General Discussion Board

Ever feel guilty about parting with a product?

PattyTherre — Sat, 09 May 2009 06:50:12 GMT

I would definitely get a new camera and keep the other as a backup. I actually did that. I bought a Nikon Coolpix recently but kept my Kodak EasyShare. I find I still use the Kodak because it actually takes better pics. DOH. But yeah, if taking pics means a lot to you, it's worth it to have a good working camera.

I like to replace stuff though. I replace stuff that doesn't need replacing but of course, I have issues giving away, selling, or otherwise disposing of the old thing. Hence, I have too much STUFF!

Ever feel guilty about parting with a product?

vivasuzi — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:23:56 GMT

Good tip :) I should make a list....

Ever feel guilty about parting with a product?

nicki2442 — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:50:29 GMT

Well...I'm a big fan of making "the list"...if there are more pros to keeping it than cons...then keep it a while longer. If not...then its time to move on. Good luck with the decision!

Ever feel guilty about parting with a product?

vivasuzi — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:17:25 GMT

Well it was some kind of special thing where HP was coming out with 2 cameras (I thought they were their first - maybe they were the first "compact" cameras or something?? or maybe it was the first time they were gong to sell them at my husbands store? I forget I guess.) and my husband got a huge discount b/c they wanted employees to buy it and then hopefully love it so they could sell more of them. Then we went to buy extra accessories this past year and all the HP stuff was on close-out b/c the store said they aren't making cameras anymore. I don't know why these 2 were so special, but they were the "first" of something!

Canon seems to come up a lot these days. My friend has a canon and I thought it was took much better pictures than mine! I get discounts btw, so sales usually don't count for me. 300$ in my budget includes all applicable accessories - batteries, memory cards and cases. I do have requirements though - the camera has to be good! I wouldn't go through all this for a cheap one.

The only thing I know for sure I don't want is a touch screen. I played with some of those at the store an NO way am I fooling with a touch screen when I'm tyring to capture a quick picture. It will slow me down for sure.

Thanks for the advice. I just gotta decide if it's worth the money now or i I should wait. But the more I think about it, it would be nice to have it before vacation and before my friend's wedding :)

Ever feel guilty about parting with a product?

bkovacs — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:05:35 GMT

vivasuzi said…

My current scenario is that I have a digital camera, it was the first HP camera ever made, and they stopped making cameras after it!

That sounds like you got the first model that HP ever made and that the company only made that one model. I know that's not true, as HP was in the camera business for many years and only recently got out. HP had dozens of camera models, so that must have gotten garbled somehow.

You can get a surprisingly good digital camera for less than $150, and $300 will get you a corker of a camera. (If you had shopped at Circuit City during the last couple of close-out weeks, you could have gotten a nice digital-SLR for $350 or a fantastic compact camera for $300.)

My current fave affordable camera is the Canon PowerShot A590, which sells for $110-130, depending on how you catch a sale. It has eight megapixels, optical image stabilization, a 4x zoom lens, and it takes good photos and videos. It will easily fit in a jacket pocket, although you won't want to carry it far in a pants pocket. If you want smaller or more features, you'll pay a bunch more. And the A590 will take much better pics than your HP.

If you shop around, you can get the A590 for $120, an 8 GB SD memory card for $15-20, spare rechargable batteries for $30 and a case for $25. That's less than $200 for the entire kit, ready to roll, with a chip that will hold 3,000 pictures.

Good luck!

--Bob (who loves spending other people's money...)

Ever feel guilty about parting with a product?

vivasuzi — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:37:05 GMT

Well for me it's b/c I love taking pictures and have been frustrated lately b/c the pictures aren't always coming out good :( So this weekend was the kicker. I took pics at my friends shower and 1/2 are dark or blurry. We took most of the same pics with a friends camera and they came out bright and nice! So I think it's time for an upgrade.

I am so anti-buying new thing just because they are new which is why it took my husband 2 year to convince me to get a flat sceen tv (which I know LOVE by the way) :-D

Ever feel guilty about parting with a product?

JovialCougar — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:26:04 GMT

If it's something that is important to you I can see why you would upgrade frequently. If you are trying to impress people by always having the newest electronic gadget, then I think it's wasting money. That's my 2 cents!

EDA: I tend to lag way behind in stuff like this. My PC is 4 years old, my cell phone 5, my TV (drumroll) is 16 years old!

Ever feel guilty about parting with a product?

vivasuzi — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:50:26 GMT

Well there are no teens in the family yet and I wouldn't donate something like this, I'd rather hold on to it as backup and save it for when I do have kids that get older :) My nephew loved playing with my camera but once he started walking I had to stop letting him b/c he got rougher with it. But once he gets older, I would let him take pics. It will still work years from now as long as i keep everything neat and together.

I'm still debating. I added 300$ to my "vacation" budget this year for a camera and accessories, which I know is a little much but I wanted buffer room. I've been trying to earn money for my entire vaca by writing and maybe I can get the camera as part of that :)

Ever feel guilty about parting with a product?

LisaCarey — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:36:53 GMT

I agree with Crysta - for me I passed it to my son he was thrilled to get it. It still worked, but for work and play I really needed something a little better. Sometimes it's best to just go ahead. I hated putting pampers easy ups into the closet but they are useless and I hate them so out they went. Even with a screaming child in the background --- I wannnnntt DORA! But I save them for a rainy day or visiting family.

Ever feel guilty about parting with a product?

CrystaBush — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:34:20 GMT

It's time for a new camera!! You will be so much happier.

Pass it down to a teenage family member or someone who couldn't afford a camera like yours.

Maybe there are local charities or shelters. Some women who leave domestic abuse situations have to leave everything behind. A camera (even with a rubber band) could be a great gift for her?

Ever feel guilty about parting with a product?

vivasuzi — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:20:49 GMT

I'm usually of the philosophy that I keep things until they break, and when they break I try like crazy to fix them so they are decent again, and only if I CANNOT fix it, will I get rid of it or buy a new one. But sometimes in the technological world, products rotate in and out so fast that you see something bigger and better all the time. Do you ever feel too guilty to get rid of something just because it's not broke and it still works halfway decent?

My current scenario is that I have a digital camera, it was the first HP camera ever made, and they stopped making cameras after it! I dropped my camera once in 2007 and have since had to keep a rubberband on it to keep the battery case closed. However, it takes very good pics about 85% of the time. It WORKS and I aready have 2 batteries for it, memory card, and all the other accessories, which makes me feel guilty about parting with it. Lately I've seen friends cameras that are just so much better! They take good pictures 95% of the time, even in dim or dark places. Mine doesn't react well to backlight or darkness. I've had this camera for just over 2 years now which makes me think it got it's use - but I still feel guilty about buying a new one. I plan to keep the old one around a backup even if I do buy a new one.

What do you think? Would you keep the camera b/c it still works pretty good, or would you hold out for another year or two just to get your use out of it? It's not even about the money for me since camera prices are 1/2 what they used to be, it's about the fact that this one still works! Please let me know what you would do :)