Finally, a camera that doubles as a blunt weapon w/o breaking on some unfortunate jerk's skull.

I should really patent the "1080SW" right now based on their scheme and the idea of 3 full revolutions and 1080 extreme snowboarding on the Nintendo 64

I'm looking at waterproof digital cameras for kayaking with and since I don't trust my D80 in a waterproof housing I would much rather get something like this. If only they would switch to god damn SD.

But the true question I have for these: Will the LCD screen stand up to the same abuse as the camera itself?

I had a ~$100 cheapo digi that I took to Burning Man 2006 and it was destroyed 5 minutes in from the front door from a lighter in my jeans against the lcd in my jeans. Even after dissection and disabling the LCD inside, it would not focus.

So, will the LCD screen take abuse? Can I drop it off a rock and have it land directly on the screen at, oh, 30 feet?

I have the last gen of this camera (or it's older, not as good sibling?) and it's freakin' awesome. Take it with me white water rafting. I might buy this one and give my old one to my brother... Win, win. Right?

I have like 17 or 18 gb in SD cards (all of them 1 gb cards, all of them 133x speed Corsairs except one San Disk Extreme III which I dislike and keep in my P&S) so I would prefer waterproof and SD if anyone has any suggestions. No Pentaxs though.

I believe this is the same camera I used this weekend to take some shots of some visiting Aussies (it was their camera). It was windy and snowing and it took great shots. I was impressed. The rapid-fire setting also took great shots in decent resolution. If I knew how to link to one of the pics in this thread, I would.

DO WANT! DO WANT! SRSLY.

It seems nearly perfect.

Just a bit more Zoom, maybe 5x and it would be perfect for taking all those outdoors shots. i.e. if it is built for extreme sports, you are normally in quite beautiful scenic areas...

@goatspunk: Nope. i got the 850 sw and the manual says it can fall 5'. i've never tried it myself. although i do love freaking people out when i toss it in the pool.

I wish I could find a firm sell date for this camera!! I know they say it is coming in March, but I am going on vacation March 8th and WANT this camera for that vacation!!!!

An Olympus Stylus saved my life - literally. When I was in Maui my too-expensive Rosignol hiking boots slipped out from under me (they have less traction than greased teflon), I found myself sliding down an escarpment towards the edge of a cliff and certain death or at least grave discomfort. I dug the metal casing of my Stylus into the smooth rock until I stopped.

To this day I keep that camera in a place of honour - and even though I've got a kick-ass Nikon I still find myself taking along the Stylus when I go hiking.

@thechansen: The 1030SW comes with an adapter that allows you to use SD cards instead of XD. Thank god for that.

I just bought this camera and all I can say is wow. The only issue is that you cant take full VGA resolution videos for more than 10 seconds. And, you need an Olympus branded xD card to shoot in camera panoramas.

Other than that its amazing. I love pouring water on it in front of people. Or washing beer off at parties in the sink and people think I'm out of my mind.

@secret_asian_man: Uh, that would be any prosumer or pro-level SLR, medium-format, or rangefinder- generally made of magnesium or industrial-strength aluminum.