Pentax Optio A40 Review

Goodness, I found this page while searching to find an exact replacement for my Optio A40 in advance of claiming through my house insurance for accidental damage!
I bought mine in Comet on 01.04.2009 at £99.99 They state 12 months manufacturer's guarantee and I did not take out an extended warranty as these often equate to the cost of a replacement anyway!
It has worked well and I have taken some 600+ pics and done a fair amount of editing with them in the short 4 months since I bought it. It's been snapping away beautifully at the top of the snow covered Cairngorms and then around sunny Kent within weeks and here, there and everywhere in between. I hardly left home without it!
However, I was carrying mine around inside a camera pouch secured to my belt some 2 weeks ago and when I took it out to take a pic, the screen had gone!
I concidered this a great little camera that I had just got to replace, but having read the above posts it seems not to be the case.
Looks like I'll be heading in to Comet in the morning.
I shall update soon.
Pat F, looks like you bought yours just weeks before me, any news on your independant examination?

I bought a Pentax Optio A40 from Comet on the 28/12/08 at a discounted price of £89.99. I was extremely pleased with my 'bargain' purchase and had been very happy with it up until last week.
Again, like the stories above, one day the camera was fine, the next day the screen had gone! It had not been bashed, dropped or exposed to water or extreme temperatures. The top screen is perfectly in-tact, yet there is a 'crack' line in the top right hand corner underneath the top screen that appears to have colour seeping out of it (the rest of the screen is white).
Like Danni above, I took it back to Comet as it was still under guarantee! After being passed around three customer assistants (there's a contradiction in terms!!) I got told that the damage must have been caused by impact, and that the guarantee did not cover this.
I have since been in contact with Pentax, who told me that they would take a look, but if it needed a new screen, it would cost £92 plus £6 to return it to me. (I now realize how they make up their profit losses!)
But I'd like to thank the people above who took the time to tell of their experiences, as now I definitely feel that the damage to my camera was not my fault, but what seems to be a pretty common complaint of this camera.
Subsequently, I am going to print off their stories and send them with my camera back to Pentax to hopefully strengthen my case. (I may even pay a visit to Comet and inform them that it is possible for the screen to be damaged without any impact! - Mind you, they might just say that we ALL must have dropped/bashed them without realizing!)

I had exactly the same experience as the above - ie one day the camera was fine - the next the screen had gone - except it has happened to me twice. I had bought the camera from Jacobs on-line, who said Pentax insisted it must have been compresssion or impact damage. I paid up to have it repaired. Working fine - and I was especially careful with it. I took some pictures one evening, left it on my desk - and the next morning the screen was gone again. This time I wrote to the Jacobs Chief Executive, only to get the same old story. I now have a quote frm Jacobs who say the "The Pentax technicians have formulated an estimate for repair of your camera"..."£138", which not only makes Comet's £98 above look value, but is about the price you can now buy the A40 for for new. You would have thought a specialist retailer like Jacobs with a reputation to sustain might have pointed that out. I'm going to write to their Chief Executive again, armed with the above stories. There is clearly a bad flaw with this camera, which is a shame because its concept and performance when working were excellent.

Full marks to Jacobs, who after some correspondence got onto Pentax who repaired the camera without further charge. So I'm now using it again - still a great camera, pity about the malfunction.