Are Dollar Stores Truly Bargains?

If you are not on Twitter or checking out a lot of the major publishers out there, here is something that you may have missed on Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/investopedia/2012/04/02/are-dollar-stores-really-a-bargain/3/).

My favorite part of this story:

Dollar stores are a great place to save some serious money, but you must be an astute shopper. As the old adage says: “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Comparison shop for not only price, but quality. Paying a few more dollars for a premium product that will give you years of use will save you more money than a cheaper item that won’t be around very long. If you have any doubts about a product, don’t purchase it. That advice should be used in every store you shop.

My son loves the dollar store for cheap toys, but honestly you don’t always know what you are getting and more often than not the stuff breaks within minutes.  I’m not wealthy however find that paying a bit more elsewhere results in better quality merchandise that actually lasts longer.  If you can afford to, either skip the dollar stores or just be VERY SMART about what you do buy there.

What Digital Camera is the Best for Under $200.00

Amongst a lot of friends and family, I frequently get asked about my opinions for electronic gadgets.  Myself I’ve been using an older model Canon 8mp camera that works great and produces awesome photos.  Of course the camera is only as good as the person taking the pictures, and if you are the type of person that cuts the heads off of people when you take their picture – then I’m sorry, no matter how much you spend on a camera you will not get the results you expect.

Here is my pick for the best digital camera under $200.00:

Panasonic DMC-FH25K 16.1MP Digital Camera with 8x Wide Angle Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Black) – Amazon price $139.99

This is a great looking camera, and for 16.1mp the price simply cannot be beat.  For the fashion conscious, this camera actually comes in several colors – black, blue, red, silver and violet.  Beyond colors, this camera does what others that are more expensive can do, featuring 27 scene modes to such features as MEGA O.I.S (or Optical Image Stabilization) Shake Detection.  If you are like me (and so many other photographers) that you can’t keep still, then this feature will really help you out.  The camera detects hand-shake and actually will compensate for the blurring that is caused by it.  The camera samples 4,000 times per second and even the slightest shake is detected and compensated for.  This results in stunning photographs that will always be crisp, clear and sharp.

Another superb feature to do-away with the blurring you may get on an image if someone is moving too quickly is Intelligent ISO Control Motion Detection.  Like MEGA O.I.S the camera detects subject movement and will automatically adjust the ISO setting and shutter speed to best suite the movement and light conditions.

There are several other fantastic features on this camera – but what makes it a hit is the price and the number of 4-star and 5-star reviews on Amazon.  It’s got 160 5-star reviews, and 61 4-star reviews and 36 3, 2 or 1 star reviews – so by far a larger percentage of 4-star and 5-star reviews for this under $200.00 digital camera.  For the price you cannot go wrong.

Virtually ever review of the camera by purchasers says the same thing “outstanding product“, “great camera“, “finally a decent camera that takes sharp photos“.

Click on the links above to read more about the Panasonic DMC-FH25K – one of my picks for the best digital camera for under $200.00.

Here are some technical details for those who care:

• The high-speed, high-performance Venus Engine VI is incorporated to enable the recording of beautiful images.
• The Sonic Speed AF system includes numerous re-engineering enhancements.
• Battery included.
• When you don’t know which mode will give you the best shooting results.
• Just choose the iA Mode, aim at your subject and shoot.
• The MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) compensates for the blurring caused by hand-shake.

This camera is rated #3  in Camera and Photo on Amazon and #2 in Point & Shoot Digital Cameras.

Another image of the camera, in violet and full-size in blue:

 

Updates to Posts

Updates to several posts…

On the post Problems with iPhone Home Button turns out that after updating the version of iOS on the iPhone did resolve the issue with the home button.  That and the fact that our son uses the phone and there are generally 30+ apps “sleeping” which is probably also slowing the phone down.  I also did activate the feature as I described in the post so should the home button start acting up again, my wife can always use the soft home button.  Why wouldn’t Apple just create a gesture or single/double/triple tap to get to the home screen?

On the post Cost Of Running Devices In Your Home after running the Belkin Energy Use Monitor for just a little under one month on my laptop (an NV53 Gateway) it costs on average $6.28 to power the laptop over the course of a year or about $0.51 per month.  This takes into account the time it is actually left on and when I’m done I normally put it to sleep/hibernate.  Next to take this to some other electronics in the house, like our rear projection TV to see how much power that thing sucks up.  Updates to come in about a month!

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