nyki06:I think this really depends on what you consider to be inexpensive since that varies so much on these boards. We have a Panasonic Lumix for our less expensive camera (I also have a nicer one for my photography business but it's nice to have one to carry around easily).
I totally agree. What you might think is inexpensive, someone else might think is expensive.
We just purchased this camera during Boxing Day week. We were originally looking for something between $100 (inexpensive to us) to $150. We found this one that was $70 off. We wouldn't have purchased it at this time if it weren't on sale.
http://www.sears.ca/product/canon-elph-110-silver/657-000345553-6036B002
We were going between getting a less expensive Canon or Nikon because, even if the particular cameras we were looking at are their lower-end items, they still have great reputations.
We saw lots of Sony and Panasonics that were in the same price range we were content with spending, but figured we would stick with names we trusted if we could get it for a similar price.