[stomachmonkey]

I would avoid the "smallest" criteria.

You should go to Best Buy or other bigbox and take them for test drive.

I have large hands which makes the "smallest" ones unusable for me.

If it's not comfortable you are less likely to use it often.

You want to make sure you can operate it easily.

Also look at things like battery doors, some are in stupid spots. Memory card access, some stick them under the battery door, stupid spot. Run through the menus, they should be intuitive and easy to navigate especially if you want to shoot shows and such.

Check the zoom, some are too slow, some are too fast or "twitchy".

Battery type, I prefer cameras that use standard AA's vs a proprietary battery pack. You can get AA"s anywhere, no need for expensive backup batteries or taking a recharger along on vaca.

Rechargeable AA's are a good investment. Some cameras will eat batteries like crazy, my daughters will go through a fresh set of standard AA in one day. Rechargeable's in the same camera last 6-7 x's longer.