An incredible looking camera with enough battery power to go all day. For its price it is a reasonable alternative, but if taking brilliant pictures is the primary concern buyers may want to look elsewhere.

If you're interested in keeping thorough records of where you've taken photos, or of mapping out particularly interesting snaps, this device may be for you. It isn't as advanced as some other units on the market, but the simplicity may work in its favour for less experienced users.

While it isn't the best ultra zoom on the market, Kodak's EasyShare Z812IS is a good all around package combining a ton of features with solid image quality and a big zoom. The high-definition video recording in particular will appeal to some users.

Nikon's S700 isn't an incredible compact camera, but it does the job combining good pictures with a reasonable feature set, which will be fine for most consumers.

Kodak's V1253 takes great shots, is well designed and offers HD video recording; however, the speed to recover between shots can sometimes be in excess of five seconds, which really detracts from the user experience. Still if you aren't going to take lots of snaps in succession, it is an impressive offering.

Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-T500 is a decent compact camera with some nifty features such as 720p video recording. However, its touch-screen interface is irritating and its images are noisier than normal.

A decent feature set, a nice physical design and an easy-to-use menu system are all offset by a sensor that takes relatively poor quality images. However, at well under $200, the image quality is a moot point and this camera is well worth a shot.

If you're after a point and shoot, happy snap camera, Samsung's L730 might suit you well. It does have some image quality issues but it packs in all the features you'd want as well as a pretty good video mode.

If you can live with the very slow shot-to-shot times and low resolution burst mode Olympus's MJU 1200 offers a sturdy and stylish compact, which captures good images and has a nice array of features.

It doesn't take the best pictures on the market but they are fine for small- and medium-sized prints and the combination of style, strength and features makes the MJU 840 an attractive all-purpose point-and-shot.

The Canon PowerShot E1 is an impressive entry-level compact camera aimed primarily at kids and skint teens. It offers a nice array of features for the asking price and takes adequate photos to boot. All in all, a solid offering.

With several advanced controls and 6.3 megapixel imaging, the FinePix E550 should suit intermediate photographers on a tight budget.