Digital Camera Advice Needed

[adamark]

I'm thinking about getting rid of my good ol' Nikon N65 SLR Student camera for a digicam. The problem is that I don't know which brand and model would best suit me.

I've done some research but I don't consider myself an expert.

- 2.0 to 3.5 megapixels is the range I'm looking at.
- $100 - $175 is the price range I am shooting for.
- If possible I'd like to get more than 16MB of memory in the camera. I don't want auxiliary memory.
- A quick shutter speed would be preferable, like above 1/1500 second
- Video/Mic is NOT necessary
- Battery life has to be good. About 30 minutes of life even when reviewing pictures with LCD screen.

I've read about one hundred or more reviews on epinions.com and pretty much they all differ. For instance I was reading reviews on the Kodak CX7300. One reviewer said the battery life was sufficient. Another said that the 7300 ate batteries. These kind of discrepancies scare the hell out of me, especially when I'm getting ready to lay down the wallet. So I need some solid advice about digital cameras. And, if anyone has an old camera that they want to pawn off on me, I wouldn't be totally opposed to buying used as long as you give me an honest rating of it. :bmage: