Casio EX-G1 reviews reach quite different conclusions (waterproof camera)

The Casio EX-G1 is a tough-looking element-proof camera that was announced curiously in mid-November 2009 in what was supposed to have been a cyclical CES 2010 announcement. And while it may be one of the coolest-looking cameras every made, the reviews of it oscillate wildly. Casio seems to have this effect on reviews/reviewers.

Both Digital Camera Info and CNet Asia point at significant image quality issues, and Digital Camera Review diplomatically sees more artifacts than usual at 100%.

On the other hand, Steve's Digicams, finds the image quality "really good" and says it "takes great pictures". They do provide a page of full-size samples, but their image quality discussion is contained in just two short paragraphs. They do point to some flatness but speculate it might be seasonal.

This is a basic P&S camera, not something unusual like Foveon or SuperCCD, so should/shouldn't seasoned reviewers be able to reach similar conclusions on image quality???

If all this is confusing, perhaps you can do some DIY comparisons - Imaging Resource has posted 35 test-samples of the camera, which you can Comparometer-compare with other models they have in their system.

PS: We usually don't spoil conclusions, but in this case, the divergence of conclusions is the actual issue at hand.