Digital camera recommendations?

Buying a digital camera for christmas/birthday for my daughter who started college this fall. Haven't looked at them for several years. Looking for something compact but with decent features and easy to use functions. No SLR interest as it will as it will be packed around in her car, purse, dorm room pretty much all of its life..Sounds like durability should probably be a must as well.
Not stuck on any brand at this time, currently own a Cannon and a Kodak and both have served our family well. Would like to stay in the $150-$200 range...Less if fine too!!

Thanks, RJ in Montana

Stay away from Olympus. Ours fell literally apart after 3 months.

We now have a Panasonic Lumix that takes good pics and has held up well through many family trips and getting jostled around.

Olympus Stylus Tough (WP) 10 MP $140-200+ Sometimes less.

i have had a Panasonic Luminix for a few years now. take it everywhere with me and it takes good pictures.its a good point and shoot camera.

Another vote for the Panasonic Lumix. I bought mine at Costco a few weeks back. Its got 14 megapixels and 8x optical zoom.

It was right about $150.

yeah mine is an older one i think its only 8 mega pixels. we have been talking about getting a new one since the lense cover won't shut anymore. when we do replace it we will be replacing it with another Lumix

I grabbed that one too, FH20.
It has been very good so far (for a P&S)
Nice design, solid build.

I sneaked some deer the other day and was shooting through a fence.
I thought that I had some winners and the damn thing had focused on the barbed wire

Funny! Walked the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge today. Was on a viewing platform watching flocks of water fowl 100-150 yards out, when the little girl beside me said, "Daddy, aren't you going to take pictures of them with your cell phone camera?" Don't think the results would have been suitable for framing...well, maybe a really small frame.

The Panasonic Luminux sounds like a popular choice. How's the battery life in this camera? The Samsung camera we're currently using has an insatiable appetite for batteries. About all it's good for is a paperweight.

Battery life with mine seems to be very good.....haven't been caught without power.
If I was going to be in the wild away from the charger for more than a couple days I would probably throw down for an extra battery.

Get a quality, fast card for it (Newegg)

Picked up a Panasonic Lumix FH20 at Costco. They've got a $20 rebate deal going for a short time, so the price is $139.99 + tax. Thanks for the info.