Canon PowerShot A200

Opinion: Very good 2 MP fixed lens camera for under $200. Selectable 50-400 ISO, powerful flash, good set of manual settings incl. 6 white balance modes. Nice macro 5-20 cm. Compact size, energy efficient (100 images w/ two 1600 mAh Ni-MH AA batteries). Smart panorama stitching software. No visible jpg artifacts on ~ 1 MB 1600x1200 files. Image quality is no worse than the best 2 MP samples on this site. Very deep zoom during playback is nice: you can check for motion blur. Digital zoom is useful for saving memory on images you'd crop otherwise since they are more compressible.
Perfect choice for a beginner on a budget.

Opinion: Valued for money. A cheap and reliable camera for the novice to the leisure photographers! Of course, an upgrade for the CompactFlash card is totally necessary.

Opinion: Terrific little camera for the money. Will take pictures in low light easily straight out of the camera. Pictures and colors are really good. I love the AF assist illumination! A family and travel camera, everyone can use it without any fuss and it always works! Takes perfect pictures of cows crossing the road from a moving car while driving in no time! :-)

Opinion: Excellent second camera. Quick and simple to use. Easy to grip, unlike the more expensive IXUS series and very light. More compact than the A40. Exceptional picture quality and amount of features for such low price. Uses the popular NiMh AA and compact flash that I already have for my other prosumer digicam. For such low price, no need to baby it. Lugging it around all the time and to everywhere.