There's not enough information about your needs. And here you have a bunch of DSLr owners that think $800 is a cheap kit camera...
For a basic , compact PnS camera I would be looking for a deal on a Canon Elph 100 or 300 series. Its not too unusual to see deals in the lower $100's. Their high ISO performance (important for low light) is better than many manufacturers cameras that cost $300
But I would also recommend looking at tough/waterproof cameras. Olympus and Panasonic seem to be the leaders in that category. You do pay more and the integrated lenses cannot match other cameras on zoom or low light performance. But as you know a working camera is better than any broken camera.
Personally I would avoid a cheap Nikon. They make amazing DSLr but not so much when it cones to a point and shoot. I got a cheap Nikon last year because I needed something. It's slow, pictures are grainy... I really have little reason (the occasional time 4z zoom is needed) to attempt using that over my iPhone.
But there's so many other categories, travel zoom with 20x. Bridge cameras that look like DSLr but get 30x zoom, prosumer compacts with larger sensors and brighter glass like this Canon s100 or Nikon P7100 (the main Nikon PnS worth consideration)
