no-name camera from readervalues.com?

[susankuban]

I saw an ad in my local newspaper this morning for a 6 mega pixel camera with 4x digital zoom, only 3.5" x 2.25" x -1". The ad gave a website address, and I have copied the direct link here:

http://www.readervalues.com/productdetails.aspx?prod=35011&cid=9d6d78c7-d88a-44b6-97eb-2e3f1caa2c3f&hide=1&catid=26&partnerid=13

Can anyone advise how I can find out if this is a reputable camera, what company makes it, warranty info, etc?

Thanks, Susan

[Rhys]

I saw an ad in my local newspaper this morning for a 6 mega pixel camera with 4x digital zoom, only 3.5" x 2.25" x -1". The ad gave a website address, and I have copied the direct link here:

http://www.readervalues.com/productdetails.aspx?prod=35011&cid=9d6d78c7-d88a-44b6-97eb-2e3f1caa2c3f&hide=1&catid=26&partnerid=13

Can anyone advise how I can find out if this is a reputable camera, what company makes it, warranty info, etc?

Thanks, Susan

Stay away from no-name brands if they cost more than $50. $200 is too much to risk on something nobody has ever heard of by a manufacturer who's so proud of the product that the manufacturer's name never appears. The pictures will probably be awful. Better to spend $200 on a known brand.

[judge9847]

Stay away from no-name brands if they cost more than $50. $200 is too much to risk on something nobody has ever heard of by a manufacturer who's so proud of the product that the manufacturer's name never appears. The pictures will probably be awful. Better to spend $200 on a known brand.
In this case, it looks like that's good advice. For the price it's nothing like a decent spec. There's no optical zoom which is a serious miss, there's no memory card and although they're cheap enough right now, it's still a bad sign. It doesn't say what type of battery system it is - for that price you really should be looking at standard batteries, not something made just for that camera so that you'll need a charger and a spare.

All in all the advice has to be "forget it". There are many cameras at around that price which will do far more than this and you'll be very pleased with. Have a look at the different reviews on this site and you'll see what I mean.

There is another side to this though and that is that sometimes you can get serious bargains as some manufacturers shift "old" stock under a different name badge. It's been done for years with computers. However, in this case, I don't think it is a re-badge. Forget it, unless you've got $200+ to lose.