This forum continuess to be the bane of my credit card and a challenge to domestic bliss. I read this thread earlier this week and stewed for 48 hours before I finally decided to order on Friday. The camera shipped same day and will be arriving on Wednesday (I live in the Orlando area). This is an exceptional deal. Here is what went into my decision.
At one time, I was a very serious amateur photographer until the demands of career and raising family took precedence. My interest in photography was rekindled about 4 years ago with the purchase of a 3mp Kodak point and shoot. Over the last few years, I have upgraded several times to prosumer digicams (Nikon 8700 and Oly C7070 with some small travel cameras) but had not made the leap to a dslr. This deal pushed me over.
At this price point, you can't get hurt. Even if you decide you don't like the camera and want to sell, you may lose $50-$100. That's pretty low risk when dealing with digital photography.
Regarding the camera, I went to the local Circuit City to compare. The build quality is head and shoulders over the Canon Rebel XT. Seemed equivalent to the Nikon D50 and Oly 500. In fairness, Canon has the best sensor technology but it over twice the price and the kit lens is suspect. The Nikon shares the same sensor as the Pentax and has good build quality but again the price difference is substantial, probably around $250+ with the kit lens. BTW, the Pentax has a beautiful 2.5" LCD screen that puts both the Nikon and Canon to shame. The Oly is probably a nicer camera than all of these but again, for over twice the money and there are problems with image noise at high ISO that none of these cameras have, probably because the Oly has a slightly smaller 4/3 sensor.
On the downside, the buffer on the DL is not large meaning that it will not be able to shoot at continously at 5fps. Due to the number of focusing points, the auto-focus may not be a little slower (still no slouch compared to a point and shoot). I no longer have Walter Mitty-ish fantasies about shooting the cover of Sports Illustrated or National Geographic so these are no big deals in my mind.
The biggest drawback in my mind about the DL (or any Pentax dslr) is that their in-camera image processing (the "processor") combined with the default settings produce soft images. You can tweak the settings to improve jpgs coming directly from the camera but to get optimal results, you have to shoot raw and then post process the image. That is true with just about any dslr but more so with the DL.
There are some other niggles but the aforementioned are the main items. And besides, all entry dslrs have limitations designed into them. How else would the manufactuer get you to spend several thousand $$ for a Canon 5D if you could find the same features on a 350XT. TANSTAAFL...There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.
Another deciding factor for the DL for me is that it uses AA batteries and K mount lenses. At Sam's, you can pick up an Everready charger and 8 NiMH 2300 or 2500 mAH batteries for less than $20. Need I say more.
My 35mm system was Pentax so I have lenses that can be used with the DL with some tinkering. The majority are standard K-mount so some functionality is lost but they will still work.
Even if I didn't have the Pentax lenses, I would have probably still bought the DL. This is one of those offers that doesn't come around often. Saying that, the dslr business is about to go through some viscious competition. Sony will de-stabilize the market with the pending release of the A100. This looks like a dynamite camera with feature after feature, including image stabilization and a 10mp sensor. It will hit the market at around $950 to $1000 price point and will shake up the mid-tier dslr market and put pressure on the entry level cameras in the $600 - $800 range. With the pending release of the Pentax K100 and K110, combined with the Sony announcement, I guess Pentax decided to cut its losses early with the DL and move on.
Bottom line. Unless you have the $$ to burn or are a very serious amateur or have lenses from another camera system, this Pentax DL is an extraordinary value and will pleasantly surprise you with both quality and features. As I mentioned earlier, deals like this don't come around often so if you have been wanting to get into the dslr experience, this is the one.