I got one for my birthday about 3 weeks ago and used it on our recent trip to WDW and VB. It was a big step up from the Panasonic I used to use at the pool and beach. The biggest plus is that I'm now able to use the same SD memory cards for all of the cameras we use. (The Panasonic used XD cards.)
The screen is brighter than my old Panasonic, but there were still a few times in the bright Florida sun when I just had to shoot and hope for the best.
The neck strap is nice when you're wearing the camera in the park, but was making me really nervous in the pool and ocean. The camera seems to have somewhat of a neutral boyancy (it doesn't float up or hang down, but pretty much stays where you leave it in the water). I'd rather have a wrist strap that I can put on and twist to tighten. I was afraid the strap would float up and off my neck, especially in waves. It was also unpleasant to put the neck strap on later in the day if it had been in the pool/ocean earlier.
I really like having the separate movie button instead of having to dial up movie mode on the selector. It makes it really convenient to switch from pictures to movie and back to pictures.
Panorama feature is very nice. Hold in the button and pan the camera. Either 180 or 360 degrees.
I didn't realize what fireworks mode was, so it didn't work for me. I was using camera handheld and didn't realize it was going to hold the shutter open for several seconds. Needed to have had the camera on a tripod for it to have been effective. Quickly switched back to auto mode for the rest of the show.
I have quite a few "lost" shots from our first couple of days using the camera because the lens got very cloudy from the chlorene and salt. The photos are very hazy. After I realized it was necessary to frequently clean the lens, though, the picture quality is very good.
This is my first P&S that doesn't have a lens cover that closes automatically when the camera is switched off. The lens is always exposed. That makes me a little nervous.
I got a second battery with mine, but never needed it. Of course, this was never my primary camera for a full day in the theme parks. It was our pool, beach, and going out to dinner camera. (Or other short periods when I didn't feel like having my DSLR around my neck.)
All in all, I'm happy with the purchase.
