Pentax Optio T10

I purchased this camera for Christmas for my daughter, 14 years old, and she babied the camera by not letting any others touch it. She loved the large 3 inch touch diplay, and this was the main feature that pursuaded us to purchase this camera. We also liked the fact that the camera was compact, appeared to be ruggedly built and was 6.0 megapixels with a zoom lens. We purchased an extra battery for the camera and a case. My daughter used the camera for approximately one month, and loved it. The battery life was good, and she loved the special features for adding effects to her photos. Downloading her photos to her computer was also easy. Approximately one month after the purchase, our nightmare began. My daughter was taking photos of one of her friends, and touched the screen to view a previous photo. As she touched the screen, as she had done numerous times previously, the screen cracked and developed a spider web type of crack. She showed the camera to me, and we noticed that the crack appeared to be on the inside of the glass. This led us to believe that there must be two layers of glass (or plastic) built into the display. I asked my daughter if she had dropped or bumped the camera on anything. She emphatically said no. I inspected the camera and could not understand how the glass could have cracked on the inside, unless she had pushed very hard on the screen. She said that she hadn't, and was obviously upset that the camera had broken.

We read our warranty (one year) and decided that since we had not contributed to the cracked display, that the manufacturer should honour the warranty. We forwarded the camera to a Pentax repair business in Vancouver BC. They contacted me and told me that we had broken the camera, and denied the claim. They were going to charge me 30.00 to return the camera, but I contacted Pentax Canada in Ontario, and asked if we could have the camera sent to them for warranty repairs. I have just received an email that they have denied the warranty, and have offered to repair the camera for 234.00 (30,00 more than I paid for the camera). I have instructed them to return the camera without repairing, and will purchase another brand of camera for my daughter. I have lost faith in the Pentax product and the company warranty policy.

Compact, nice size touch screen display (3 inches), zoom lens, long life battery, photo effects are great for teenagers.

No camera case included and moving through screen menus can be cumbersome. The touch screen does not appear to be built strong enough for normal use, and I would not recommend this camera to anyone using it outside a strictly controlled environment - it apparently can become damaged quite easily.

Vivitar Point and Shoot.

My two main complaints with this product is firstly that the touch screen does not appear to be rugged enough. Secondly, the warranty policy of Pentax. It seems that they first deny claims for broken displays, suggesting the damage was caused by customer impact. In my opinion either the camera display was faulty and may have contained a minor defect when we purchased it. Pentax Canada has demonstrated to me that their customer does not come first, and that the warranty is a tool used to deny claims, not to serve the customer. I will never purchase another Pentax product, and will recommend the same to any of my friends that love photography. I am greatly disappointed in this company, and my daughter is deeply upset about the loss of this camera, but understands why I will not do business with Pentax again. They have lost a valuable customer.

Recently bought optio T 10,my photo student son turned camera off and I watched as the lenses came off thier guides !I sent it back with full explanation,they finally responded with 'you must have forced it', several phone calls from myself failed to persuade them to believe us and I got a repair quote for £110 ! after much ado they reduced to £56,.and promised camera back within 10 days,,my 12 month warranty invalid and a 6 month service warranty on replaced parts only !!8weeks after sending it in am still waiting, they said they are having trouble getting parts, I used camera for 5 weeks, it costs nearlyu £300....not happy.