I have a Panasonic HX-DC2.

It lakes fairly good video and photos, has a decent zoom and I picked it up new for approx $150.

Main disadvantage is battery life - it's terrible. BUT - on the plus side, I picked up two new batteries on trademe for $8.00 each and they're just as good as the original. They're only cell-phone sized batteries, so compact enough to carry in a small camera bag with the camera.

If I was buying again, I'd likely spring for the waterproof version which is the WA2 or something...but theyre bucketloads more expensive.