If you want to check out some REAL reviews, try
www.dpreview.com and
www.steves-digicams.com. They actually give you sample pictures, and reasons each camera varies in the photo they take. I spent about 3 months realizing that Canon makes the best cameras for the money (surprised nobody has mentioned them yet....), and bought a Powershot A20 (2.1 megapixel, 3X optical zoom). I also got a set of Maha Energy Corp. rechargeable AA's with their 3 hour rapid charger (better than anything Ray-o-vac ever made). I paid $320 for my camera on eBay, but you can have a new A40 (same thing with movie mode) for $299 or less at Wal-Mart, eBay, online stores, etc. A good cheap memory is made by Mr. Flash USA and can be had at
www.newegg.com. 256MB's of CF memory was only like $86 when I bought it. Anyways, that is tip of the ice berg, PLEASE CHECK THE SAMPLE PHOTOS before you buy. Numbers don't mean squat when buying a camera.