I have the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18, which I got soon after they came out. I purchased it sight unseen as there isn't much in the way of photo stores around here to do any hands on. I was just going by reviews which were giving it good ratings. Maybe big on the P&S side, but small compared to most DSLRs. If I had it to do over again, I am not sure that I would purchase it. The movies are QuickTime, which is a bit of a pain. The 18x optical is the nicest feature. Even though it has a Leica lens, I am not sure that I get any better pictures out of it than what I got from my old Sony DSC-H1, which simply had the Sony lens, not the Zeiss. Weight wise it is nice, but would not have a problem if a little heavier with better glass. It also seems slower than my Sony on focusing. There are some of us out there that don't have the money, so we have ended up in the P&S. If you are really interested in photography and can afford it, I would suggest a DSLR over the P&S. If just a casual user these P&S don't do a bad job and one can learn more and control the settigns if they want, then step up later. The biggest problem with the P&S is that you are locked into what it can do, so you are pretty limited regarding expansion, although with electronics playing such a big role in photography these days, it does not appear that many keep the body of a digital camera as long as one use to keep a film camera body (although a plus to DSLR is lenses are an investment one can usually keep if staying in the same line of cameras).
Another pain is that it seems that the diopter adjustment doesn't stay in place well. It seems that I often have to adjust it again as it has slipped a bit.
It does okay though. You can see samples from my FZ18 on my
photoblog.
I guess I'll have to write another review as soon as I win the Nikon D60 DSLR being given away here at DPS. :-)