Warm deal on cheap digital camera @ CompUSA (after MIR)

[BigSmooth]

Hey all, in the CompUSA sale flyer for President's Day, they list an I/O Magic MagicImage 500 digital camera at $99.99 after $20 instant savings and $30 MIR. The MIR is valid only for CompUSA purchases through 2/24/01.

I looked on CompUSA's website, and they actually had the camera listed for $119.99, no rebates. I went into the B&M store and asked them about this, and they said that their computers actually showed $119.99 as well, not the $129.99 after $20 instant savings as listed in the sale flyer.

So after the MIR, the cost is $89.99 + tax, a decent deal considering the camera is about $175 at most online stores.

The camera itself is nothing fantastic... it is also sold in slightly different forms as the Samsung Digimax 800K and under the Hi-Val brand name. Specs can be found here. There aren't too many reviews on the web, but some user reviews are here. You could also search for reviews of the Digimax 800K.

Basically, it's a .8 Megapixel camera that will do up to 1024x768, however it has no LCD viewer and uses the serial interface. One advantage the I/O Magic version has over the Samsung is that it comes with a 4MB SmartMedia card instead of a 2MB card.

 

[ptbrulz]

didn't the CompUSA ad say that the camera is 1.xx Megapixel?

 

[BigSmooth]

The ad does say "1.3 Megapixels". This is kind of misleading.

From a user review:

Though the camera is billed as 1280x960, that resolution is via interpolation. The 'real' max resolution is 1024x768. While the 1280x960 mode has additional pixels, it adds no additional information. If you want to blow it up to 1280x960, do it on your computer using photo editing software. Your computer can do it better, and you will be using less memory on your Smartmedia.


So the camera is really .8 megapixels.