Argus bean Carabiner Point & Shoot Digital Camera - Red - Bean5MPRed
Argus Bean 5 Megapixel Carabiner Clip-On Digital Camera - Red

I wanted a nice digital camera for each of my children (ages 5 & 6). I didn't want the bulky Fisher-Price or V-Tech with poor quality: I wanted a decent quality picture with an LCD viewer so they could see the picture after they took them and one that was rugged. With the Argus bean I got much more: great value, quality, durability and stylish. My 5 year old son picked up on most of the features. He knows how to use the video recorder too. It's amazing what kids take pictures of (have you ever seen a pix of your ceiling fan taken from the floor?) They love to show off their work on the the TV. The RCA plugs are easy to use. And another bonus: no more buying batteries-- just plug it into the USB port. AND, I was able to get them each a different color, so no fighting over whose is whose. Not just for kids: when we went on our weekend vacation to the indoor-waterpark, we didn't take our camera, we just used theirs.
 
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I gave this to my 11 yr old nephew for his birthday. He has never owned a digital camera and he had it figured out in no time. He loves the fun shape and that he can hang it from his belt loop. I like it's ruggedness and have hope that it will hold up to his roughness. It takes great pictures and videos, and takes a regular SD card to expand memory. I'm very happy with my purchase.
 
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I bought this camera for my 7-year-old shutterbug. I looked at cameras more aimed at that age (e.g., Fisher-Price), but found them to be meant for 3-year-olds. This camera was PERFECT -- easy to use, solidly built, and producing great photos and video. I highly recommend this to any similarly-situated parents.
 
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I purchased this for my granddaughter for her 8th birthday. She had fun taking pictures during our visit and was pleased with the quality. This wouldn't be a good camera for a child who was much younger. The Quick Start instructions could have been better for those of us who aren't so tech savy.
 
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My 6 year old grandson loves this camera. It is easy to hold and light to carry. He likes how he can clip it on to his belt. Seeing what the picture looks like right away is easy for him thanks to the size of viewer. I would recommend this camera. Delivery was quite fast also.
 
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bought this for my 10 yearold grandson for Christmas. He is thrilled, the camera is perfect for him and the shape is great. It can also be hooked on to a belt. Fabulous value for the money.
 
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When I first got it I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I played around with the settigs and it was absolutley fabulous! Everything has a learning curve. I figured it all out without any manual. Push the little knob for the controls up, down and to the sides to get it to move. The picture was incredible! No one could believe it came from this camera. I was driving and taking pictures of downdown. The detail was clear. The key point is to change the white balance to cloudy and the flash takes over. I got everyone at work buying them now for Christmas gifts. I haven't really tried using the clip but it does need a little bit stronger of a catch. Great for a first camera or for young adults. I carry it in my car for quick moments. Not as wonderful for portraits but outside and landscapes are great! Good for camping and traveling.
 
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I purchased the Bean for an upcoming camping trip. I have two small kids, and know how they treat electronics. I wanted to take a camera for our mini vacation, but since it was camping, I wanted something I could afford to damage or loose. Enter the Bean! I read other reviews, and felt it matched what I needed. I wanted a camera with a rough and tumble exterior, that would use expandable memory. I also wanted a camera that was easy to use. Lets start with the bad, because it is a shorter list! Flash. Holy cow. If your subject is less than 5 feet away, prepare for washout. Carabiner clip. It took no time at all for me to spring the clip and have the camera come falling to the ground (several times). I had to upgrade because I liked the easy attach feature, so I secured some climbers rope (3mm) around the clip so I had an easy loop attachment. Problem solved. Don't trust the clip. Now for the good things. Picture quality is not as good as my Sony, but hey, what did I expect for an inexpensive, outdoor camera. Impressed for what I got. Kid resistant. It was dropped several times in the dirt. Twice in the river while playing with the kids (not totally submerged, but close). It was stepped on, bumped, slammed against lava rocks while exploring Craters of the Moon park, and still kept taking pictures. Battery life. I charged it when I got it from Buy.com. Took it camping for 4 days. It took over 150 pictures, and I still have good battery life. I was concerned from reading other reviews about the toggle stick. No problems (knock on wood) with mine. I will admit I try to be gentle with it, so far so good. Overall, this is a great camera for the money. If Argus were to change one thing, please fix the clip. I loved the idea of just clipping it to a diaper bag, back pack etc., and was disappointed with how easy it failed. Good job Argus.
 
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This is probably the coolest camera design that I've ever seen, which is the main reason I purchased this product. The carabiner clip is extremely handy and the soft plastic, anti-scuff finish makes a lot of sense. It's pretty easy to use - although it defaults to no flash, so I always have to remember to set the flash to auto every time I turn it on. For more advanced setup, the menus are easy enough to navigate through - all the usual settings are there (image size, quality, white balance, exposure, etc.) I found it tends to over-expose everything, so I changed the exposure setting to the lowest possible & it seems to take reasonable quality pictures for a $60 digital camera. Don't bother with the digital zoom - it significantly degrades the quality of the image. Downloading images is easy - the camera can be set to act as a USB drive (the default setting), so you just connect it to your computer with the included USB cord to access the images. It's nice that it has built-in memory, so you don't even need a memory card (you can use an SD card, but there isn't one included.) The on-board memory is good for about 10 shots at the highest resolution/quality. If you have an SD card inserted, the images are written to the card first. The battery is built-in (like an iPod), so you either plug the camera into the included charger, or it will charge when plugged into the USB port of your computer. The initial charge takes up to 8 hours - mine took about 4 hours (after that, it's less) & the camera automatically stops charging when the charge is complete. The little flap that covers the USB port tends to come loose if you bump it. I can see that getting caught & tearing off over time. Again, for $60, the construction is of reasonable quality - and everything else seems to be built to take a beating (I mentioned the anti-scuff finish that covers about 70% of the exposed surface area - the rest is shiny colored plastic.) All in all, this is a fun camera - and quite a conversation piece when you have it clipped to a belt loop or the shoulder strap of a bag.
 
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Digital Cameras > 2-6 Megapixel