Good pics, subpar video, terrible audio.
I decided to buy this camera after having a bad experience with the Kodak EasyShare M1033 10MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Bronze). I figured Sony wouldn't dissapoint. I mean, they make very good products. Anyway, this camera impressed me with how it looked. It had a nice silver, shiny, metal-like finish.

I turned it on and it had a nice picture, especially on the "Easy Mode". The flash is excellent and can light up a subject in even a gloomy room. The camera even has special effects, such being able to takes pictures in black and white. The camera is easy to use. The dials are idiot proof because it indicates each mode. You don't have to go through a ton of menus to figure out the feature. It wouldn't matter to me, but for some, that could be an issue. Everything seemed to be great. This camera seemed to be a keeper.

I then decided to record video. The resolution on the camera was OK. I also don't like the fact the movie resolution is fixed. You cannot change it. What made things worse is I recorded a video onto YouTube and couldn't hear very much, despite turning the camera's volume to the max. How does it sound? Picture trying to watch your TV with the volume on very low! That is what it was like. I also seen some YouTube videos on this camera. One person mentioned this same issue. For some, that wouldn't be a big deal. For me, it was a major issue. Can't shoot video with no sound.

Due to the video issues, I took the camera back for a Fujifilm Finepix J38 12MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD. Overall, if you are not big on video, this camera is excellent. If you want good video, this camera is definitely not for you.

Happy with the product
Small and easy to carry. Picture quality good. The only problem is that the display on the screen is very dark(i guess i need to adjust the settings) but when transferred to laptop the pictures come out very nicely.
PIctures at night also very good and clear.
Video is of good quality. I was able to capture fireworks at night through video.
Zoom is not that high but its ok for personal use.

Sony Means "No Baloney"
Bought this for my girlfriend to replace her Nikon Coolpix because sand & digital cameras don't mix. She took the Nikon to the beach & got sand in the lens mechanism & it never recovered from that indecent exposure...

Back to the Sony. It's a good point & shoot camera. Not too fancy & very easy to use. I have the DSC-S650 (older model) & like it a lot. The S950 is very much the same with a higher mega pixel rating. Shots are crisp & clear with auto adjustment, which I use almost exclusively, so this setting "should" consistently produce good results. Can't always say that about the subject matter though...

The video mode is always a nice feature but it does have its limitations. You can't zoom in or out while you are in this setting. You can, however, zoom in while in the still photo mode & then switch to video afterwords using that last zoom setting. Most people don't know this little trick.

Probably the only downside is the battery. The S950 uses Sony's proprietary (expensive) battery. You'll need to purchase an extra Sony battery for the S950 if you use it a lot & don't have the charger, or don't have time to charge the one battery. Remember to check the charge status so you don't end up with a dead battery when you need your camera the most for that graduation, wedding or bachelorette party, right girls?

Last comment is you should get at least a 2G memory stick at time of purchase. Just like with computers, you can never have too much memory for your camera, especially if you get hooked on taking videos...

it's okay so far...
I just got this camera today and so far it is is an okay camera. I've been feeling camera-handicapped these past few weeks so when there was a sale at staples offering this camera at i decided, why not? I had been meaning to get one because i broke my other camera, which was a samsung s600. ALso, take note that i am not really a professional photographer. More like a point and shoot sort of gal. Although i will in the future invest in an slr of some sort.

ANYWAYS, I will be updating this post over the time i have it and if after two days i find it adequate, i'll keep it. Otherwise it goes back to the store.

NOTE: i also have yet to try this out in natural lighting.

PROS:
*Clarity; this camera, with its 10.1mp is quite nice in comparison to my previous camera, a samsung s600 (@6.1mp). I immediately noticed how much more brighter and clear and defined my pictures came out to be. With flash anyways.

*i'm finding the macro option helpful, as well as the steady focus feature.


CONS:
*Without flash and in lowlight situations, it takes, realllly terrible pictures, with lots of noise, and plenty of blur.

*When viewing pictures on it, they take a lot longer to load then they did on my samsung.

*I tried out the video recording feature, and unlike my samsung, the mic is absollutely dreadful at picking up sounds. Even if you put it up to a speaker, it's just a faint hint of noise in the background when you play it back.


That's it so far...i will update more soon.

Cheaper at Walmart
I was at walmart this morning and saw this same camera for 9.00. I haven't bought this camera so I don't know how it operates but if you intend to buy it check out your local Wally World first.

Love these free agents!
I have a few of these. 250GB, 300GB and recently just purchased the 1TB.
Warning on the 1TB it took a few days to format out of the box. the third day my computer was shut down and when I rebooted the drive said it needed to be formated. I finially opted for the quick format which took about a few seconds. I have not put anything on it yet. I am sure it will work as well as my others, only one usb to power and use it. I love these things. I am currently loading my dvd's on them to play on my netbooks which do not have the optical drives for dvds.

good product, good sale
I enjoy this product, and it works just great. Handy, compact, and durable, hasn't been tested from a drop or water damage yet, but it seems to be perfect.

Good drive for your media library
I purchased this 1TB drive, and put a few video files on it as a test, and plugged it into my Samsung 52" lcd (model ln52B630). it played back flawlessly!!!. You couldn't tell if it was USB or HDMI, and it was USB. I gave this 3 stars because I did not like the bloatware that is included with this drive, but if you want the backup options included I guess they are fine. I got the free dock, which I hooked up to the TV. The drive seems solid and well built.

Good drive
Good drive, just wish that you could disable Seagate Manager, seemingly as it's always active on my computer but I leave it dormant.

True plug and play
Easy install on my dell laptop with windows Vista.
plugged it in, it basicly installed itself in a few minutes.

I have had a dozen different external hard drives over the years,This is the best so far.

Quiet, easy to use, fairly cool to the touch, some drives that i have had seemed to run a little warm,
maybe that's why none of them lasted. I have very high hopes for this one.

If i end up needing another drive i will be buying a Seagate.

Very Poor Reliability, Terrible Battery Life, Frequent Freezes
I purchased this at the end of August 2009. I immediately downloaded and installed all of the updates. The unit was trouble free for exactly 3 months. Then it started freezing midway through directions. Rebooting helped, but lost all of my settings. Now it reboots exactly at the point that it gives me the first direction on the route. The battery life is awful, making it completely useless to use for walking directions. At most I have received about 1.5 hours of battery when it isn't being actively charged. It occasionally hangs up when searching for POIs but I assumed that was just because the search is so large. Now I think it is probably just that the unit is defective. Garmin customer service is terrible.

Regarding MSN, I purchased a lifetime membership just before all of the problems started and then promptly found out that they are discontinuing it. I wouldn't be too upset about that if the optional FM transmitter weren't so ridiculously expensive. Now that I have a replacement unit it doesn't really matter because the .00 MSN subscription is not transferable to the replacement unit.

I am a fairly technical person and have a lot of "gadgets", this is without a doubt the biggest waste of money I have ever spent on a piece of technology. I would have not thought about using a smart phone as a GPS as I prefer the size and other features of the stand alone unit, however since Garmin is apparently not concerned about either their customers or the quality of their products I will be exploring using a Droid for this function.

garmin nuvi 885T 4.3
We love it, it's a great product.
But we wish it had an internal am/fm radio, since when you use the FM transmiter in order to receive directions through the car speakers your car radio is turned off. Unlike on original factory navigation systems in all cars you can listen to the "regular" radio and receive directions at the same time.
It would be a simple addition to the garmin nav system oprtions and it would make it more like a factory system.
Other things that bugs me are the on/off switch, just don't like how it operates and the microphone is not very sensitive so you will have to add an external mic.
But besides that it's a great unit and it does what they promise it will.

good product/bad seller
I'm sure that if this product had been "new", as ordered, it would have been wonderful. However, the seller chose to ship me a used item which had obviously been returned by someone else. It did not work. When I requested the seller ship me a truly new one, I was told they were out of stock, but I was offered a discount or a 3 year extended warranty. Lot of good either of those would do on an item that didn't work. I was finally given return shipping instructions, and an e-mail assuring me I would receive a full refund. That was a month ago and I still have no credit on my account. Amazon, you've taught me a good lesson. From now on I'll buy my stuff in person.

This GPS Rocks! Voice Activation Actually Works!
This is the best value out there, bar none!

PRO's:
Voice activation that actually works, and is practical to use!
Great accuracy & re-routing
MSN Direct Services are OUTSTANDING!
FM transmitter
Music Player
Photo viewer
Line output
Great car-mounting setup
Good bluetooth connectivity
User-changeable battery
Lane assist with junction view
Unbelievably low price for what you get
4 GB of internal memory, and also has a micro SD slot to add more memory! Garmin's so-called "latest & greatest" NUVI 1690 only has 2GB of internal memory)

CON's (none are show-stoppers)
MSN Direct services going offline on January 1, 2012, and reception is dependent on FM signal strength in your area
Cannot find a way to display the number of miles remaining to the destination on the map screen (can view it with one touch to get to the trip computer, however)
Internal speaker should be louder
Bluetooth appears to be limited to hands-free calling, and does not play telephone audio through my bluetooth stereo (I am still experimenting with this, so I might be incorrect about this one statement)
Garmin has discontinued this unit, but I cannot understand why

The pros far outweight the cons on this unit. I REALLY HOPE that Garmin produces an add-on to allow you to access NuLink services on this GPS after MSN Direct goes offline. I could use this GPS forever! I have owned 2 other GPS units before this one, and the 885T is the one to own! Why has Garmin discontinued it?

Garmin nuvi 885T
This is an excellent device and gives accurate estimates on arrival time to destination based on distance to endpoint, traffic and vehicle speed. I wish it would give a read out of total destination and distance traveled. It provides an easy to use touch screen, and automatic adjustment to day and night settings. I am dissapointed the MSN direct will be discontinuing their update service on January 2012,as this was one of the main features that attracted me to this device. [...]

Overall I would recommend this device should you be looking for a smart and portable GPS. I purchased it with an addtional charger (not needed as the MSN Direct adapter is included) along with a soft carrying case and dashboard mat. By doing this, I leave no tell-tale ring on my windshield and can put the device out of sight quickly.