I love my Canon Sd500. It's small, light, takes awesome pictures. I traveled with it through asia and central america, hiked through the really humid jungle, walked long distances in pouring rain (had it under my jacket), and it's still functioning just fine. It's fast enough so I can pull it out and take a quick picture without having to wait for it to warm up. I actually prefer the 400 and 500 series to the 450 and 550, which have bigger screens, because a bigger screen means more screen to scratch up.