Wes,
We've got an earlier version of this one and it kind of frustrates me with how slow it is to acquire focus. Also, the S3600 doesn't take AAs so that doesn't meet that criterion that you mentioned. The amazon.com reviews look okay, in the main, but this site isn't kind to it :
http://www.dpreview.com/produc...
The dpreview.com site has a search feature that's really fantastic here:
http://www.dpreview.com/produc...
I put in the criteria for "ultra compact" and "compact" using AAs and AAAs and came up with this one as maybe a good choice, tho I'm reluctant to recommend what I haven't used:
http://www.dpreview.com/produc...
It's a little pricier at $150, but...I'm not particularly a fan of Nikon pocket cameras. This one also has a viewfinder in addition to the LCD screen...which is kind of a must for me, at least.
Mostly, I guess, it comes down to how you want to use the camera. Neither of the two mentioned (the Nikon and Canon) would work very well for me because they shoot at a maximum of 1 frame-per-second. And that's just too slow for some of the stuff that I like to do. But that's not going to be a concern for everyone.
I suggest you fool around with the search feature on the dpreview site and see what you can come up with and then have a look at the reviews across the Web. There's a side-by-side comparison feature there, too (the auto-focus assist lamp in the Canon is huge...less hunting for focus under many conditions):
http://www.dpreview.com/produc...
I'm interested to know what you end up getting - and more importantly how you like it.
(finally, here's a side-by-side-by-side with the one that I think I really like...but it's more a pocket cube than a pocket card):
http://www.dpreview.com/produc...
But you can see the difference in features and usability going up in size.
