Canon PowerShot A720IS 8MP Digital Camera with 6x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

Great product
I have been using this product for almost 2 years now. As for amateurs it is great. It does everything it specifies.
The only think I do not appreciate is the digital zoom. It is not perfect but works if you really need it. The battery last long as long as you choose a good one (like Sanyo Eneloop).
5 (amateur) Stars for this product.

battery usage is terrible!
A big part of why I bought this is because it took standard AA batteries--and on a trip I wanted to be able to get the ones at the hotel gift shop and not run out to a camera/battery speciality store. The only problem is that it sucks the life out of batteries. If you try to use akaline AA batteries you will get a low battery reading right when you turn it on. We have had to purchase expensive rechargeable NIMH batteries and the battery life is still unsat. And...I have missed many photos because the batteries are dead again. The previous Canon camera we had took 4 AA batteries, but it worked. The savings in bulk isn't worth it if you miss the photo! Now we bought a second camera that uses the specialized camera batteries I had hoped to avoid.

Canon Camera
Bought this for my wife and she loves it. We bought this to replace a much more expensive Minolta Digital (now owned by Sony) that ate batteries like crazy.

We bought the 2 gig card and carrying case that straps to a belt if you want.
Camera takes good pictures not great pictures like you would have from the bigger 35 mm digitals.

Its small but has a lot of features that the cheaper point and shoot digitals do not have. This also means you need to know a little more about the camera to use all those functions. Yes it does point and shoot if you want to do just that but i would spend less and buy a simpler digital if thats what you wish to do.

Very impressed with battery life. It uses AA's and we only buy the rechargeables. A typical half day at the zoo and hundreds of pictures will not run the two batteries down. I mention this because battery life is a crapshoot with digital camera's and if you get one that eats them up you need to carry a lot of replacements with you.
We like it due to its small size. I just don't care to have that big digital camera around my neck all day long and taking a camera bag with me.

When traveling we take a recharger with us so we always have fresh batteries on hand.

Ripped off by Canon
The camera would not turn on out of the box. It was sent to the Canon repair center and returned in about three weeks. I then took about 20 pictures before it would not turn on again. All the while it was using up the batteries that were in it but none of the functions worked. It was sent in again and then sent in again a year later. The third time it was sent in they wanted .00 to fix the same problem they had not fixed the two previous times. I called customer service and was told that they would not fix the camera because by that time the camera was out of warranty. Be warned, if you have any problems with a new Canon product - insist on a new replacement because they DO NOT STAND BY THEIR PRODUCTS.

Worst Camera I Have Ever Owned
I was researching online today for a camera to give my daughter for her birthday. As I researched, I found reports ('Best' Lists, consumer report type things) which all had contrary information making the decision practically impossible. I decided to look at the reviews for my personal camera, to establish how others reviewed a camera I considered the worst camera I have ever owned. I was horrified when I saw the reviews, and sick when I saw the high price. I figured for sure I had a different camera (I got mine new for significantly (0) cheaper elsewhere) and so I studied the pictures, even zooming in, to make sure that yes I had the camera and yes it was rated well and selling for over 600.

I have read the other low ratings, so I know what I am in for with this poor rating, but I will not be deterred. When I buy a product, I always look at the lowest rated ones to see the potential problems. Granted, people should not give a low rating for shipping issues, or the time it takes the company to send it, but they should if they would have made a different purchase decision if they had had the information previously. I give a 1 to something I would never purchase again, and would tell anyone considering it to STOP!! and DON'T DO IT!!

So, with that in mind, here goes:

It eats batteries. All types of batteries. Every battery. I've tried everything. If you plan on taking your camera on vacation take several boxes of batteries... NIMH whatever... it burns through them faster than any camera I have ever owned. Absolutely infuriating.

It is soooooooooooooo slooooooooooooowwwwwww to take a picture. To get a picture of the child blowing out the candles of a birthday cake you need to take the picture while they are INHALING!!! Piñata picture? Press the button during the kid's windup (I've actually gotten some pretty cool pictures using this method with candy flying all over).

So, you might think those aren't good enough reasons to give a camera a poor review, you may question my competence, and demand I take a camera class prior to ever reviewing a camera again (or better yet, save everyone's time and destroy my keyboard) but what people don't understand is that with kids, you've got to move fast. You can't be saying "wait, I need more batteries" when they are racing for the tree X-mas morning. It doesn't matter how great the picture quality of the birthday photo is if the picture does not capture the surprised look on their face, but instead captures the wrapping paper being tossed away.

So, with that in mind, and with the overwhelming majority suggesting that I am completely out of my mind, go ahead and decide on your own. Who knows, maybe I just got a lemon...