Recommend a good kids' digital camera

In My Humble Opinion
1

My mom bought a digital camera for my niece (her granddaughter) for her birthday last April. Eight months later it’s frozen up. Not terribly surprising, as it’s a cheap no-name camera. The manual isn’t even available online.

So my mom feels pretty bad that she bought the kid a piece of crap and would like to replace it with something better, but hopefully for not too much cash. My niece is 8-1/2 years old, so it would need to be something that could take a bit of a beating (though we can get her a hard case for it) and not be a terrible loss if she loses or breaks it.

We looked at the Canon line (I like my Powershot A80), but the cheapest one was listed at $119, and my mom says that’s too much; she’d like to spend $75 at the very most. (Yeah I know, that’s not a lot, but my mom’s no Rockefeller, OK?)

I saw a Polaroid iZone, which was billed as a kids’ camera, but it’s 0.3 MP – give me a break – stores 15, count 'em, 15 pictures, and the Amazon reviews were abysmal.

Any ideas? We’re going shopping tomorrow, so if you can give any suggestions by then, that would be great.

Thanks much!

2

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/VuPoint-3.1MP-Digital-Camera/2002514/product.html

3.1 megapixels is pretty good. And the price is almost disposable these days.

3

I swear that said in stock when I posted that link.

Here’s a 1.3 mp camera: Bed Bath & Beyond | The Best Deals Online: Furniture, Bedding, Rugs, Kitchen Essentials & Moree

Jump on that quick - says stock is limited.

ETA: No display. Viewfinder only.

4

7.2 megapixels for under $80!

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Samsung-EC-S760ZR01KUS-Digital-Camera-Refurbished/3366389/product.html

Refurbished. But a good name brand. With a display and 3X zoom.

5

Those keychain cameras and pretty much anything under $50 are crap of the highest order. Avoid at all costs.

Of the cameras at Overstock I like the Canon A470 and the Nikon L10. They’ll probably give you the best image quality in a relatively cheap cameras. Keep in mind all of these take AA batteries, which means you MUST get NIMH rechargeables and a charger (another $20) or you’ll double the price of the camera in throw away AA batteries. You probably will need a bigger memory card (another $10-15) as well.

You can look for some models that come with Li-Ion rechargeable batteries but they generally will cost a bit more.

6

Thanks for the recommendations, guys. I’ll pass them along to my mom.