Richard,
A shame you're so short of time. I bought the Pentax Optio WPi last week
and am relatively happy with it. It took me about ten minutes with the
"Quick Guide" to get all I needed to know, and at 59 years, I can see the
icons without difficulty, and can also see the view screen ok even in bright
light.
Buy a 1G SD card from the store you buy the camera at, try to get a car
charger and second battery (they make them, but you may have trouble finding
one in the stores you listed).

But if you can't or can work this deal, do it:

Order a 12V charger ($24.95) he
http://www.eastcoastphoto.com/nav/it...14&catid=&hid=
(watch the link; the = didn't turn blue and should have)

And the battery(ies) here ($16.95, NOT $60 as stated by someone else):
http://www.eastcoastphoto.com/nav/it...27&catid=&hid=
(same thing about the link)

Order 1 (or 2) 2G SD cards ($44.95 ea) he
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211029

Have them all sent to you by some expedient means (USP Blue?) c/o a ranger
station where you are going to camp and they'll be there when you arrive.

I paid $330 for my WPi, plus got a $30 rebate, so expect to pay a bit more
off the shelf.

The trade-off with this camera is it not using rechargable AAA batteries,
but it is the smallest, lightest waterproof to 1.5 meters for 30 min (wp
spec #8; all the "splashproof" electronics are spec #7), can do movies and
has a decent zoom equiv. to 115mm SLR. If you want to see what I've done
with it so far I'll email you some pics.
Good luck finding what you want, and have a blast on the western rivers. If
I wasn't heading for Alaska on Tuesday I'd come chase you like you did with
me in the Tenn/NC area in '03.

Brad





"Oci-One Kanubi" wrote in message
ups.com...
Yup, it gets asked six times a year, but until my ol' Minolta
Weathermatic 85 broke down I never paid any attention to the replies.

I'm leaving Friday for three weeks of boating in the Rockies, and I
need a new water-resistant camera; digital with a lotta memory because
we'll be driving hard and sleeping (and cooking) in National Forests so
I don't know how often I'll get to a place that can download to CD for
me [1]. This will be for on-river fotos, and must survive the
occasional full immersion.

Since te only opportunity I will have to shop will be Thursday evening
after work, I need a reliable water-resistant digital camera with a
good zoom that I can get in Best Buy or Circuit City. OK, if I really
must I'll compromise and go to Walmart for the first time in five or
six years. I need to know what I want so I can just walk in and ask
for it; I really, really don't have time to shop around (the good news
is that groceries are bought, the truck is loaded, and I'm all ready in
almost all other respects!)

[1] I'll also need suggestions about places in Colorado, Wyoming, and
Montana that will download from the camera to a CD. Drugstores?
Libraries? Internet cafes?


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

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Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
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