Without knowing you, I can't say if I would recommend that camera or not. I read a few owner's reviews and found the comments to be mixed. It sounds like a great camera for the money but I would check out the Canon models in the same price range first.

I have a predecessor to that camera, the Olympus C-710. It's over 4 years old. The camera you are looking at seems to have addressed most of the things I don't like on mine. Manual focus being one of the main ones. I'm confused on the image stabilization. Some of the comments seem to indicate it doesn't have that, but the specs say it does. I'd want to try it in lower light (say a hockey rink or gym) to see how well it handles action shots. The metering and focus modes seem better than mine as well.

The camera seems to have the same lower light weakness that mine has according to the comments I've read. I just can't shoot good indoor pictures like I used to with my 35mm. The flash tends to cause more red eye than I got with the old 35mm camera as well.

This is a great handling style of camera to take pictures with. However, it is bulky to carry. It has a lot of controls which I wouldn't mind, but my wife would probably prefer something that is easier to take with her.

In summary, if you will be the main or only shooter, and you like to play with things (do you explore the options in the computer programs you use?), then I might recommend this camera or one similar. If you like to grab something and just use it, and multiple people will be using it, then I might look at more of a point and shoot.