A Travel Camera for rough neighborhoods

I have for years used a variety of Canon digital cameras for blog and general photography.  Most of my recent stuff has been taken with a SX210SX.  It is a nice unit, the 14X digital zoom is helpful and it shoots at 14.1 megapixels.  That's more than I really need.

But it did have a couple of small problems on my last archeology trip to Vindolanda.  I was working in a lot of mud which eventually got into the mechanical works.  So the camera sometimes sticks when you power it up.  The other problem was that technically it is my wife's camera.

So while doing a little pre-travel shopping I happened to swing by the camera counter at Target and saw this:

It is a Panasonic TS25.  Now, I have not used Panasonic brand cameras before but this one was very reasonably priced.  $130 on sale.  It only has 8X zoom but there are no mechanical parts to get gummed up.  It is billed as being waterproof to a depth of 7 meters and for up to one hour.  It is dust proof, nowhere for archeo mud to slither in and dry.  It is shock resistant, rated to survive a drop from five feet onto solid wood.  It is freeze proof.  It is probably able to survive being chewed on by medium to large sized wild animals. And it shoots at 16.1 megapixels, so a decent photo of said animals could be obtained from a respectful distance.

Just the camera for the road ahead, and if it works out, for future wet/cold/dusty fun.