Canon A60 and error 18 - to buy or not to buy

Hi

The Canon A60 looks a good match to my requirements, but I see occasional
(but not rare) reports of 'error 18' with some Canon digital cameras. I
understand that this is most commonly caused by mechanical faults in the
lens system, but can also be caused by operating the camera with a low
battery, causing the lens to jam. And it's expensive to fix once you're out
of warranty.

So, can anyone advise what is the likely risk of buying an A60 that will
succumb to an 'error 18'? 1 in 100? 1 in 1000? I guess that if I felt that
the risk was very low, I'd be tempted to go for the A60. But if the risk is
higher (I'm not much of a gambler) I'd avoid it(and go for the Nikon 2100).

Many thanks for any comments, and Happy New Year.

Steve

 

Steve:

I replaced a defective A series Canon with a Nikon Coolpix 3100 and I do not
regret the decision. Besides Canon U.S.A. failed to repair the camera 3
times! In over 30 years of photography, I have never had such a negative
experience (no pun intended) as the one that I had with Canon. Besides the
lens error that you mentioned, you will also read about A series Canons with
defective CCDs, misaligned viewfinders, bad LCDs and power supply problems.

One post from a camera shop employee said that the store stopped carrying A
series Canons because so many were being returned. Canon has plans to
control about 25% of the digicam market and they have let their
manufacturing QA/QC suffer to the point that defective Canon digicams have
become a common enough topic in internet digicam forums. This is too bad,
because Canon made some great 35mm SLRs in the past.

Buy the Nikon Coolpix 3100.

Steve