I was in love with my old Canon Powershot SD450, a studly little camera that turned out fabulous pictures. For everyday snapshots it could give my fancy digital SLR a run for its money. Plus it was slim enough to slip into a back pocket, so I took it everywhere. That meant it suffered a lot of abuse, and after years of venerable service (and a good amount of rough handling) it recently snapped its last picture.

When it came time to get a  replacement, I figured why mess with a good thing? I compared the various features of the newest generation of Canon Powershots and settled on the 8 megapixel* SD1100 IS in a pretty hue of blue. The interface isn't as slick, forcing me to switch between modes in order to access some of my favorite features. And while the SD1100 is a bit thicker than the SD450, it's still tiny enough to go anywhere I do. So for the price - $150 at Best Buy on a great Cyber Monday sale -  I'm very pleased. Time will tell if the performance lives up to its much-loved predecessor.

*In my camera research I came across an article on "megapixel myth" - a good read if you're camera shopping. For smaller cameras, more megapixels can actually can lead to poorer image quality. But because more sounds better, companies keep driving the number up even as the quality detoriatores. So I worry that my new 8MP camera won't perform as well as the old 5MP model. We'll see.