I am looking for a 200$ point and shoot camera for a trip to Alaska. This has bad reviews?

The camera runs $200 (Actually $189)... What you need to be asking is for $200 should I buy this camera or save some cash and get a few less MPs in the SD1100 ($150) or A1000 ($125) or spend a little more Cash and get a longer zoom in the Sx110 ($199-$229)?

I think the main complaints these folks have is the price for what Canon is offering. The A1100 only offers a 4X Optical zoom and runs $200 and isn't a huge upgrade over the A1000. The A1000 runs $125 offer the same Optical zoom but only 10 MP instead of 12 MP. The other Key advantage the A1100 has over the A1000 is the A1100 can shoot at 2 FPS where as the A1000 shoots at 1.3 FPS. So the question you need to be asking is the 2 MP more and the faster burst mode shooting worth the extra $65.

I am actually a huge fan of the Canon A Series for hiking. The Camera has the perfect form factor to be slipped into a coat/jacket pocket and pulled out. It has a view finder (Most cameras in this form factor have opted to do away with the view finder) and offers a good deal of control over shots. The only thing I don't like that Canon has done with the A Series is its AiAf system... which I despise... not a huge problem as it can be turned off. The other thing I don't like about the A series is the power drain.... You can get around that by using higher mAh batteries.

Lets be honest about the MP here. Adding more MPs to that small of a sensor is not going to improve image quality that much (its going to introduce noise and actually degrade image quality in low light) and most users for this type of camera are not going to print larger than 8 X 10 so really more MP than 8-10 at 300 dpi is not going to be that helpful. To further complicate it if you are just posting on the web or putting photos on the more affordable digital frames then exceeding 5 MP is waste of MP, as the Screen's resolution won't go that high. The exception to this is if you are going to fiddle greatly with your shots in your image processing software- AKA Photoshop.

The SX110 is a little larger but also still fits into a coat pocket. It only has 9 MP sensor but has a 10X Optical zoom instead of a 4X optical zoom. It also only shoots at 1.3 FPS and will run you a little more about $30-$40.

The SD1100 will run you about 30-40 less and will only give you 3X optical zoom 1.2 FPS and 8 MP but gives better picture quality.

Picture quality is a combination of the quality of glass on your camera, Sensor (Size and design) quality, Focus, and Noise Reduction techniques applied by the camera. Picture quality is extremely important when you drop the dpi to 250 or 200 and becomes drastically important when you increase the Image size in your Image editing software. Any fuzz or aberration (Eg fuzzy or purpled edges) becomes very noticeable when you do these things. You would do this to get a larger print.