Age old question: "What is the best camera?" It depends so very much on what you want to do with it. I can't give an opinion about the digitals, but it seems that anyone in that competitive price range will do a fair job at landscapes and macro. But some may be better suited towards a specific task than another. One strategy is to look through the Gallery and find the types of images you'd like to do, then ask those people what they use and what they would get to improve. You are not going to go wrong with anything in that price range for general purpose, but there may be some speciality things about any of them that could make you very happy, (or unhappy). There are places, I guess, which will give you a definite answer to your question. But they are likely less honest than what you've heard here.