I'm trying to decide between these three: canon a650is, a720is and the sx100is. The pluses of all three are the image stabilization. I want compact but not tiny and slick. I'm trying to weigh the 10x optical zoom of the sx versus the 6x of the others, the 12mp of the 650 vs. the 8 of the other two, the 4 batteries of the 650 (better flash recycle?) vs the 2 of the others, no optical viewfinder and a manual popup flash on the sx, flipout lcd on the 650...does anyone have and or tried one or more of these? I even called canon to talk to the techies there. I got different answers to some of the same questions. For instance a local camera store guy told me that the sx had a better lens (the actual glass was superior he said), canon said no, but that the sx was superior in other ways. Can you use the optical zoom during video mode? The review sites said no, but canon said yes, if you turn off digital zoom. Basically I'd like to know which will take the best pictures. Mostly my husband and daughter; vacations, recitals (maybe the better zoom will come in handy), etc. I currently have an older powershot s50. I liked having one small extra li-on battery tucked away in a small camera bag, never had a problem with keeping them charged and ready. They lasted 4 years! Will the small size of one of these be offset by carrying around a slew of little batteries banging around in my pocketbook? Ok, that's enough for now...what do you think?