Nikon COOLPIX AW130 Waterproof Digital Camera with Built-In Wi-Fi (Blue)

The build appears quite robust, about twice the weight of my Sony Cyber Shot. To quote Arnold Schwarzenegger, "Weight is a sign of reliability."I also like that the lens is recessed fairly deeply within a bezel, which should provide a lot of protection. I've seen older Olympus models with a moving lens cover, and I've seen a lot of them which are broken.... All it takes is enough brackish water or a little dirt to jamb a moving lens cover so I'm glad Nikon chose to recess the lens instead of covering it.So far I've only used it once, but I'm quite pleased at the price. I used it on an 8 mile kayak trip with class II and III rapids in 40F water without any troubles. Considering that it was quite overcast, providing poor lighting, I was impressed with the quality of the pictures it took as well (see the attached picture). I apologize for the blurry smudges, that is user error, not product fault.... I do need to remember to blow droplets off the lens before taking pictures.After the initial setup, power on to taking pictures is less than a second. This is a major improvement over all other cameras I have owned or used in the past. This means that you can conserve your batteries and not watch that bird fly away while your camera is booting up.I had noticed that reviews on this camera and similar camera have around a 10% catastrophic failure rating due to water infiltration. Considering that when they fail like this, they seem to fail within the first month of use, it makes me think either user error or damaged gasket.Something I noticed was that there is a red mark on top of the battery door that one needs to pay attention... You can actually get the door to latch while this marking is still partially exposed! You must make sure that you press the door in hard enough while you are latching it to fully obscure this marking if you want reliable waterproofing. People not doing so may account for the majority of the aforementioned 10%.The battery life is impressive. I used this camera for half of a day, taking pictures and videos for almost the entire time, and the battery indicator still showed the battery fully charged. Considering that it was only 40F outside and it was getting splashed continuously by water that was 40F (at the most), keep in mind that low temperatures decrease battery output, I consider it impressive.Before I bought this camera, I was torn between the Nikon AW130 (this model) and the Olympus TG-860. They are both comparable as far as their specifications and I had dealt with Olympus cameras in the past. The deciding factor was that I'd seen many reviews stating how horrible Olympus customer support tends to be while Nikon tends to be quite friendly. Normally, I buy products assuming the warranty is worthless, but when dealing with a $230 camera with a 10% failure rate I did take it into consideration.The real test will be when I take this camera on my annual trip to Lake Superior for kayaking, camping, and snorkeling... Bad weather, rough water, and free diving... I may post another review afterward.A word of caution to anyone wanting an indestructible camera... This thing may be a beast, but it has moving parts so it can fail. I'd seen a lot of reviews where people ONLY brought ONE CAMERA and then complained that it failed during their trip. Bring two cameras, or if you are like me, bring three or four. They don't all have to be new, top-notch cameras either. My Sony is an older 12MP model that I bought for $1, add a sandwich bag and it is waterproof enough for kayaking and maybe an accidental dip although I wouldn't intentionally submerge it. It gives me a backup if I need it and is insignificant when packed in a hold on my sea kayak.

First problem was that the booklet that comes with the camera is short, and leaves much out (in fact, in regard to menus and settings, leaves most info out!). After I logged into Nikon on line to register the purchase, I saw the option to download the camera manual. I figured that it was the same inadequate booklet that came with the camera, but a pleasant surprise was that it was a complete manual, detailing all the things left out in the short 29 page booklet that comes with the camera. This has solved my main initial problem! Now I have a complete manual with detailed instructions. To be fair, Nikon has a sentence in the booklet advising to download the pdf, but it's an easily missed instruction. Camera has lot's of options and flexibility, but a feature I like most is that by setting the camera at "Scene," then when I point it at what I want to shoot, it automatically changes the setting to what it thinks is appropriate. It seems to get it right most of the time, as far as I can see. I point it toward the horizon, and the setting icon automatically changes to the landscape icon, with appropriate settings. Without taking a picture, I swing the camera one way to put a leaf 3 inches in front of the lens, and then it automatically changes the icon to Macro. Same thing for pointing at a person's face, it switches to Portrait. Makes it easy to get the right mode. Pictures look great, and it's easy to use. The Action mode to shake the camera either right/left or up/down to change settings works good, but in picture-taking mode, you still need use a button. For example, you can shake it to switch to video mode, but then you still need to press the action button on the side of the camera to start/stop taking video. Overall, I'm very satisfied.

We took the camera on our recent trip to the caribbean to use as our go to camera. It worked well underwater and took some excellent pictures. The only thing I would say to watch out for is, once you take pictures underwater, be sure to clean off the glass in front of the lens before taking other pictures, otherwise the water spots left behind may spoil your picture. It will be a great camera to take on campouts (scoutmaster here) and backpacking trips. My only gripe and this is minor (it might even be something that I am doing wrong) - it does not like any other wall chargers beside the one it comes with. It wouldn't charge from the usb ports built into my outlets. I have not attempted recharging the battery using my solar panel, but I am anxious to see if it will work as it will be the primary charging source on longer trips. Will update the review once I know.