Recommend a compact for my parents

[pete s]

I'm hoping to buy my parents a new camera for Christmas. Thier ageing Kodak 'somethingorother' is very long in the tooth and I think they would be amazed at the improvements a new model would give.

So I want a compact with a decent zoom and that is easy to use. It doesn't need lots of fancy stuff or manual controls. I think ease of use (read intuitive menu system, few controls) + really nice image quality are the main requirements.

My immediate thought was a Panny TZ, but then I think the manual controls etc would confuse them. I guess a budget of up to £150, maybe a little more. I personally don't flinch at buying good, well looked after secondhand gear, but in this instance I want to buy new.

Any suggestions?

 

[Alastair]

On a trip with my parents and their friends, I noticed that the majority of cameras used by the more senior members of the group were Sony compacts. Sony seem to one of the makes that thinks a bit more about usability - at least as far as buttons goes, their menus are as confusing as anyone else's. The Sony DSC WX200 is within budget and looks pretty decent, can't find much in the way of reviews and I haven't used one myself (I use a Sony DSC HX20V as carry-about compact).