Instead of going for ruged just go small and light. The Dell m1330 or the sony tz150n, then get a small rugidized case for it to fit into. Theft will be a serious issue and with its small size and light weight you will be able to keep it with you at all times. They are not very rugged but with a nice tough aluminum case to fit them in you wont have to worry about that much. They have great battery life and the sony has a built in sd card reader (I liked the idea of sending home sd cards, buy a dozen 1gig cards on ebay for $5 each and reuse them next time.)
Keeping it in a case will keep most of the dust off it, keep it from getting broken. If it was me I would go this route just for the weight savings. Finding a good case to keep it in will be a pain. Keeping it powered up will probably be hard, but the longer lasting battery should make up for some of that.
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Instead of going for ruged just go small and light. The Dell m1330 or the sony tz150n, then get a small rugidized case for it to fit into. Theft will be a serious issue and with its small size and light weight you will be able to keep it with you at all times. They are not very rugged but with a nice tough aluminum case to fit them in you wont have to worry about that much. They have great battery life and the sony has a built in sd card reader (I liked the idea of sending home sd cards, buy a dozen 1gig cards on ebay for $5 each and reuse them next time.) Keeping it in a case will keep most of the dust off it, keep it from getting broken. If it was me I would go this route just for the weight savings. Finding a good case to keep it in will be a pain. Keeping it powered up will probably be hard, but the longer lasting battery should make up for some of that.