It's taken the toughest treatment I would expect from anything, in fact more, and it has just kept going, so rugged must be up there amongst its strongest features. waterproof it surely is.
The body is strong and rugged and can take a beating.

Zoom is only 3.0X Optical.
On/Off button is not easily accessible under difficult circumstances.
The function selection is difficult under "action" circumstances.

I've had my Olympus U725SW for between 5 & 6 years now and used it in all kinds of situations. I've used it roaring down the rapids while river rafting on Java Island, Indonesia, snorkling and swimming on a number of islands in Indonesia, roaring on a river boat in Borneo, canoeing down rivers in South Africa & kayaking 400km down the mighty Orange River in Lesotho & South Africa, swimming in swimming pools, lakes and rivers. I also take it kayaking in the sea in South Africa and really have given this camera a hard and tough time. It goes with me everywhere and so often gets used in factories, hiking in the mountains and generally everywhere.
I've always been very happy with the results and quality of photographs and videos. I've always carried a spare battery and memory card with me where ever I go.
While roaring down the rapids on our 400km kayaking trip I had the camera rigged onto the front of my kayak taking video of the trip down the rapid. I did a very successful capsize and bumped down the rapid on my behind, hitting rocks and gaining many bruises, as did my camera which was now upside down under the capsized kayak for a good 500 meters (or more). It took some beautiful video of the dirty, muddy water until I managed to right the kayak and test the camera.
Everything was fine and that was only the first day of nine.
I took some beautiful photos & videos the rest of the trip, but now the camera was slung around my neck for easy access.
On the second last day I was again capsized by the mother of all rapids and washed up, upside down (again) onto a sand bank. Still the camera kept going.
My other (fancier Sony) camera, which was tucked away in a waterproof box inside a dry bag, did not come off so lightly (a quote of half the price of the original camera made me decide to dispose of that camera without repairing it).
Only some months later did I discover that moisture must have got into the Olympus and I took it to a "non-agent" chap who fixed it ecause some moisture had corroded the battery terminals.
Unfortunately I now discover that there must have been more damage because it no longer takes still photographs, but does still take video.
I'll be having that fixed this week (hopefully).
I've been scouting around the internet and shops for a possible replacement, but find that to be a most difficult task.
I read too many bad reports about the newer models and wish I could just get another model like the U725SW. Any offers?
Of course the zoom can be imrpoved and access to the function buttons made simpler because, with gloves or cold and wet fingers, the on/off swith in particular is most difficult.
This is no longer a pretty camera and bears the scars of much abuse, but has served me well. I would hate to say goodbye.
Well, what do you know, there is life in the old girl yet! I've just switched the camera on and it now agrees to also take still photos. Maybe it's just getting cranky like me. We don't all age well.

Customer Service

I've never used them because I've had no need to, but I've had some bad reports.
However, that does not count because everybody has a sad story about service, no matter where you go or what the product is.

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I've not used any other camera with an underwater capability other than way back and then only in an underwater housing. This is a FAR better option other than a more professional camera with a proper housing for the really serious guys.

Definitely durable. I have owned it almost a year and it has been through a lot plus dropped 2x. There are only minor scratches on it.
I am happy with the pictures it takes. They are great for my purposes. I usually keep the image quality set to SQ1 (2560 X 1920) which has produced good quality pics but doesn't take up too much room on my memory card.

I like to use the digital zoom on it, but for some reason it shuts itself off each time I shut the camera off. It is a pain to have to go back into the menu and turn it back on every time I want to use it. I would give this camera a 5 star rating if it weren't for the digital zoom issue I have with it.

I bought this camera after I accidently threw our canon powershot in the pool and needed to replace it. (it was inside a bag of snorkeling gear we had just taken to the beach and I didn't realize it until it was already in the water). I am very active with my camera and take it almost everywhere with me and besides ruining my other camera in the water, it was already pretty banged up from being shoved in pockets, purses, backpacks and cars so I decided to shop for something more rugged. I have been using the camera for almost a year now and love it. People ask me about it periodically and I can't give it enough praises. I have not had image quality issues at all. It is a wonderful camera for my husband's and my purposes. (email, website and personal photo albums). I have unintentionally tested its "shock resistance" twice in the past year and it has held up amazingly well without a dent or crack. I have not yet tested it underwater. Frankly I am scared to. I have had it out in the rain and on a tubing adventure on a river and felt confident that it was fine. I am just afraid to submerge it entirely.
I love my Olympus. It is the best camera for my needs and lifestyle.

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Canon Powershot

Solid construction, waterproof without using a housing. It's the best option on the market right now. Big LCD monitor and lots of functions. ISO settings go as high as 1600, and while fairly noisy are much better than similar cameras of a few years ago.

Proprietary battery, XD cards and a zoom that only goes out to an equivalent 38mm - but small size requires this; at least the first two. The LCD viewfinder isn't terribly bright in sunny conditions but for my use of it an optical viewfinder would almost be more difficult. The printed manual is very basic. There is a detailed manual also included but it's on CD which isn't convenient.

There aren't many compacts that are waterproof without having to use a housing. I bought this camera for two purposes; sea kayaking and since it's so small, for carrying around when I normally wouldn't have a camera with me.

The LCD is pretty bright, and much more visible in daylight than compacts from a few years ago. It's still difficult to see in bright sun but my choice is either this or going back to film which wasn't something I was interested in here, plus it would mean a much larger camera which defeats my second purpose. It's about the size of a deck of cards so there's no reason not to have it with you.

I agree about the images being a little soft and lacking saturation/contrast but those things are easy to do quickly in Photoshop. I'd definitely choose not enough rather than too much of any of these. The distortion is a little surprising at the wide end but that was first noticed in taking a shot of a bridge - not that I hoped to do architectural photoraphy with a camera like this. In most of my uses with this camera it isn't a concern. Since the actual focal length of the lens is so short (actual, not equivalent length), this is almost to be expected. I do wish the wide end of the zoom was wider, but the 38mm equivalent is fairly standard among cameras of this type.

There are good and bad points about a camera this size. It uses tiny XD cards which seem somewhat fragile so I got a 1-gig card and plan on leaving it in there. The proprietary battery doesn't last as long as I'd hoped but it's easy to swap and charges quickly. It has a surprisingly solid feel to it and claims to handle a five foot drop but hopefully I won't find out if that's true!

It's a good camera for my use and better than other options available today. It might not be the best all-purpose camera for everybody but it works well for me.

Customer Service

Haven't needed it. I bought it from a great local store and if I have any issues they'll take care of it.

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Pentax waterproof 35mm P&S film camera, Nikon Coolpix 5000.

Well it's allegedly a rugged beast (not that I have dropped it to find out).

It's fairly small and looks nice.

Adequate LCD

That's about it.

Plenty:

Serious distortion at the 'wide' setting which I think is about 38mm. Same as most compacts but it's certainly not really wide angle and distortion should not be present - and it's very pronounced.

Images are soft, and very soft at the corners and edges.

Images lack contrast and colour.

Images are noisy.

AF is slow.

Functions are not intuitive and navigation is not great.

This is an OK camera but the results are disappointing. Yes it's tough and waterproof and that's why I bought it (for skiing, mountain biking etc) but you sacrfice a fair amount of image quality. See below...

Also, the functionality is far less intuitive than Canon cameras, and the software is really crap.

PLUS my charger doesn't work.

Customer Service

we'll see - charger doesn't bloody work so I hope I don't get grief or I'll throw the camera at them (at least it won't break).

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Various Canon compacts.