I love camera gear almost as much as I love Apple products and especially bikes. I always have a camera on me at all times, whether it's my iPhone or Canon Elph. They take great pictures, but I'm always a little apprehensive when the weather turns for the worse. I've had my iPhone freak out and shut down if it rains or if I get so sweaty it permeates through my jersey fabric. I've had my Canon PowerShot Elph 300HS completely lock up due to its fragile casing, especially its retractable lens cover. It takes great pictures and the focus is unbelievably fast for a point and shoot, but it's toughness is something left to be desired.
I needed a rugged camera that I didn't have to worry about, which is why I picked up Nikon's new Coolpix AW100. It has a large 16 megapixel CMOS sensor, fully waterproof and shock-proof casing, as well as a GPS geo-tagging feature, plus 1080p HD video shooting capability. What I also like about his camera so far, while not as tiny as my Canon, is it's relatively small size and non-retractable fixed lens. I'm still getting used to how everything performs. I'm used to Leica's and Canon's, but so far it's easy to use. I'll be posting a followup review as I get more familiar with it.