In reply to Twigger:
I love my canon sx230. Never seem to use the gps but (maybe) handy to have. They have a non gps model called the sx220. 14x zoom. pretty stable. Batteries are cheap online for when you're shooting a lot. I think the world of it. That being said I've not used any other models. Ohh and since it's an old model I'd assume it's a bit cheaper now too.