I have decided to go ahead with SD800. BUt what surprises me is

that none of the major electronics stores (read circuit city, bestbuy, etc) are carrying this camera. I can find the SD800 only on amazon.

Is this because SD870 is on sale?

I have spent a lot of time going back and forth between sony cybershot T20 , cannon powershot SD800 and cannon powershot SD 870....
Finally I zeroed in on this one....

But not being able to compare prices and stores not carrying this camera is frustrating me...Is my paranoia justified???

I'd appreciate your take on this....
Thanks!

To give you a comparison... this camera used to go for $299 at most retail locations about 6 months ago. As soon as the SD870IS came out just a short while ago, all retail locations sell out their inventories of old stock and start moving the new stuff. So you'll have a hard time of buying old models. Amazon has the SD800IS for $249, which is a good price. If price didn't matter to me, I'd take the SD870IS because of the bigger screen and little more megapixels. But for about $70 less, I'd take the SD800IS over the SD870IS if I was going by price. (Although, if you don't care about wideangle 28mm lens, and were willing to take the 2.5" LCD the SD800IS vs. the 3" LCD the SD870IS has)... then for about $250 you can already get the SD850IS, which is also a great camera.

So many choices! :)

I currently own the SD800IS camera and wouldn't trade it in for any other ultracompact (except the SD870IS, like I mentioned, but I wouldn't even pay the $70 if I was offered the ability to trade up for it). That's just my opinion, though :)

But to answer your question: It never hurts to be paranoid (I'd call it "skeptical") of a product that you can't find anywhere else. BUT, especially with electronics, a quick history of the product you're looking for will usually give you the answer (in this case, digital cameras being updated so quickly that the limited space in stores can only let them keep the most up-to-date ones).