Linda Sands wrote:
I thought Nikon was a good brand name so I bought from Costco two Nikon
cameras over the years - both of which have been fraught with failure. I
even read the reviews before I bought which never mentioned that these
Nikon cameras were pieces of ... well ... you know. They don't work.

Nikon replaced my Coolpix 3100 once under warranty and then it broke about
a year or so later. Same spot. The battery latch door has a flimsy loop of
plastic which eventually snaps off necessitating the entire body being
swapped out at the factory. I can't believe they made the Coolpix series to
break like that but there's no way it can't break, it's so badly designed.
A kindergarten kid could recognize the flaw from the outside just by
looking at it. Yet the reviewers all missed it.

Reviewers have complained about these flimsy doors so much that it's
almost an item that they no longer bother mentioning because so many
cameras have this problem.

I figured this was a fluke until I bought the Nikon Coolpix 5000.

The 5000 is indeed a very flawed camera. Supposedly the upgrade, the
5100, solves some of the problems, but not many reviews on it yet.
Battery life is even worse on the P5100.

The CoolPix 3100 suffers from the usual problem of cameras with AA
batteries and doors that must hold the batteries against the
spring-loaded contacts, but with the added disadvantage that it's the
camera body that breaks, not just the door which can be replaced fairly
cheaply.

The P5100 seems attractive, especially because it seems to be about the
cheapest camera with a hot shoe that uses Li-Ion batteries (the G9 is
much more expensive). However I'd opt for an S5 over the P5100, despite
the larger size.