Small rugged camera for dog and hunting pictures

[DDSilke]

I love taking pictures of my pointing dogs when I am out hunting. I had a Nikon Coolpix S8200 that took great pictures and I was very happy with it but it recently broke.

Now I am looking for a new camera that is not too big to carry around with me when I am bird hunting, that is more rugged than my old camera but also takes good pictures fast and I also take videos once in a while.
I put my pictures on Facebook or on my website.
A friend recommended the Pentax WG-2 which I really think would be a great camera for me because it's a rugged one and I am kinda hard on stuff but after doing some research I found out that if you have to take pictures fast, the camera is too slow.
Do you guys have any recommendations? I also need a good zoom because my dogs are quiet a ways out sometimes. I don't know anything about cameras, just love taking pic's.
Price range between $200 and $250

Thanks Silke

 

[brunerww]

Hi Silke - coming from Nikon, you might be interested in the camo version of the waterproof Nikon Coolpix AW150, which is on sale for $206 right now. At 5X, it also has one of the longer zooms in the "tough camera" category.

Here are the pictures people are taking with it:

Flickr: The Nikon COOLPIX AW100 Pool

Flickr: The Nikon Coolpix AW100 Group Pool

Hope this is helpful,

Bill

 

[DDSilke]

Bill, great pic's. I am impressed. Will check into that camera. Thanks a lot.

 

[Village Idiot]

I haven't used one, but Olympus has a line of P&S cameras called the "Tough" series or something like that. They're advertised to be shock proof, water proof, temp proof, etc...

Their site has one of their top Tough series listed for $229 down from $279 originally. Shoots 1080p video as well.
http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/digitalcameras/tg-820-ihs.html

 

[DDSilke]

Thanks a lot guys. I just ordered the Olympus. But just because the Nikon I had before was a Coolpix too and it broke just after a year. Thank you very much for your help.
Great Forum

 

[JordanD]

I have a gopro hd hero 2 that thing is bullet proof pretty much.