I'd looked at the Fuji before I eventually went with the Canon A540 (which can be had in the $150-180 range) and thought it was a very nice entry. The 1/2.5" CCD, 4x optical zoom, standard SD memory, and non-proprietary AA battery configuration of the Canon won me over in the end. While it does have a factory underwater enclosure option I don't think I'll be purchasing it anytime soon (though the lens adapter system has been tempting me a bit). I'd also had very good luck with the old S10 so I was inclined to stick with Canon, the only thing I ended up disliking about that model was an anemic optical zoom and irritating proprietary batteries.

The Fuji has a remarkable ISO range in the price bracket; I'm curious to hear how well it works out in real use (the Canon's is effectively 80-800, and seems to perform well at the highest setting, but that's quite a ways to 2000).