Friend want's a cheap digicam...
 

... and I've been out of that arena for a couple years now. Any suggestions for something around $180? She said she'd spend $250, but I'm allowing for the minimal accessories. It will likely be used on nature tours, hikes, outdoor kind of stuff.

I'm most impressed with the lower end Canon and Kodak cameras. Check the reviews at DP Review and Steve's Digicams.

Thanks, I'm likely suggesting the Canon Powershot A400.

The Canon Powershot A75 looks nice and I have recommended it to several friends but for outdoors and in the $200 price range I'd look for a DMC-FZ1. Its only two megapixels so don't expect more than email shots and 4x6" prints but it has a 12X optical zoom with optical image stabilization (rare at any price range). Of course its a little larger than some cams so that could be another factor.

Here is a link for a Google search on DMC-FZ1 reviews:

Click here

I got my daughter a Nikon CoolPix 2100 for Christmas last year and she loves it. Very simple, user-friendly, basic camera that is tiny and can go anywhere. It was ~$200 but I think it's been discontinued and replaced with the 2200. Only 2 megapixels with a 3x optical zoom. There is also the 3100 (now the 3200) which I think is pretty much the same but with a 3 megapixel sensor.