Ricoh WG-80 Black Waterproof Digital Camera Shockproof Freezeproof Crushproof 03122

I bought this Ricoh WG-80 in April 2023. I wanted it to video and take close ups of wildlife garden. The rugged quality was a selling point despite other reviews criticisms of some features. Everything is a compromise and at the price I thought it was worth buying. To be fair I have had satisfactory results from the camera, either for stills or video. Perfectly OK for what I wanted to produce. I even filmed underwater in my wildlife pond and it gave some good results.The one thing I didn't like was the tripod mounting point. It is right over on one side, almost to the end of the camera! I have never seen a tripod mount this far over on a camera before. Still I used it on a hand held grip and a mono pod/tripod. It just seemed a silly place to put it with the weight of the camera hanging on one side. Then in September I went to put it on the tripod and the mount just crumbled into pieces. I looked at the pieces and they seemed to be plastic or nylon. I don't think the tripod insert is metal, but some part of the case casting.What a let down, a rugged camera that has a definite design weak point. I contacted Amazon and they were very helpful and arranged the return of the product.Everything else about the camera was as per the reviews and specifications. It did what I wanted it to do but not being able to sit on a tripod is crazy.So Ricoh, you need to think about putting a better tripod mount on this camera and if possible centralise it so the weight of the camera is balanced over the centre point.If you don't use a tripod, then this camera is fine as a point and shoot. It will deliver some pretty reasonable results. If you use a tripod then I would say think hard as you might suffer the same fete as me.

Dreadful photos

LOVED THE LOOK OF THIS TO REPLACE A DROWNED PREVIOUS UNDERWATER CAMERA BUT THE IMAGES ARE JUST NOT CRISP AT ALL.

Seriously waterproof rugged cameras with optical zoom are rare these days, I could only find two. The Olympus offering feels realticely flimsy and has all kinds off fiddly switches that could get bunged up with salt and sand.In contrast I'd cheerfully give this camera to a 4yo on a beach to take some shots for themselves.Reviews elsewhere slate the image quality and the screen. The screen on this camera is fine. The image quality is excellent *for this class of camera*. For instance a massive improvement on my Nikkon AW130.At the time of writing I don't think there's a better rugged waterproof compact camera available, or if there is I couldn't find it.If you want better quality photos you'll need a housing for a completely different class of camera.