We have purchased several digital point-n-shoots in the past. These Canons are by far our favorites. We gave the SD800 to our parents after 8,000 shots. We then bought the SD870 for the in-laws and the SD880 for ourselves. The SD880 has already taken 3,000 photos. All three of them are still working perfectly.

The image quality from these cameras are as good as any pocket camera. What we really love about them is the stablized wide-angle lens, which allows us take pictures in tight spaces without flash or tripod.

The SD880 is mostly better than the SD870. The zoom range is longer. The face-detection is fancier. The buttons and dials are slightly easier to operate. However, if you take many close-up photos, the SD870 has a small advantage because it comes in black. There are also differences in the movie modes and the flash sizes. But these are not reasons to prefer one camera over another.

Another great "feature" of these cameras is the ability to run external software. We have installed the wonderful yet totally-harmless CHDK. If you want to view and adjust every little detail of the camera and/or picture, or if you want to play silly video games on the camera, by all means, give CHDK a try. CHDK works with many Canon cameras; but it doesn't work for anything else.

There are other good compact wide-angle cameras. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 (also TZ3 and TZ4) have much longer zoom range; but we find the Canons easier to use. We also find the Panasonic's images to require more adjustments in Photoshop to meet our taste. The Pentax Optio W60 can go under water; but it's everyday performance is really not competitive. The Fujifilm FinePix F100fd has received great reviews. Its images are better than those from the Canons in low-light situations. But it's harder to find and the user interface is less friendly.