Built to take a beating.  The Stylus Tough 8010 from Olympus is billed as a shockproof, waterproof, freezeproof and crushproof point and shoot digital camera.  It isn’t indestructible but it is well built and certainly more durable than your average PAS digicam.

Many of the pictures on this website have been taken with an Olympus Stylus 850SW and for the most part I have been very pleased with it’s performance.  However, the tripod threads were stripping out and I needed something with higher resolution so I have recently upgraded to this new model.

I considered the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2 and the Pentax Optio W90 (I may still give these a try) but ultimately chose to go with Olympus again.  The Stylus Tough 8010 takes great pictures and I am sure that it has a slew of wonderful features which may be wasted on me because I set my cameras to auto most of the time.  I just have not taken the time to really get up to speed on the whole photog thing.  If point and shoot cameras are for idiots then I am all set because I are one.  Ultimately, I chose this new camera because I am familiar with the Olympus operating system and it is very robust.  Basically, it’s a tank I already know how to use.  

While it is still the size of a regular deck of cards, there are some interesting differences between the old 850SW and the new Tough 8010.
       

Memory cards, battery, charging and USB ports now are all accessed from a locking waterproof door on the side of the camera which is a welcomed improvement for me because I can leave it on the tripod while charging or changing the battery.  Unfortunately the tripod hole on the bottom of the camera still uses nylon threads instead of metal.

This new camera is significantly heavier than my old one.  In fact at 7.6 ounces including the battery it has a solid heft to it.  Hence the tank reference.  We will have to wait and see if the weight vs. durability tradeoff is worth it.
  
 
Another positive change is that there is no big external charging dock to lug around when I travel.  This is everything needed to operate the camera, just three items when the battery is loaded.

I am also hoping that the letters and icons that label the operating buttons on this camera don’t wear off like the two previous Olympus models I have used.  Very irritating.

All in all I am looking forward to seeing how the Olympus Stylus Tough 8010 performs.  Will this camera do everything for me?  Probably, it also shoots video, but I am still looking at the others and for a good, all terrain DSLR for more advanced tasks.

Thanks.

Wade Nelson
Editor

Sorting through the fads and fashion of the outdoor equipment industry to identify and promote the very best wilderness gear for high end recreational users, backcountry professionals and government agencies. 

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