive with Mobile Device Backup USB 3.0 (Red) STDR1000103

Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB Portable External Hard Drive with Mobile Device Backup USB 3.0 (Red) STDR1000103..

GET Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB Portable External Hard Drive with Mobile Device Backup USB 3.0 (Red) STDR1000103 By Seagate

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170 of 199 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent very slim, light, fairly fast 500-GB hard drive; the Windows version works on Mac and the Mac version works on Windows
By ƒůŽźŸ ωŬ≥ζŷ ♥☮♭♩♪♫♬♮☯☺♡✈
இ Fuzzy Wuzzy's Summary:
ѾѾѾѾѾ Highly recommended with warm fuzzies!

փ Positives:

փ This hard drive is indeed very slim, with its 9.5mm thickness being comparable to an internal laptop hard drive.
փ The read/write transfer speeds are pretty fast for a 5400-RPM hard drive (but performance will feel slower if you are accustomed to using 7200-RPM drives).
փ By installing a Windows or Mac driver, you can use either the Windows or Mac version of this drive on both Windows and Mac computers, which is great for transferring files in between both platforms.
փ This drive comes in 500-GB, 1-TB, and 2-TB capacities with five different color options for the top metal panel.

ჯ Negatives:

ჯ While the Seagate Dashboard software that is pre-loaded on the hard drive includes very useful and flexible backup software, the other two parts of the software to share files to social media sites and save files from social media sites are limited in their usefulness and flexibility.

With a thickness of 9.5mm for the 500-GB drive, this very portable little drive is only slightly thicker than an iPhone or pencil, and its thickness is comparable to many internal laptop/notebook drives. But while 9.5mm-thick internal laptop drives do not have an external case covering them, this drive is housed inside an attractive anodized aluminum metal case, with a plastic bottom base, that gives it a solidly rigid feel to the drive. The hard drive that is housed inside the case may even be thinner than a 7mm internal hard drive. So this external hard drive is actually thinner than most internal laptop/ultrabook hard drives. And the 500-GB drive weighs only 5 ounces, making this an extremely portable drive to carry around. With a thickness of 12.0mm, the 1-TB and 2-TB versions of this drive are 2.5mm thicker and slightly heavier than the 500-GB version. But a 12.0mm-thick drive casing is still tiny for a 2-TB external drive. There are some 15mm-thick 2-TB internal drives that are thicker than this, and they do not have an external case.

This hard drive comes with an 18-inch USB 3.0 cable. While this cable length is adequate for plugging into a laptop, I wish that the supplied cable was just a little longer in length (24 inches would be ideal) to allow more flexibility when connecting the hard drive to a desktop computer. My desktop computers are connected to USB hubs located on my desk so the cable is not too short for me, but many people will plug this hard drive directly into their desktop computer's USB port.

This drive is whisper quiet and when it is plugged into the USB port, a thin sliver of light glows near one corner of the top of the case to show that it is operational. While this drive is either reading or writing data, the glowing light pulsates, slowly shifting between dim and bright, instead of just blinking like most hard drive status lights. The pulsating hard drive status light looks more unique than the usual blinking light used by other external hard drives, as if the hard drive is breathing in and out while it works. My one minor quibble is that I wish the light would pulsate at a quicker pace. With a blinking hard drive activity LED, I can quickly glance over at the light and see if it is blinking. With this slowly pulsating light, I have to stare at the sliver of light for several seconds to see if the drive is reading/writing. As with all non-SSD hard drives, when I hold this drive in my hand, I can feel its body vibrating due to the spinning platter that is inside, and if I press my ear right up to the case while the drive is reading or writing data, I can just barely hear the read/write head moving around inside. So this hard drive is as quiet as the quietest of internal drives designed for notebooks.

I have seen various reviews erroneously mention that this Seagate Slim drive is either a 7200-RPM drive or a SSD drive, but both of those descriptions are incorrect. While Seagate previously used 7200-RPM drives in their GoFlex Slim drives, this Slim drive uses a 5400-RPM drive. For a 5400-RPM hard drive though, its transfer speeds are pretty good. This hard drive connects through a USB 3.0 cable, and as with all USB 3.0 devices being backwardly compatible with USB 2.0, you will only get the faster USB 3.0 speeds if you connect this drive to a USB 3.0 port. Connecting this drive to a USB 2.0 port will result in slower transfer speeds. When tested using the "HD Tune" hard drive performance benchmarking tool on an older laptop with USB 2.0 ports, I get an average read speed of 28 MB/s and an average write speed of 21 MB/s. Connecting this drive to a newer laptop having USB 3.0 ports, I get an average read speed of 92 MB/s (with maximum peaks of around 112 MB/s) and an average write speed of 86 MB/s. Even though most 7200-RPM notebook-sized hard drives will be faster, these speeds are pretty fast for a 5400-RPM hard drive. If you want the fastest speeds using this Seagate Slim drive, you need to plug it into a USB 3.0 port. This rule applies to any external storage device that uses a USB 3.0 cable. Perhaps Seagate chose to not include a faster 7200-RPM hard drive inside this tiny thin enclosure because of potential heat and reliability issues?

If I read or write hundreds of megabytes of data, the exterior of the drive does get warm over time since there is no internal cooling fan or ventilation holes in this drive's casing, but it usually does not get too hot. On one occasion, however, I was copying many very large HD video files onto this drive, and after twenty minutes of transferring HD videos back and forth where this hard drive was reading and writing non-stop, the drive's enclosure felt very hot when I touched it, so I undocked and unplugged the drive to let it cool down because I was worried about adversely affecting the drive's long-term reliability by continuing to operate it with the temperature inside its enclosure being so hot. The drive enclosure's metal top surface cooled down after about fifteen minutes, and I then plugged the drive back into my laptop and proceeded to edit the HD videos that were now loaded onto the drive. Because this tiny hard drive is housed in such a small totally-sealed enclosure, you should let it cool down sometimes if feels too hot after extended periods of reading/writing data. Avoiding repetitive overheating is a good idea for any external hard drive that lacks a cooling fan or ventilation holes in the hard drive's enclosure since heat can degrade a hard drive's performance and reliability over time. With most electronic components, repeatedly overheating the electronics can cause hardware failures and overheating is the primary cause of hard drive failure. Also avoid bumping, jarring, or dropping this hard drive, especially when it is plugged in.

About 800 MB of this drive's space is used up by the pre-loaded Seagate Dashboard software and brief tutorial videos on using the Seagate Dashboard software to protect and back up your files, save social media files, and conveniently share image and video files that are stored on this drive to Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. If you are certain that you do not ever want to use this Dashboard software, you can delete the 'Seagate Dashboard Installer.dmg' Mac software file, the 'Seagate Dashboard Installer.exe' Windows software file, and the 'Video' folder to free up hundreds of megabytes of disk space. A 'Seagate' folder that is in the root directory contains a 'SerialNumber.xml' file that has the model number and serial number of the drive. The model number and serial number are also printed on the bottom panel of the drive however. In the Windows version of this drive, the 'Seagate' folder has a 'Seagate-Release.exe' program that you can run to register the drive with Seagate. After you finish registering the drive, you can delete the 'Seagate' folder.

If you want to leave the software and tutorial videos on the drive, you can still delete either the 135-MB 'Seagate Dashboard Installer.dmg' Mac software file or the 156-MB 'Seagate Dashboard Installer.exe' Windows software file if you only exclusively use Mac or Windows computers. In the 'Video' folder, there are eight folders - 'en-US', 'fr-FR', 'it-IT', 'ko-KR', 'ru-RU', 'sv-SE', 'zh-CN', and 'zh-TW' - that each contain the same set of four tutorial videos: 'Introducing Seagate Backup Plus', 'Protecting Your Files With Seagate Dashboard Tutorial', 'Saving Social Media Files With Seagate Dashboard Tutorial', and 'Sharing To Social Media Sites With Seagate Dashboard Tutorial'. These eight sets of videos are identical in the video and audio, and only differ in the subtitle language used: English (no subtitles), French, Italian, Korean, Russian, Swedish, Chinese, and Taiwanese. If you keep the 'en-US' English video that has no subtitles and delete the other seven folders, you free up almost 350 MB of space.

Of the three components in the Seagate Dashboard software, the "Protect" function offers the most usefulness and flexibility, while the "Share" and "Save" functions for sharing/uploading to and saving from social media sites are limited in their capabilities. With the Dashboard's "Protect" function, you can schedule backups of your files based on a regular hourly/daily/weekly/monthly schedule, or have your files backed up whenever they are added or modified, or make backups on an as-needed basis by manually initiating a "snapshot" backup of your files. I am always surprised by how many people never back up the files on their computers, either their work-related files or their personal files, including documents, email and Microsoft Outlook files, photo/music/media files, or other files that are often irreplaceable if their computer's hard drive suddenly fails. If your computer has years of files accumulated on it that you have never backed up to another disk, to a CD/DVD, or to an online cloud-based backup service, this Seagate Slim hard drive can be used as your backup device where you can store a duplicate copy of all your important files. If you have already been using a backup process, as mentioned, you do not have to install the Dashboard software and you can just completely delete all the pre-loaded software from this hard drive if you want.

Important: If you do use the pre-loaded Seagate "Protect" software to back up your files, or if you use other kinds of automated backup software, you should randomly spot-check some of the duplicated backup files and folders every one or two months to verify that the files are correctly being copied and that they can be read correctly. Spot-check the backup files more frequently if they are important and you really value their integrity. Backup software is still a software application and, just like firmware and other software, and also taking into account that a hard drive may start to slowly fail with read/write errors after years of usage, there may be a software or hardware glitch that causes a file to either not be backed up by the backup software, or to be backed up but unreadable. By occasionally spot-checking the integrity of your backup files, you reduce the possibility of having an unpleasant surprise if you really need to recover the files from the backup copy. A data error can happen with any electronic storage media. For example, if you back up files by burning data to a CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc, you should spot-check their integrity by accessing some of their files at least once a year. The same rule applies if your backup files are stored by a cloud-based backup/storage service. There are also integrity-checking software that will automatically verify the integrity of hard disks or optical media. I am an avid photographer, and with terabytes of hard disk space becoming more inexpensive each year, my favorite way to back up files is by manually copying files and folders to two separate hard drives in a "manual RAID 1" setup where I manually back up and mirror the photo and HD-video files between both drives, instead of relying on backup software to perform the function. I previously used a dual-hard-drive RAID 1 storage unit, but I like being able to directly access either drive and I also do not like how RAID 1 simultaneously deletes files from both drives if I ever type or click too fast and have an "oops" accidental file deletion.

The Dashboard software's "Share" function lets you share files that are stored on the hard drive by uploading to either Facebook, Flickr, or YouTube. And the "Save" function lets you save photos from Facebook or Flickr. Unlike the "Share" function, "Save" does not let you save videos from YouTube. But there are many freeware software and online sites that can convert and save YouTube videos already. I really did not care for how either these "Share" or "Save" functions worked because they are quite limited in their flexibility, and it is very easy to perform the same functions directly using the Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube sites without having to go through an intermediate step of using the Dashboard software to upload files. Perhaps Seagate added the "Share" and "Save" options for computer newbies or social media newcomers. But the irony is that even though this Dashboard software "dumbs down" the uploading of files to Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube, the computer newbies who would most benefit from using the "Share" and "Save" options may not even have an account on Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube.

This pocket-sized drive is quite small and light: 4.5"x3.0"x0.4" and 5.3 ounces (including the USB cable) for the 500-GB version, with the 1-TB and 2-TB versions being slightly thicker and heavier. You can use this portable drive to shuttle files back and forth between Windows and Mac computers, dragging and dropping folders and files to transfer them between the computer and this external hard drive. Note that there are two versions of this Seagate Slim external hard drive: a Windows version formatted for NTFS and a Mac version formatted for HFS+. You should get the version for the platform that you work on the most. If you mainly use a Mac and you use Time Machine for your backups, you should definitely get the Mac version of this drive. If you mainly work on Windows and Mac is more of a secondary computer, you should get the Windows version of this drive.

Since Windows NTFS and Mac HFS+ file systems do not automatically play well together, use of this hard drive on both Windows and Mac computers does require the download and installation of a driver. If you get the Windows version of this drive, when you plug the drive into a Mac, it will download from the Internet a necessary Mac driver (NTFS_for_Mac_with_restart.dmg) that lets the Windows-NTFS-formatted drive work with Macs. NTFS drives are normally read-only on Mac OS, and this driver lets Macs both read and write on the NTFS-formatted version of this hard drive. Note that because Mac's Time Machine requires a Mac-HFS-formatted drive, when you use the Windows version of this drive with the Mac driver, this setup cannot work with Time Machine unless you reformat the drive to be a HFS+journaled file system... in which case you might as well just get the Mac version of this drive if you intend to also use it with Time Machine. If you get the Mac version of this drive, when you plug the drive into a Windows PC, it will download a necessary Windows driver (HFS4Win.exe) that lets the Mac-HFS+formatted drive work with Windows. You can also download both the Mac-driver-for-Windows-NTFS and Windows-driver-for-Mac-HFS+ drivers directly from Seagate's Web site. See the 'Comments' section of my review for the URL locations. Seagate should have pre-loaded both of these Windows/Mac drivers on the hard drive just like how they pre-loaded both the Windows and Mac versions of their Dashboard software.

Overall, this is a great little drive that is sized for maximum portability. It includes a 2-year limited warranty. And at the time of this review's writing, Amazon is offering this hard drive at a great price of less than $70 for the 500-GB size. It was not that long ago when a 500-GB portable hard drive costed hundreds of dollars and was at least three times larger in size. I rely both on my own research and the opinions of others to help me make informed buying decisions. I hope that this review helped you to be a wise shopper! :)

107 of 127 people found the following review helpful.
Fast little drive - Dashboard software not perfect
By Roberta V. Russo
Here are the impressions of a non-techy about the Seagate Slim 500 gig external hard drive. This drive is amazingly small - about 3 by 4 inches and 1/4 inch thick. Nice - because it doesn't take up much shelf or desk space and is easy to carry around. I like to take a backup drive with me whenever I travel with my computer and this drive is the perfect size for that. The USB cord that it comes with is approximately 18 inches long (give or take). It also comes packed with a small instruction pamphlet describing how install the backup software called the Seagate Dashboard that comes pre-loaded on the drive. Its a pretty simple and straightforward process so there is not a lot to the instructions. There are also 4 short instruction videos pre-loaded on the drive: "Introducing Seagate Backup Plus Video"; "Protecting Your Files With Seagate Dashboard Tutorial"; "Saving Social Media Files With Seagate Dashboard Tutorial"; and "Sharing To Social Media Sites With Seagate Dashboard Tutorial". If you watch them they give a pretty good overview of the features available with the Dashboard software.

I usually don't load the software that comes with hard drives, but I decided to give the Seagate Dashboard a try. I am using a laptop with Windows 8 operating system. Basically you just plug in the drive, navigate to the installation file and double click it. That brings up the registration screen, the software loads, and then you must re-start the computer to finish the install. It took maybe 5 minutes and installed with no problems.

Once the software is installed you open it by double clicking its desktop icon. From the home screen you get 3 choices: Protect (backup and restore your data); Share (upload your pictures and videos to your Facebook, Flickr and YouTube accounts); and Save (Download pictures and videos from your Facebook and Flickr accounts).

Protect:
You can schedule backups at specific intervals like hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Or you can select continuous backup which basically creates backups in real time as you add or change files. If you don't want to set a regular schedule you can instead click the "snapshot" button to start a backup whenever you want. By default the backup includes anything that is not a system or program file but you get the option to pick the files you want to include. The first time you run backup takes a little longer because it is backing up all the files, after the first time its faster because its only backing up new or changed files. I have the drive connected to a USB 3 port and the first time I ran backup it took about 20 - 30 minutes to backup roughly 100 gig of data files. I selected "continuous" and keep the drive connected all the time. I haven't really noticed any lag time or slow down using the continuous backup feature.

The drive comes with a free one-year subscription to the Nero "cloud" drive which you can also select as a backup location. You get 4 gig free for 12 months - after that you have to pay for the subscription. You can also buy extra space. You have to create an account and set a password. I did set up the account, but haven't used this feature and don't really plan to in the future.

Share:
You can use the Dashboard to upload pictures and video to social media sites: Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. I don't use Facebook or Flickr (hard to believe in this day and age, I know) but I do use YouTube, so I gave it a try. From Dashboard click the Facebook, Flick, or YouTube icon. The first time you access one of these sites you have to enter your account log-in information and give the software permission to access your account. Here is how it worked for YouTube. Once logged in it brought up a file manager screen where I could browse to and select a video on either my Seagate external hard drive or my computer hard drive. Once the file is selected you choose one of the standard YouTube categories for it. Then the file uploads. After uploading the video using the Seagate Dashboard, I deleted it from YouTube and uploaded it again using the standard upload directly from the YouTube site - just to see the difference.

First of all the video took longer to upload using the Seagate Dashboard than it did directly from the YouTube website. I suppose that might not be the fault of the software - maybe the internet was just running slower when I used the Dashboard, but I did upload them within 1/2 hour of each other. The biggest fault I found using the Seagate Dashboard to upload videos is that you don't get any of the options that you do when you upload directly from the YouTube site. When you upload a video directly from the YouTube site you get a lot of options. You can enter a Title for the video, you can enter a description, and enter tags (e.g. Chicago, dogs) so that the video comes up in searches, you can pick a thumbnail to use for the video, select a privacy setting (public or private) and select a category for the video. When you use the Dashboard, it automatically uses the name of the file as the title of the video (you don't get to choose). The only choice the Seagate Dashboard gives you is to select a category for the video - that's it. It also automatically posts it as a public video. You don't get any other choices or options. Once you have uploaded a video using the Dashboard you can always log on to your YouTube account directly from the YouTube website and edit these choices, but why bother with 2 steps if you can just do all this directly on YouTube in the first place? Given the results of this test, I would not use the Seagate Dashboard to upload videos to YouTube. I can't speak for how Facebook or Flickr uploads work because I don't use Facebook or Flick.

Save:
You can use this to save files from your social media sites (for example, save the pictures you posted on Facebook). The only 2 social media sites you can do this for with the Seagate Dashboard are Facebook and Flickr. YouTube is not an option. I don't use Facebook or Flickr, so I couldn't test this. I am disappointed that saving files posted to my YouTube account was not an option.

Overall I would give the drive 3 stars. What I liked most was the size and speed - its small and very fast. I give the Dashboard software mixed reviews. The backup function seems to work great but the Share and Save options left something to be desired. I would have rated the drive higher if it hadn't been for the software. I just got the drive, so I can't speak for durability, but it seems like well built little drive.

36 of 41 people found the following review helpful.
Contains standard SATA version of Samsung M9T
By Chris Burston
I ordered one of these in the hope that it would contain the long anticipated 2TB 2.5" 9.5mm Samsung M9T hard disk. I'm happy to report that it does and that said drive has a standard SATA interface.

My MacBook Pro is now sitting pretty with 2TB of internal storage. Happy Days!

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UP 24 by Jawbone - Bluetooth Enabled - Large - Retail Packaging - Persimmon Red

UP 24 by Jawbone - Bluetooth Enabled - Large - Retail Packaging - Persimmon Red..

Grab Now UP 24 by Jawbone - Bluetooth Enabled - Large - Retail Packaging - Persimmon Red By Jawbone

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711 of 735 people found the following review helpful.
UP24 -- the Holistic Wrist gets better!
By RST
Last November, I reviewed the Jawbone UP, and later compared it to the Fitbit Flex. A year later, Jawbone has now released the UP24. This review will primarily focus on making a choice between UP, UP24 and Fitbit Flex. When I originally reviewed the devices, I thought the main differences would be in the hardware appearance and fit/feel. I was a bit wrong-- the biggest functionality difference was in the quality, function and aesthetic value of the software that comes with it. With the UP24 now having bluetooth syncing, the biggest difference for me is now only the software. I'll let you make your own conclusions.

And now a year later, I will refresh my thoughts about the UP & Flex devices, and how the UP24 adds to the mix of options.

If you want to read my original in depth review of the UP, you can see it here:
http://www.amazon.com/review/RT0KPKVSQD0HI/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm (copy & paste if click isn't allowed)

If you want to read my original in depth review of the Fitbit Flex, you can see it here:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1CVXEEYIAIR0W/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm (copy & paste if click isn't allowed)

If you want to read my original review of the Fitbit One, you can see it here:
http://www.amazon.com/review/RU12ENFFFWD02/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm (copy & paste if click isn't allowed)

Hardware Comparison
UP24, UP and Flex are equally easy and comfortable for me to wear. The Flex requires a bit more work to latch, and the UPs both can get in the way when keyboarding on a laptop. Flex is charged by removing a horse pill sized module from the rubber arm band, and plugging it in to USB. UP is charged by plugging the band into an adapter and charging in USB.

In the UP vs Flex, I got about the same battery life in both, slightly leaning toward the Flex. In UP24, I get about 7 days of battery usage, and this includes it automatically bluetooth syncing. On both devices, if you have a bluetooth 4+ device, you should not see any noticeable drop in battery life by staying connected all the time, and I have not seen a difference.

I have worn the UP and Flex in extensive swimming, and while none are rated to track your swimming, none encountered any technical issues from the water. The Flex seemed to get a bit "funky/gross" in the portal where the horse pill goes. UP did not get gunky under its cap. Not a deal breaker on the Flex, but a bit more work to maintain.

From a physical and appearance perspective, the UP24 and UP are identical on the outside. The only difference is that the UP24 has a smaller sync jack inside the cap which is smaller than a standard headphone jack. The UP syncs through a headphone jack of your phone, while the UP24 and Flex use bluetooth.

Charging in both devices takes about at the same amount of time-- 30-60 minutes. I recommend for both that you only use a computer or PC-- not a USB wall charger. Some devices fail quickly when charged with more than 1.5V and while I don't have scientific proof to back it, this is my conclusion from what I've seen in discussions and on forums.

When you buy an UP or UP24, you are committing to a color. When you buy a Flex, you can change the band and can choose any color you can find in a replacement band.

Wearing each isn't terribly different. The UP/24 is more like a slap bracelet or a twisty metal that retains its original shape. You stretch it to put it on and it overlaps again to hold on. You can push it tighter if you want, as the rubber grips itself and lets you adjust the tension. The Flex is a thinner but wider band and feels more out of the way, but the clasp can be a bit difficult to operate. For absolute adherence I would say the Flex stays on better in most normal situations. The UP will stay on on roller coasters and probably even a NASA launch, but it can sometimes get entangled in backpack shoulder straps and pull itself from your arm to the strap. This is the only negative thing I have to say about the design of the UP.

Sleep Function
All three devices are equally accurate for day time walking for me and report almost identical steps. The UP and UP24 are equally good at sleep monitoring, both deep & shallow. The Fitbit didn't give nearly as much detail about sleep, and for that matter about activity, intensity, etc. throughout the day in such a clear simple beautiful presentation. The UP products now can auto add your sleep if you forgot to put it in sleep mode and you give it appropriate sleep and awake times. This is a really nice addition since all devices require you to tell them when you sleep, and sometimes it's easy to forget. Now, you don't lose that data. A great improvement.

One feature I like about the UP is the "power nap" function. It learns your sleep patterns, and lets you make it through one cycle of sleep and slowly begins to vibrate to wake you up. For me, this amount of time is about 26 minutes. It's so uncanny at waking you at the right time that you may almost feel like you didn't sleep-- until you realize you did. It can also use this technology to wake you in the morning.

Software Openness
For some months I wore both the Jawbone UP and Fitbit Flex on my arm, side by side, comparing their use, charging habits, syncing functionality, and software. There were a few reasons that some people would prefer the Fitbit product, and most of those focused on the Fitbit software's openness to sharing data to other third party applications for more intense food tracking (like MyFitness Pal, which now works with both UP/24 Flex), and other types of apps that help you focus on weight loss, etc. Last year, UP didn't have this functionality, but now it does. On the openness of software, there may be some caveats of what is available for each, but both now fully support third party software integration to your data.

Software Usage
Hands down, the UP software is more useful, intuitive, predictive and provides more insight. The software is downright beautiful. The design gets out of the way and lets you really interact with the data and configuration in a way that feels natural and intuitive. It's fun. The Fitbit Flex software is an adaptation of the software they've had for some time for their other devices, so in that I suspect that Fitbit didn't have the opportunity and timing to start with a fresh slate and rethink their software. I didn't like the software enough that I chose to stop using the Flex after a few months. I'm sure a total refresh will come soon from Fitbit, if it hasn't already subsequent to my testing of the Flex.

Social
When I did the original reviews linked above, I received (and welcomed!) a ton of questions. I might expect the same here. From my perspective the UP24 is an incremental upgrade to the UP, which was already neck to neck with the Fitbit Flex, and for me, the preferred choice. With the addition of Bluetooth to the UP, it's my clear and only choice. There may be reasons that you would prefer the Flex, and one reason that could sway you either way is the social aspect-- both support friends, which can provide encouragement both directly, and by your observance of their performance. Hey! My friend did 2x what I did all week, no wonder I am not dropping pounds! Etc. Wherever you have friends already using the platform, don't discredit this as a strong piece of encouragement if you're looking to make this an encouragement product.

In the beginning, Fibit sent weekly email summaries that were quite nice, and the UP strong point was providing real feedback about your data, and telling you in which percentage of performance you are in by all UP users. This area is also starting to commingle a bit with both products nearly covering the bases of each other.

Food Logging
I don't plan to compare some more of the discrete differences in software such as food logging, etc. I tried it originally in both and while I wasn't an expert, I stopped using it in both products. If I pick back up on the habit of food logging, I will update the review with that information. At the time, the UP had a beautiful software which even allowed you to scan bar codes, and Flex had less pretty but more in depth software food database. I would suspect that this is another area where this competition will become more intense and where they will equalize, and since 3rd party apps are supported in both, you could do this in another app if either software is lacking.

So to conclude, if you want me to choose a product for you as the average general interested customer, I would choose the UP24 for you. But if you know more about your needs or you have specific needs that you know the Flex meets and UP/24 does not, it's ok! I certainly wouldn't bash the flex and I think they could make it a quite powerful product again if they could get their software on par with Jawbone UP software app for iOS/Android.

I recommend the UP24 (which comes with bluetooth). I would only recommend the original UP (the one without bluetooth) to someone who doesn't have bluetooth, doesn't want to enable bluetooth, or is purely buying on price but likes the description of software or features of the UP/24. If you choose the UP and not the 24, make sure it is compatible with your phone or device.

I hope this has been long enough to be helpful, but short enough to not bore you. If you have specific
questions, I will do my best to answer them in the comments below. Happy fitness! FYI: I bought mine from jawbone. com.

UPDATE: In the mean time, the Fitbit Force has been released. I have not used this device. From what I can tell it adds an external display and altimeter to gauge stairs, otherwise, I don't have specific feedback on that device. I assume it uses the same software as the Flex.

UPDATE: A commentor pointed out that it would really have been optimal to compare the UP24 to the Fitbit Force. I can't disagree with that. I lost a little bit of steam with the Fitbit product due to their software being lacking at my last use of the Flex. If I can get my hands on a Force, I will add what I can in comparison if any differences are seen in my conclusions.

244 of 261 people found the following review helpful.
My favorite fitness band
By Charlie D
First off, I would like to point out that I own both the Jawbone UP24 and the Fitbit Force and will compare a few features in this review, but if you want a full review on the Fitbit Force I will be posting one on the actual product here soon.

Hardware:

The UP24 features new curved design on the top, has a smaller headphone jack that is only used for charging, and now syncs via Bluetooth. It has two green LED lights indicating day/night mode, a vibrating motor and a physical button for changing modes.
There is no clasp, you just twist it on and it fits fairly comfortably if you chose the right size. It is thin and bulky so it tends to get in the way and raise my wrist when I type or use a mouse and can get annoying, I prefer a wider, flatter design.

The Fitbit Force has a beautiful OLED Screen that shows you all of your stats without having to pull out your phone. The design is very minimalist, and to me is much more comfortable to wear vs the UP. It also does not snag on my jackets or long sleeve shirts and is very thin at the bottom so it is comfortable to type with it on where as the up can be very uncomfortable to type or use a mouse with it on.

Battery Life - Battery lasts me about 7-8 days and takes about an hour to charge. The manual says to charge it only on a USB port on your computer, but I have charged it using my iPhone wall charger and car charger just fine.

Pedometer - The UP seems fairly accurate for tracks your steps. If I wave my arm around or if I'm driving, the UP does not count steps whereas the Fitbit Force seems to count steps for any slight movement I make.

Software:

The App is just plain beautiful and intuitive. It is indeed what makes this product what it is. This is where this product shines over the Fitbit Force in my opinion, and is the reason I chose the UP24 even though it lacks a screen.

Activity Logging - Made extreme simple. You double tap + hold the physical button and it will start logging your work out. Once you are done, do it again and it will add an "activity" to your timeline in which you go to the iOS app and choose what type of activity it was from a preset list [walk, weights, run, cross train, hike, cardio, bike, yoga, stationary bike, pilates, elliptical, basketball, video games, tennis, dance, soccer, ski, other).
Once you choose your workout, you can choose what the intensity was and it will adjust the calorie burn accordingly. What I also like is that if you forget to log your activity, or remember half way through your workout, after your stop logging the workout you can edit what time you began the workout and it will analyze those prior movements and add them to your logged activity.
You can also calibrate your UP to your stride, by logging a known walking/running distance (track preferred) and going into your settings and choosing that activity and it will calculate your future walks/runs more accurately.

The Fitbit Force lacks in this department, it seems very finicky to me, especially after having used the UP. When I log an activity it only shows up on the web app but not on my iOS app (not sure why) and it only lets me name the workout but does not let me choose what type of exercise it was or the intensity level. The only way I have found to do this is to manually add your activity every time which is annoying and not as accurate.

Sleep tracking - The UP does this very well, you hold the button before you go to sleep until you see the LED moon, and feel it vibrate and press it again when you wake up. If you forget to put it in sleep mode, hit manually add sleep and it will automatically fill in your sleep and estimate what times you slept and woke up based on your movements. I've tried purposely sleeping without logging it to test this feature out and it has been very accurate. It also has a power nap mode (double tap 3 times + hold) and you can record your naps throughout the day and it will automatically wake you up based off your sleep cycle.
It will show you a pretty graph with your deep sleep/light sleep cycle, and how many times you woke up based off your movements throughout the night.

The Fitbit Force does at pretty good job at tracking sleep also, but doesn't break down your stats as well as the UP.

Alarms - One of my favorite features, you can set smart vibration alarms that wake you up slowly based off your sleep cycle, I much prefer this over a loud obnoxious cellphone alarm. There is also an idle alarm that will vibrate after you have been inactive for a preset amount of time to remind you to get off your butt (Something the Fitbit Force does not have).

Social - I loove the social aspect of the UP (Something the Fitbit Force also lacks) you have the ability to add your friends or random people (which I did because none of my friends own an UP) and cheer each other on and comment on each other's workouts and statuses. You can set your mood for the day with a status to go with it, you can view people's UP profiles and view their logged activities and goal progress. It makes it feel like a game and really motivates you to get off your butt and compete.

App Support - The UP has plenty of supporting Apps, although the only ones I use are runkeeper and withings. Every time you log a run on runkeeper it will automatically add it to your timeline with a picture of your route and your running stats. Every time you weigh yourself on a withings scale or manually add your weight to the withings app, it will add it to your time line with a picture of a bar graph showing your weight history.

Food Logging - UP has vast database of foods, I was even able to find items off certain restaurant menus. You can also take a picture of your food and type in the nutrition facts manually or use bar code scanner built into the app (what I mostly use). I really like this feature but am lazy at times to log everything I eat so I don't use it as much as id like to.

As for the Fitbit... I'd recommend linking it to MyFitnessPal and use their food database.

In conclusion:
I absolutely love everything about the UP except the hardware itself. Although I do really like the design, it is slightly bulky, lacks a screen, and has no clasp. But the UP software is so well made and fun to use that I am happily willing to overlook that. I don't carry my computer with me everywhere so it is awesome to be able have all my detailed stats available to me. Although I do hope they make a windows metro app for it next! Fitbit already has one!

The Fitbit band itself I actually prefer to wear, love the design, fit, screen, and color, but can't bring myself to like it as much as I'd like to because the steps always seem over counted and the app is way too basic for me. Also the fact that you have to pay 50$ a year for more in depth stats. Should be free in my opinion. Also don't like having to log on to the web app to see more details of my activities.

- UPDATE [5 JAN 2014]-

After extensive testing wearing both the Jawbone UP24 and Fitbit Force on my non dominant hand (left) I have found the Fitbit force to be grossly inaccurate. More so than I had originally thought. On a 10 minute drive to work the Fitbit recorded 126 steps while the UP recorded none. On a road trip back from NY to MD, the Fitbit counted over 400 steps while the UP24 constantly gave me my hourly idle alerts so I knew that no activity was being recorded. By end of each day, the Fitbit force counted 1,000 - 3,000 steps more than then UP24! Now I have also compared this data to the Moves App and the Runtastic Pedometer app for the iPhone 5S that both utilize its M7 motion processor. I started recording an activity on all four apps/devices before I stepped out of my door, and went to the mall with my wife for a typical day of following her around while she shops. I stopped recording when we arrived home and I stepped back inside my house (I was out for about 4 hours). Here are the results of my comparison test:

iPhone 5S: Moves App - 3,106 Steps
iPhone 5S: Runtastic Pedometer App - 3,313 Steps
Jawbone UP24 - 3,269 Steps
Fitbit Force - 3,886 Steps

As you can see, the UP24 fell right in between the iPhone Apps, while the Fitbit Force had counted 500+ steps more. This is due to the high sensitivity of the Fitbit Force as it counts steps for any slight movement (as I mentioned earlier). To test this further, I had my wife wear the Fitbit force while she did her hair and when she gave it back it had counted over 1,000 steps...

Another thing I have discovered about the Jawbone UP24 is that it can indeed be used for cycling/elliptical, although there is a catch. You have to wear it on your ankle (which its coil design somewhat allows, depending on your band/ankle size). Mine is a little stretched when I have it on as the ends don't touch, but it still feels comfortable over the sock and works just the same. I tried it on a stationary bike and it counted two steps/revolution, it also counts steps walking around very accurately as well. So that's something you can experiment with if you do decide to get one and you frequently go on bike rides or if for whatever reason you can't wear it on your wrist.

_______________________________

If there is anything else you guys would like me to add to this review that I may have missed, please let me know and I will update my review.

161 of 173 people found the following review helpful.
Its good buts its bulky.
By kolimit
I was initially given the Up24 as a Christmas Gift. My fiancé saw that I had been searching for weeks trying to decide the right one. She did some research on her own and decided to get me this product. But after a week, I returned it and brought the Nike Fuelband SE. BUT here is my product review.
Pros:
1. Software: The Jawbone’s software is FAR ahead of Fitbit and Nike Fuelband. It was very comprehensive and easy to understand. The Software integrated with all the popular Fitness tracking apps, i.e. Myfitness Pal. Fitbit does too. Nike Fuelband does NOT! That’s a huge negative for me. I digress. The software automatically synced with Myfitness Pal. What I would offer as a suggestion to Jawbone is to improve the software would allow for the individual to put in Calories manually. It allows it, sort of. But you have to do some playing around. ALL, I REPEAT ALL, Fitness trackers are horrible at recording Weight Training and Static Exercise Machines (treadmills). BUT jawbone does better than all to help the user put the actually calories that they think may have burned and sync with MyFitnessPal.

2. Sleep tracking: Another good one. Their sleep tracking and integration was awesome and provided me an insight into how I sleep. I noticed that I do my heavy sleeping early and light sleep as the night wears on. I think that is military training. I digress.

3. Battery Life: 7 days is great. Before I decided to switch, my plan was to wear the device Monday-Saturday and take it off on Sundays for charging. I personally believe that too much tracking and syncing will derail your fitness plans. Need to give it a rest. No matter. This is still a plus.

4. Ease of use. Very easy to remove and expands. This was useful for weight training when I had to put on my gloves (w/ wrist support). My Fuelband, I must replace the links.

5. The Silent wakeup. Great idea. TOO bad the Nike FB DOES NOT have this feature .

Cons: Ultimately, I decided I had to return this product because it did not integrate into my routine smooth enough

1. Software: Jawbone needs to have a desktop app.

2. Feels Cumbersome: I could never find the right position to wear this thing around my wrist. I initially have the thicker piece facing up. Then I switched to it being down. Jawbone needs to be on board and design the next Up24 as something you strap to your wrist, not wrap around. This was the main reason (if not, the only) I returned the product.

3. Need to allow the user to manually input his/her calories burned after a workout. Why does Jawbone care if people cheat. They are only cheating themselves.

4. Need to thin it out. It is too thick and gets in the way. It came off while I was sleep. I believe it’s too easy to lose this item. Por Que $150 es mucho dinero (Because $150 is a lot of money).

5. Where the heck is the heart rate monitor? If it’s too much to put into the product, an idea would be to team up with a popular heart rate tracking company to integrate a HR monitor to link in with the UP to give accurate calories burned. Just a thought.
If Jawbone Up was similar in design to Nike FB SE, I would return the Nike FB SE in a heartbeat.

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Boogie Board 8.5-Inch LCD Writing Tablet, Red (PT01085REDA0002)

Boogie Board 8.5-Inch LCD Writing Tablet, Red (PT01085REDA0002)..

Buy Boogie Board 8.5-Inch LCD Writing Tablet, Red (PT01085REDA0002) By Boogie Board

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213 of 228 people found the following review helpful.
This is an excellent tool.
By Victoria MacKenzie-Richert
Back when I worked at Staples, this was literally the first thing that I bought. $40 out the door. But it was the best $40 I ever spent. Now there are a few things that you have to know about my particular product:

1) It was the last item on the shelf and it was in a disheveled box, so it was by no means "Factory Fresh".

2) I am a technology geek, so out of curiosity, I ripped the top plate off the rest of the board less than 10 minutes after I bought it. The top plate doesn't reattach, so don't do that to yours. On the plus side, the circut board is showing, so extra geek-cred to me!

This is an excellent product that I would buy again in a heartbeat. Basically it's a black tablet with a type of screen that you draw on with the included stylus. However, you can write on it with anything that doesn't scratch the surface. I lost the stylus a while ago, and I've been writing on it with the back side of a wooden crochet hook for ages and it works perfectly. I'm sure you could also use any old DS stylus for it as well. (Current cell phone styluses won't work because they'll get stuck on the surface due to friction)

Like, do you remember those toys from the dollar store that had the paper, and a layer of plastic and you drew on them? Now take one of those and add an etch-a-sketch to it. Now take that concept and apply it to an old calculator screen LCD interface. Taa-daa, you have this product.

The website has said that the product will last approximately 6 years. I don't use it nearly as often as the website suggests in that equation, so I'm sure it will last me much longer.

Seriously, if you like strange gadgets, are part of the "green" movement or just want a nifty new way to write notes, then get this tablet!

(PS. You can't transfer anything over to the computer or anything like that, so if you're doing major work, use a real Android tablet/iPad or some paper. This is mostly for temporary stuff like lists)

133 of 146 people found the following review helpful.
one thing wrong with these....
By Anita Drost
Bought these for my grandchildren after they went crazy over my son in laws tablet. When I saw them in color on line I thought all the better for 4 girls of varied ages. Plus, they were less expensive that the plain silver one. Was delighted when they arrived, until I did a bit of research to find out why the silver ones were more expensive. They were the newer models. The "original" boogie boards did not have a "replaceable" battery. There was a limited amount of erasures and then you had to throw it away. So I sent them back and got the newer models that sold for around $40, but you can replace the battery.

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful.
My kids love this!
By Mary Stewart McGovern
My kids love this so much. I love the fact it doesn't require batteries. I only wish I could save the pictures, notes, etc. to my computer.

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Canon PowerShot SX280 12MP Digital Camera with 20x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 3-Inch LCD (Red)

Canon PowerShot SX280 12MP Digital Camera with 20x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 3-Inch LCD (Red)..

GET Canon PowerShot SX280 12MP Digital Camera with 20x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 3-Inch LCD (Red) By Canon

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297 of 305 people found the following review helpful.
Great Camera! Love the Wireless!
By Telemachus
I've had a number of PowerShot cameras. Really impressed with the picture quality of the camera and the overall speed. Colors and picture quality are quite good and the low-light performance is superior. The previous review focuses nicely on the picture quality, so I wil stick with the human factors.

Manual control and adjustment are simple to master, so you won't need to rely on the automatic settings. My only concern with the camera is hat the wifi settings are difficult to set up. I'm pretty good with wireless technologies and it took me quite awhile to figure it out. Make sure you run the set up disk. Unlike many other consumer wireless gadgets, this one requires that you run the setup software. Couldn't just turn on the camera and connect it to the router. As much as it pains me to say this, I should've read the directions prior to jumping in to try to set it up! :-)

Once it's setup, it works great. I've been transferring files to iphone, ipad, and laptop; and transferring to the Canon Image site. All directly from the camera. Even emailed my wife a link to a photo directly from the camera. Camera IS a bit of a battery hog, but I was expecting it.

Update: Since I concentrated on human factors in my review, I thought I would weigh in on flash location interfering with handhold
position. Personally, I didn't notice it until I read the other reviews. I've had other cameras with pop up flashes, so I think I just automatically adjusted to it. That said, I can see how it would annoy some people. The flash is located in the front left-hand corner of the camera, but there IS sufficient space behind the flash to place your finger. Could be a problem if you have large hands, I suppose.. Motor is also strong enough to remind me to move it when it pops up.

----------------------------
Update 20 May:: There is a glitch that's been widely reported that shows that the battery is drained when in video mode. This is a glitch in the indicator, not the actual battery life. Cannon has acknowledged the problem and is working on a fix. Expect the next firmware update to address the issue.
-----------------------------
Update 5 June: New Firmware Released Today!! Details Firmware Version 1.0.2.0 incorporates the following fixes and improvements:

1. Increases the duration of movie shooting by 20% in cases where the optical zoom is used compared to cameras running Firmware Version 1.0.0.0 or Firmware Version 1.0.1.0 through a reduction in the power consumption of the optical zoom.

*Time under default camera settings, when normal operations are performed, such as shooting, pausing, turning the camera on and off, and zooming. (based on conditions established by Canon).
-Under some shooting conditions, the recording time may be shorter than mentioned above.
-Recording time with a fully charged battery.

2. Fixes a phenomenon with cameras running firmware version 1.0.0.0, in which the low battery level warning is prematurely displayed while shooting in movie mode.

Firmware Version 1.0.2.0 is for cameras with firmware Version 1.0.1.0 or Version 1.0.0.0. If the camera's firmware is already Version 1.0.2.0, it is not necessary to update the firmware. Please note that, once the camera is updated to the latest version, it cannot be restored to a previous

I installed it with no problems.

443 of 462 people found the following review helpful.
A Great Campact Camera
By Just Another Reviewer
Enough said about how good this compact camera is in the other reviews. Only two quick comments: It is an excellent compact zoom camera complimentary to my SLR camera/lens collection on the road for quick shots (photo & video) without lens changing. Case Logic DCB-302 Compact Case provides good protection and a perfect fit with room for extra battery and SD card.

Update 5/8/2013: Per Canon technical support, the battery inside the camera cannot be charged via USB port like your cell phone when connecting to PC or outside USB power source.

Update 5/13/2013: When using "AUTO" on the dial as well as ""AUTO" ISO" in "P", "Tv" and "Av", the ISO is automatically selected from 80 to 1600, not to 3200 or 6400. To manually select ISO 3200 or 6400 in "P", "Tv" and "Av", you need to select "FUNC. SET" and then choose the 3200 or 6400 under the"ISO" list.

Update 5/19/2013 The flashing "low battery" warning in the video mode is indeed a design fault of the battery indicator not the battery itself. With a freshly charged battery, I can take either around 200 photos or about 30 minutes video (1080p 30fps). The low battery warning comes in about 2 minutes into the video shooting after some zooming.

Update 5/20/2013 Per Canon technical support, Canon is trying to resolve this "low battery" warning issue in the video mode. Decided to return this wonderful camera. Will buy it when the issue is resolved.

Update 6/5/2013 Canon just published a firmware update for SX280 to fix the low battery warning issue in the video mode at this web link: ([...] Click on "Drivers & Software". Select your computer's Operating System and OS Version. Click on "Firmware". Download the firmware zip file and unzip the file. Follow the instruction in the PDF file to update the firmware.

Update 6/7/2013 I repurchased a new SX280 with the hope that the low battery warning issue has been fixed by this firmware update. I updated the new camera to the new firmware 1.0.2.0 from 1.0.1.0 following the procedure in the PDF file. The premature low battery warning in the video mode for the updated SX280 has improved but not fixed.

260 of 274 people found the following review helpful.
Terrific Camera Overall
By J. Malinsky
Hi there

I've replied to a few reviews of this product before choosing to write my own, while keeping in mind everyone's opinions (especially about the battery) thus far.

Out of the way, I too noticed "problems" when shooting video on a not-fully charged battery. I put the word in quotes, because in my experience/view, it's really a software problem that can be fixed with an upcoming firmware update. It just flashes red prematurely, and you can certainly repeat steps to have that happen consistently. Also, you'll only get about 30 minutes or so of 1920/60fps HD video per charge (keep in mind the battery will likely be flashing red most of the time). But keep in mind, its really just a bug. When you power up your camera, the true charge is shown on the indicator.

I took the camera with me today to shoot a typical days worth of exciting things with my kids. I took about 35 photos, and a combined 7 minutes of full HD/1920/60fps video. I also transferred a few images wirelessly to my Android phone. After all that, my battery is still showing as fully charged and does not do the 'premature red battery' even if i take it to video. So that seems like a decent day for me, and it doesn't show a dent (and rightly so). I'll just have to remember to charge the battery fully before I take it out.

In the end, I do recommend the camera because of what I bought it for: excellent, truly best-in-class images from a camera under $400. This camera is my '2nd' camera, for times when I don't feel like dragging my DSLR around. The images aren't as good as a DSLR (no surprise) but they are by far the best images I've taken with a point-and-shoot. The 20x optical zoom is truly incredible, and the true/natural Image Stabilization (*not* digital) is fantastic: you can actually take a 20x zoomed picture without it being blurry! Not only that, the IS during video shooting makes it smooth-as-silk on playback, especially in truly stunning 60fps mode. Shutter-lag isn't as good as a DSLR (because the concept doesnt exist with mirrors), but it's miles ahead of my last 2011 P&S and also faster than my 2013 smartphone camera.

I can see why the video/battery issue is so frustrating: the video from this thing is truly amazing (stereo, Image Stabilization, and did I mention 1920 and 60fps yet??!) and you *want* to shoot a ton with it. It's also in ultra-convenient mp4 format right out-of-the-camera. And it does a superb job of focusing as you zoom on video (my older p&s wouldn't let me zoom in video mode at all). But if video is really your mojo, get a camcorder for the same price and be happy. If you're after stills, or shooting video "shorts", this is your bet. And hopefully the short-ish battery on video will make better videographers out of people by forcing them to cut down on the extra crap they shoot that nobody watches anyways :)

Touching on a few remaining things: I love that the camera has a metal body, love its hefty weight (remember when cameras felt like cameras and not TV remotes?) and dig the wireless. I'm not a GPS guy because the privacy issue freaks me out, so I don't run the GPS. As mentioned by other reviewers, the wireless is a bit tricky to set up if you want to go camera->computer wirelessly - you'll have to run the software on the CD (it retrieves the latest version from the net automatically). The easiest set-up is camera->smartphone; as long as they're on the same network, transfers are easy. If there's no wireless where you're shooting, you can actually use the camera as an access point itself and connect your smartphone/tablet to the *camera's* network. Keep in mind that the wireless transfer is *not* eye-fi: you have to *select* the images you want to send, after they've been shot (photos aren't automatically transferred wirelessly as you shoot). Believe it or not, you can actually tweet from the camera itself. That being said, I think the omission of Flickr is a drag, but perhaps that's because they are pushing their own "Canon Image Gateway" service for photo sharing/storage.

Also, I appreciate the restraint in megapixels... the filesizes and document sizes are realistic and appropriate for people who aren't blowing photos up to large dimensions. Focusing on image quality instead of megapixel count is a much welcomed approach in my opinion, and I hope the ridiculous megapixel race slows down in order to focus on the sensor quality/lenses that can be crammed into a P&S size camera.

Also, coming from DSLR world, I'm actually pretty happy with the amount of customization offered. The manual (on the CD only) is chock full of information, including how to use the self-timer in "wink" mode (wink to take the shot!!). All modes I shoot on (M/AV/TV/P) offer *center only* focus. I haven't seen that mentioned too often, but that is *exactly* what I like - in fact the first thing I do on my DSLRs/new cameras is turn off the 'smart autofocus' to use center-point only). It means you might have to take a moment to frame the shot you want (focus then frame), but to me it cuts down on silly camera "intelligent" errors when it focuses on things with contrast instead of the content that matters.

I don't find the position of the pop-up flash an issue; my finger fits behind it. Also, consider that the pop-up flash reduces red-eye quite significantly by being further away from the lens. Not only that, but this camera is *great* in low-light for a point-and-shoot - ease up on the flash and enjoy the great new processor!

This camera does exactly what I want it to do, and does it *really well*, but if I was planning on a day of really heavy shooting with video, I'd buy a spare battery. And I'm looking forward to a firmware update!

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Canon PowerShot SX170 IS 16.0 MP Digital Camera with 16x Optical Zoom and 720p HD Video (Red)

Canon PowerShot SX170 IS 16.0 MP Digital Camera with 16x Optical Zoom and 720p HD Video (Red)..

Special Price Canon PowerShot SX170 IS 16.0 MP Digital Camera with 16x Optical Zoom and 720p HD Video (Red) By Canon

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397 of 420 people found the following review helpful.
Great Compact point & shoot for the money, battery is a non- issue
By Amazon Customer
Technology marches on. I am an avid amateur photographer with 50+ years of experience with every film and focal plane technology ever created. This camera is my latest "pocket camera" to have with me 24/7, it's for those unique unplanned shots that always pop up when you least expect them and when your DSLR is just not an option to lug around with you all day.

Some have criticized the change from AA sized batteries to a Canon propriety battery pack. Hogwash. Technology is going to move forward and the use of a battery pack simply does not mean this camera is any less useful. When you travel into the great whatever with an older camera you thought ahead and took extra batteries with you. Now you think ahead and make sure your battery is charged and yes if you will be away from an outlet you take as many extra battery packs as you need. I am guilty of not thinking ahead plenty of times with the AA technology with no means of stopping into a store to buy more, this camera is no different.

The feel and user friendliness of this camera is outstanding. The controls are simple, the instructions (PDF on-line only) are clear and easy to follow, and the image quality is great. You are not going to shoot that perfect close-up shot of a running back diving across the goal line with this camera, but for every day snapshots it offers a nice, cost effective solution to carry in your pocket every day.

It's not a DLSR. If you want a full featured high performance camera you'll need to spend a lot more money!

9/30/2013 addition- the more I use thus camera the more I like it. The autofocus feature is very fast, and images shot at max optical zoom are beyond my expectations, far superior to earlier Canon point and shoot products.

48 of 56 people found the following review helpful.
Great!
By begoodorbegoodatit
I was sketical about buying this camera. It should be stated that I am not an owner of a DSLR or Nikon, although I've used those before so I know how some who may own those and buy a camera like this may be disappointed or find it less than great. I don't really think it's fair to rate this compared to those kinds of cameras so I am comparing it to my previous "point and shoot" camera.

We had some traveling coming up and wanted a new camera since my current camera looks in really bad quality at night time or dim lighting (like concerts). So I opted for this camera with the Black Friday sale. I've taken multiple shots with this camera and my old one to see what the difference really is and I will say that this camera shoots way better. My old camera in natural light in my home would be dark, this one is naturally very bright. If I took a photo of a carrot peel with my old camera it would just look like some orange thing, whereas with this camera the carrot peel looks way brighter, the image is sharper, you can see the details such as texture or drops of water on the carrot unlike the old camera. I did go outside and try to take photos and while this does shoot better at night than my other camera, there isn't even a night time option so I'm still having that issue of the photo comes out with the bright lights looking hazy, but it's an improvement from the other camera we owned.

Overall, if you just need to update your "point and shoot" then I recommend this camera. My old camera only had a 10x zoom and it was 8 MP so this was a really nice upgrade. I take photos of animals, food, and landscapes and have been really pleased with the outcome. If you own a fancy camera, you probably won't be impressed with this camera.

326 of 413 people found the following review helpful.
The Day the Last 2-AA Battery, Travel & Field Camera - Died
By John Sturgeon
As some of you know, the Canon SX100 series are my favorite cameras. I always carry the latest model with me in a video-camera-shoulder-bag (i.e. - "purse" for dudes,) everyday, wherever I go. I have owned and used all of them from the SX100 to the SX160. I have long-considered the Canon SX100 line of cameras to be "The Best 2-AA-Battery All-Purpose Travel and Field Cameras Ever Made." I have posted 5-star reviews of both the SX150 and SX160 here on Amazon during the last two years, and I have made it abundantly clear why I feel so strongly favorable of them.

Accordingly, I bought a new Canon SX170. I tested it out to compare it. For sentimental reasons, I intend to keep it. But for the most obvious of reasons, which I just indicated in the above statement, I'm not pleased with it. To the contrary, I am deeply saddened about what has now been completely lost to all consumers, worldwide - The day the last full-featured, full-manual-control, compact, 2-AA battery, travel & field camera left on the entire worldwide market - Died.

Here is a summary of my comparative conclusions.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&
SX160 IS vs. the SX170 IS - A CAMERA COMPARISON - THE BOTTOM LINE

The Canon SX160 runs on 2-AA rechargeable batteries.
The Canon SX170 runs on a Canon NB-6LH proprietary battery.

Other than the battery, the two cameras are virtually identical.

I will start with the conclusion first - There is no serious reason even to consider buying the new Canon SX170 instead of the previous model Canon SX160 ... unless you absolutely HATE using 2-AA rechargeable batteries in a camera.

Both cameras have exactly the same features, the same functions, and the same specs - except for the batteries. Cosmetically they are virtually identical cameras in almost all respects except for a small change in the shape of the grip on the right side of the SX170 camera. Functionally they both work exactly the same, and they both produce identical quality pictures. No changes were made to either the sensor or to the DIGIC 4 image processor to bring any improvement to the final images produced.

The initial Amazon release price of the SX170 is $179. (Sept. 2013)
The current Amazon price for the SX160 is $144, about $35 less. (Sept. 2013)

Literally, you have to HATE using 2-AA rechargeable batteries in a camera to want to pay $35 more for the same camera with a mini-sized proprietary battery that will only take about half as many shots with each charge, when the quality of the pictures you get will be absolutely identical with both cameras.

SPARE BATTERIES. Amazon is currently selling official Canon brand NB-6LH spare batteries for about $38 apiece. (Remember, people, your camera warranty is now VOID if you use a "cheap Hong Kong knockoff" proprietary battery in it. You do so at your own risk.) A spare pair of top-quality Sanyo brand "eneloop" rechargeable AA batteries can be bought on Amazon for about $4, but even "cheap" AA batteries won't void your warranty for the SX160.

CAVEAT EMPTOR.

That is the bottom line.

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SX160 & SX170 - BACKGROUND INFO & THE "2-AA" BATTERY CAMERA.

The SX170 is the seventh model of the Canon SX100 line of cameras. This series began with the SX100 in the year 2007. From the beginning these cameras have always run on 2-AA rechargeable batteries. That has always been their strongest selling point - the fact that they use 2-AA batteries. If you happened to run out of rechargeable AA batteries, you could always buy spare AA batteries for them to keep taking pictures.

That is the main feature which made them ideal travel & field use cameras literally anywhere in the world.

The cameras of this SX100 series were all full-featured, with full manual control, and a good megazoom. They were also very affordable. Spare batteries for them could be purchased easily and economically. So these cameras were also inexpensive to use, too. And if you bought a new camera, you just transferred the rechargeable AA batteries to the new camera. You never had to buy any new (and much more expensive) proprietary batteries each time you bought a new camera. So in the long term, the AA battery cameras were always much less expensive for people to own and operate.

The new model SX170 no longer uses AA batteries. Instead it uses a mini-sized NB-6LH proprietary battery. These batteries are not readily available except by mail order unless you happen to live near a very large city. If you are traveling, the situation gets much worse. In many places the NB-6LH batteries will not be locally available at all. So the usefulness of the SX170 as a travel & field camera worldwide has been negated. If you are stuck in the middle of nowhere with dead batteries, then you are just stuck with no more pictures!

During the last couple of years, these Canon SX100 series cameras were the only full-featured, 2-AA battery, travel & field cameras still left on the world market. The SX160 was the last one. Now the consumer can no longer buy a full-featured 2-AA battery camera at ANY price, except for a few leftover models from previous years. And soon enough they will be gone too.

Some of you may realize the gravity of this loss, others may not. Most people don't miss things until they suddenly realize they can no longer buy them, because "they" don't make them anymore. And that is exactly what has just happened here. The day the SX170 was introduced was the day the last full-featured, full-manual-control, compact, 2-AA battery, travel & field camera left on the entire worldwide market - Died.

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ERGONOMICALLY - THE "NEW" GRIP

There is a "not-so-new" larger grip on the right side of the SX170 camera. Canon claims it has "introduced" a design change with a larger grip on the right side of the camera for better one-handed shooting. Ergonomically. This will indeed be a fine feature for many people. I agree. But Canon's P.R. department says this was only made possible by using the new smaller proprietary battery. No. That is not true.

The original camera of this line, the SX100, had that same style, larger right hand grip on it, and it used 2-AA batteries. Canon removed that feature from the next model, the SX110, and made the overall camera flatter. Some of us would have preferred that Canon not make that design change, but that was Canon's decision.

Now Canon is "reintroducing" that larger right hand grip feature with the SX170, but it has nothing to do with having to drop the 2-AA batteries. I measured the two cameras with a set of calipers. The dimensions of the larger grip on the right side are very similar on both cameras - the grip on the original SX100 (using 2-AA batteries) and the grip on the new SX170 (using the new proprietary battery.) Canon could have "reintroduced" this same design change all along on any of the other SX100 series cameras, and still kept the 2-AA batteries in the camera just fine. So the justification Canon is giving for being able to make this design change is completely bogus.

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RATING THE SX170

I'm giving the new Canon SX170 IS a 3-star rating only for sentimental reasons - it's still a Canon. It is still an excellent camera in many ways. It still has all of the same excellent features. ... But I won't recommend the SX170 to anyone.

Since it now runs on a proprietary battery, then it has to be compared to all of the other similar cameras today that run on proprietary batteries. And in that comparison, it does not measure up very well.

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WHAT THE SX170 IS NOT

The Canon SX170 is not a fast-action camera, and it never will be. It still has all the same problems of the previous models. It has a noticeable shutter lag, a slower focus, a slow image processor, a slow maximum shooting speed of 0.8 fps (less than one picture per second,) a very slow flash recovery time, it doesn't work very well indoors or in low light, and it does not shoot full 1920x1080 HD video, either, only the older 1280x720 quasi-HD video.

The SX170 is not a good camera for taking pictures of fast-moving children or pets, fast-action sports moments, or fast-focus views of flying birds. The SX170 simply won't work for that kind of photography.

There are literally dozens of other more modern proprietary battery cameras out there today that can run circles around the slow-performing, antiquated design and performance of the older-design SX170. So if you really want a modern, fast-action camera that works well in low light and that also shoots full 1920x1080 HD video, then why would you even consider buying the SX170?

Canon designed the original electronics for the SX100 line of cameras way back in 2007.* These cameras were originally designed as, "Stand here while I take your picture" cameras. And basically that is what they still do best. Changing the battery isn't going to change the primary use for which these cameras were originally intended. No more than injecting "energy steroids" into an old dog is going to teach it to do new tricks.

If you want a modern, fast-action, full-HD video camera, then the SX170 will simply not work for you.**

* Actually it was released in 2007. Design precedes release by about 2 to 3 years, so essentially these cameras were designed almost ten years ago. Remember what that world was like? Digital cameras were low quality and high priced. Most people did not have PCs, and fewer still knew how to use Photoshop. Computer hard drives were 30 gigabytes - smaller than a standard 32 GB SDHC camera memory card of today. Photo paper for printers was terrible and would begin to fade out within months, gone altogether in a few years. .... Most people were using 35 mm film cameras with 36 shots for each roll of film, paying $27 or more at 75 cents per print each time for all the photos, both good and bad. (There was no "preview" feature before they were developed and printed. Besides, you could not "preview" photos very well by squinting at a tiny, color-reversed film negative.) ... Most people could not AFFORD to take more than a few pictures each month. Taking pictures was expensive! Every single picture had to count, so yes - literally - using a camera back in those days meant, "Stand here while I take your picture!" It didn't MATTER if they were slow. Getting your "36 prints" back from the developers at Long's Drug Store took two to three days anyway. That is the world in which the electronic circuitry for these SX100 series cameras was originally designed.

** (If you do want that however, which obviously many people do, then for a short list of modern, fast-action, full-HD-video cameras in a similar price range of the SX170, please see my post of suggestions in the Comments Section, page 1. For a comparative list of (almost all) current Canon point-and-shoot and bridge cameras, please see my post in the Comments Section, at the bottom of page 4.)

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FOR A CLASSIC CAMERA WITH FULL FEATURES, USING "2-AA" BATTERIES, CONSIDER THE CANON SX160.

If, on the other hand, you do like the classic Canon SX100 series camera line - as I do very much - you have to like it for what it is. It is an older style, classic design, point-and-shoot camera. As such you simply have to accept the fact that it has some very real limitations. And those limitations are not going to be "fixed" simply by putting a different battery inside the same camera.

It makes no sense to buy a camera first, expecting it to meet your wants and needs, and then end up being disappointed when it doesn't. It works the other way around. You find the camera that actually does fit your personal wants and needs first, and then you buy that camera for yourself and enjoy it.

If you do prefer the convenience of owning a classic design, 2-AA battery, travel & field compact camera, then I suggest you consider buying the Canon SX160, on sale now, while the supplies still last. That is what I chose to do. I bought two more SX160 cameras, and tucked them away safely in a storage box for my future use and enjoyment for the time when my current SX160 either wears out or breaks down. If you are interested in the SX160, please see my own previous Amazon review of it - 5 stars and more, if I could.

The Canon SX160 is still my number one favorite camera I have ever owned, and I still plan to keep right on using it for many pleasant years yet to come.

Sincerely, and with best wishes to everyone, John AKA SLOphoto1

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POST MORTEM - USING "AA" BATTERIES AS A RELIABLE POWER SOURCE.

Energy independence. That is one of the main reasons why some people - like me - have been fighting so hard for so long trying to keep the last remaining full-featured AA cameras on the market - If you can choose your own AA batteries in a competitive market, then you have total control over your own power source. And there is no future time limit for being able to still use your camera, either. ("They" don't make that battery any more.)

I still have my original digital camera, an Epson PhotoPC 600, from 1997. It runs on 4-AA batteries. It still works well, and it still takes some interesting pictures. They are particularly interesting because the pictures have an "older" look to them, because of the older camera technology. I don't have to fake this "older" look with special effects in a modern camera or with Photoshop manipulation. They genuinely look older because they really are "older," due to the older technology actually producing them inside the original camera right now.

Imagine trying to locate a proprietary battery for a fifteen to twenty year old camera? The only reason I can even still use that camera at all is precisely due to the fact that the camera was originally designed to run on 4-AA standardized batteries. The same thing will be true of the SX160 cameras of today. Fifteen or twenty years from now, they will still work just fine, because they were designed to run on AA batteries.

AA batteries were standardized way back in 1954. Almost 60 years later, in 2013, they are still the most widely used standardized battery in the world. And especially now that they make rechargeable AA batteries (as in "green" - reusable and even "renewable" if you use a solar-powered AA battery recharger,) there is virtually no doubt they will still continue to be very popular for at least another 60 years into the future, too. They are and will continue to be a very reliable source of power - for millions of different items. This will still be true long after the proprietary - and non-standardized - batteries of today will only vaguely be remembered as a passing fad (and expensive folly) of the early 21st century.

Non-standardized products have no long-term future in an increasingly globalized world.

That's my personal opinion about it, but speaking as a retired history teacher I am also asserting that based on actual and repeated long-term historical patterns and precedents.

Again, best wishes to everyone - John AKA SLOphoto1

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UPDATE: A FEW WORDS ABOUT BATTERY USAGE - HOW MANY PICTURES PER CHARGE?

I've been asked to comment on battery usage. How many pictures should a person expect to take with each charge? Here is some data on that. This includes an actual field test I did myself of the earlier model SX150.

The proprietary battery in the SX170 - the Canon brand NB-6LH - is rated at about a 1060 mAh (milliamp hours) charge. The preferred, high-quality Sanyo brand "eneloop" rechargeable AA batteries are rated at about a 2000 mAh change (or about twice as much.) There is no great mystery to it. 2000 mAh of power will take about twice as many pictures as will 1060 mAh of power.

The SX160 and SX170 each require about 2.1 to 3.7 volts to operate the cameras. That requires either one NB-6LH proprietary battery (at about 3.7 volts) or two "eneloop" AA batteries at 1.5 volts each, (two for a total of about 3.0 volts.) The NB-6LH costs about $38 on Amazon. A pair of "eneloop" AA batteries costs about $4. Either system requires less than one cent of electricity to recharge each time. However, the NB-6LH will probably recharge only about 700 times, based on typical lithium-ion battery life spans, which have a pretty high burn out rate, whereas the "eneloop" brand AA batteries are advertised as being able to take at least 1500 recharges.

I haven't tested the SX160 and SX170 cameras yet for the number of shots they will take per charge in actual field use (where you are actually using the camera under field use conditions,) but I did do just such a test earlier for the SX150, and here are the results. (Reprinted from my earlier review of the SX150.)

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"On a recent field trip to the local mountains near Monterey, CA, I set out with a fully-charged pair of eneloop AA batteries in the SX150, and I carried a backup pair of eneloop AAs just in case. I did a full day of shooting with 425 full-sized JPEGs and 8 minutes of HD video, and I used a lot of zoom and frequently turned the camera off and on too. That is a LOT of battery use for one set of AA batteries. The batteries finally ran out early the next day as I was testing some of the features on the camera."
&&&&&&&&&

Based on previous experience, when I actually get around to doing an actual, full-day field test of the SX170, I anticipate the results to be about half the amount of the results I obtained for the SX150 (or would similarly expect with the SX160, since the electronic circuitry is basically unchanged in all these SX100 series cameras.)

&&&&&&&& PLEASE NOTE: These cameras all show a "low battery" indicator based on a sensor which looks for a voltage drop. In the SX160 and in previous models, these cameras were designed to use regular Alkaline AA batteries which start out at about 1.5 volts (3.0 volts for two of them.) When they begin to drop too low, the low battery indicator appears on the LCD screen. Rechargeable AA batteries like the Sanyo brand "eneloop" type only recharge to about 1.2 or 1.3 volts (or 2.4 to 2.6 volts for two of them.) The internal sensor will "think" that they are running "low" long before they actually run out, once they begin to drop below the "warning point" for the internal sensor in terms of "low" voltage. They are not actually anywhere near "out." My advice is just to keep right on using them until the LCD on the camera finally tells you to "change the batteries," as it shuts down on you.

I hope that gives everyone a fairly good idea of what to anticipate with both the SX160 and the SX170 cameras in general terms of the number of pictures to expect per charge.

Again, best wishes to everyone, John AKA SLOphoto1

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UPDATE: Sept. 30, 2013 - DESIGN FLAW DISCOVERED IN THE SX170. POTENTIAL DAMAGE TO THE CAMERA.

Recently while testing the Canon SX170 camera in the field I discovered a serious design flaw. This flaw became apparent entirely by accident through normal use of the camera. It seems that the camera suddenly and unexpectedly turns on or off simply while handling it in a routine manner. This is especially true when trying to pull the camera out of a coat pocket, purse or camera carry bag.

Apparently in one of the few design changes, Canon has now relocated the On/Off power button almost to the very end of the right-rear-top of the SX170 camera (literally, only about 1/4" from the right rear corner of the top of the camera.) This is the side where the new larger right-hand grip is also located. It is the natural hand position to reach into your coat pocket or carry bag and grab the camera by the main grip in order to pull it out. When you do, if your thumb happens to be on the top of the camera, you can very easily activate the camera and possibly jam or even break the lens-extension mechanism.

When the lens pushes out against a resistance (like still being confined partially inside a coat pocket,) then the lens stops and retracts, and there is a series of several quick "beeps," similar to those of the time-delay shutter release. The more serious aspect of this is that each time this happens it puts stress on the delicate gears inside the lens-extension mechanism. Eventually this type of stress can cause the lens-extension mechanism to fail, and the camera will no longer work. (You see them on eBay, "Lens won't extend outward.")

Back in 2008, Canon faced a similar problem - and a number of lawsuits - over this very same problem with one if its "G" series cameras. If the extending lens hit an obstacle, the extending lens would sometimes jam and the camera would become altogether inoperable until it was factory repaired. (And the warranty only lasts one year.)

The SX160 did not have this design flaw, nor did any of the other previous SX100 series cameras before it. All six of the previous models of the SX100 series cameras had the On/Off power button located safely inward toward the center of the camera by at least 3/4" to 7/8" from the right end of the camera.

I've taken a total of 58 shots with the SX170 camera so far, and this "accident" has already happened to me three times. This same easy activation has also suddenly turned the camera off twice while I was simply standing there holding it. This design flaw is an accident waiting to happen.

I don't know how much of this type of stress the lens-extension mechanism on the SX170 can take. I have never encountered this problem before with any of the other six models of the SX100 series that I have owned and used previously. They all had the On/Off power button located well inward at a safe distance from the right end of the camera. So I have never previously encountered this sort of "activation by accident" with the SX160 or any of the other previous cameras of this line. But this flaw does have the very real potential to cause serious damage to the camera, and even render it completely inoperable, just by the ease with which the SX170 can be so readily activated just by complete accident.

Earlier I said that I would not recommend the SX170 over the SX160 to anyone. Now I must say that I specifically recommend against it.

Once again, best wishes to everyone, John AKA SLOphoto1

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Nikon COOLPIX L830 16 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 34x Zoom NIKKOR Lens and Full 1080p HD Video (Red)

Nikon COOLPIX L830 16 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 34x Zoom NIKKOR Lens and Full 1080p HD Video (Red)..

Special Price Nikon COOLPIX L830 16 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 34x Zoom NIKKOR Lens and Full 1080p HD Video (Red) By Nikon

Most helpful customer reviews

143 of 144 people found the following review helpful.
Awesome Price for a Great Camera!
By Billy's Mom
First, let me say that I am not terribly techy. I can barely turn on the TV anymore. So please, read the specs on this because I can't explain what they mean anyway. This review is based solely on my experience with the camera.

We took this great little camera on a trip to Mexico not long ago and it was awesome. So easy to use that even I managed to get some spectacular photos. My eyes are over 40 years old (the rest of me feels 29) so I have some trouble seeing up close. Therefore, the pictures I took with this camera were kind of just point, shoot and pray. Well the prayers were answered because when we looked at the pictures later on a screen I could actually see, they turned out super crisp. In fact there was a topless sunbather in one that I hadn't seen and my son was delighted that I got such a sharp, focused shot! Ha.

The HD video is also super cool. My son is using it to launch his youtube career -- he really needs to focus on college. -- lousy content aside, the videos turn out great. I haven't used it for video, but he does and loves it.

This camera is really sturdy and well made. It bounced around in my bag, got knocked off the table a time or two, and overall wasn't treated as well as it should have been. It didn't miss a beat or even get a scratch.

The zoom is amazing. The display is great (or so I am told since I can't really see it). This is an all around great addition to the amateur photographer or as a basic family camera. Highly recommend!

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful.
Nikon L830 Great Camera....No Zoom Noise whilre Recording Video, Fantastic Purchase...Better on sale......
By Kimberly Perry
Nikon L830 DOES NOT HAVE ANY ZOOM NOISE WHILE FILMING A VIDEO. It's easy to use in auto mode or has plenty of settings for the novis/hobbist that doesn't want to invest a couple of grand in lense's and bodies. My fujifilm S8200 had terrible zoom noise. That's why I took it back!

This camera has far superior clarity in still pictures compared to the Fujifilm S8200 and when filming in HD, this camera has no interlacing issues when moving the camera like the Fujifilm S8200. I like the ability of just buying AA batteries and not being tied down to a lithium battery pack. I like the RED body although it shows fingerprints more than a black camera....no biggies! I've never used a View FInder so I don't miss that. I am on the fence about the settings buttons and not having a rotating selector switch. I do like having the saturation button at my fintertips though so maybe i'm really not on the fence.

I do have only 1 issue. On my old Fujifilm S700, the flash auto popped up when needed. The L830 has to be manually released to function, but knowing that.....I just release it most of the time.

MSRP was $299, Sale was $269 and Got it from Walmart for $229, I think she quoted me the wrong price over the phone and had to get a manager override to give me the quoted $229.

I'm using a 32Gig Class 10 SanDisk HC Ultra Memory card from Best Buy for $24 and it will allow me to take over 3000 photos. I think I should have went with a 8Gig SanDisk Ultra PLUS that had a faster transfer rate. I think I'd do more research on the SDHC Cards before I buy one.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful.
Very Amateur Photographer
By Bohemian Girl
My husband and I travel quite a bit. I wanted a camera I could be comfortable with, not spend too much time setting up my shots, and still get a great picture in the end.

My last camera was a Canon power shot. After my grand daughter dropped and broke the lens and telescope, I put it away and just used my phone for the past year. We leave for my nieces wedding in Ireland in August. I want to make sure I get tons of great pictures. I want to take classes and become a better photographer. So based on the previous reviewers who give their pros and cons, thank you so much.

I like the weight and feel of my camera. I like the ease of selecting the shooting mode, switching between the various menus, and the playback mode is similar to my old Canon. I also like the lens cover. It is like a little magnet gadget and has a tiny cord that holds the cap while it is off the lens. I lost so many lens caps in the past:

One tiny thing I am not crazy about: having to pop up the flash. I rather liked the old lazy way of the auto flash happening when I needed it.

I am going to work on my picture taking skills, and report back to you after I know what I'm supposed to do with all these bells a whistles. Thank you.

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