Rating: 
Summary: A good buy
Review:
I bought this camera in May 2002 and I've been very pleased with it during all this time. It takes great pictures and I've had paper copies of lots of pictures with good result. Today you get cameras with 4 or 5MP for the same prize as I bought this one back in 2002, but considering the price of this camera today you get a really good product to this prize. If you want a small and camera easy to use that gives good enough pictures for to reasonable cost this camera is definitively a good option.
Rating: 
Summary: Tried and True--> Wonderful Compact Camera.
Review: Let me first qualify my rating a bit before I get into specifics:
1) It seems the mean for compact camera resolution currently is about 3-4 megapixels if bought brand new. This is a 2 megapixel camera, which was the mean for a compact camera about 2 years ago (when I bought the camera).
2) This rating is based on 2 years of wonderful experience with this camera and thousands of pictures taken. If you are set on a 2 megapixel camera regardless of price, then this is the camera for you. -Picture Quality- Amazing for a 2 megapixel camera. I routinely print out 4x6 pictures at great quality. Before this camera I was using an APS Elph. Without a doubt this camera prints much better quality pictures than my old APS compact camera. Although keep in mind, no matter how good the camera is, the prints can only be as good as the printer. The only problem I had with this camera is that it is VERY dependent on the flash for point and shoot pictures. Without the flash, unless you are in bright sunlight, pictures can come out blurry if you don't have steady hands. -Features- AMAZING. Simply more features than you will use if you are buying the camera for quick snapshots. Also the problem with the flash dependence that I mentioned earlier can be fixed using the manual features. But with that said, it is impractical to change these features manually everytime you want to take a quick shot, but it is very handy when you want to take portrait type or studio type shots. This camera also has a movie function with sound that most cameras have nowadays. Most people say they don't use it, but I use the function a lot. I find the main problem is that most people just forget they have the function so it is never used, but if you can get in the habit of using it you'll have priceless small clips (at a low resolution) of things that happened.
A 2x optical zoom isn't too shabby either considering many compact cameras don't offer a zoom. -Durability- again AMAZING. I have never dropped this camera (well once off a bed, onto some really soft carpet), but I've owned this for 2 years and probably 75% of those two years that camera has resided in my jeans pocket with lint, keys, cell phones, change... and not even ONE scratch and it still works perfectly. I did buy a small pouch for it, but the pouch really goes against what this camera is about, fast pictures. It wasn't practical to take the camera out of the pouch everytime I wanted a quick picture so I never used it, and it turns out I never needed it.
Also the camera is heavy and solid for its size. Too heavy for a shirt pocket, but definitely light enough to put into your pants. Its made of a metallic material that feels much better than the plastic that most compact cameras are made of.
The display screen on the back of the camera is plenty big enough to use to frame your shots. The viewfinder however does not accurately show the picture you are taking, which is a problem for many cameras. I never use the viewfinder because of this, but I never really want to either unless I forgot to charge my battery and I want to conserve battery power... which leads me to... -Battery Life- The battery easily lasts the whole day of picture taking if you are on a vacation for instance. Easily I would be able to take 100+ pictures with flash and the screen on. But I have noticed over the thousands of pictures I have taken that the constant recharging of my battery has made the life lessen a bit. But that is to be expected from any battery over a couple of years of high usage. -Price and Summary- I think the deciding factor for this camera is price. I gave this camera five stars because I couldn't be happier with my camera... BUT i bought the camera 2 years ago. A quick look at cameras of equivalent price and one can easily find 3-4 megapixel cameras for the same price (but maybe not the same quality). A quick look at cheaper cameras and I can also find plenty of 2 megapixel cameras from reputable brands such as Minolta, Nikon and Fuji. This camera has kept its price amazingly well over 2 years for an electronic device (I bought mine 2 years ago for $250). I think it has to do with the HIGH quality of this product. But if you have the extra $$$ for a mere $100 more you can get a 4 megapixel Elph.
I am very satisfied with this product and I know when I eventually get a new camera several years from now it will be another Canon Elph.
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