Verdict

All in all, the Olympus mju TOUGH 6000 is designed to be rugged out in the field. Whilst it achieves this with flying colours and is extremely well placed in the hands of, well, anyone - from plain clumsy to hardcore extreme sports fans or mountaineers - it does let itself down when it comes to image quality. Image noise is only so much a part of the issue, as the muted, inaccurate exposures, muddied-colours and light bleeding across the frame can cause issues in a number of scenarios. Even the controls feel a little squished together in terms of layout, and whilst the TAP control is a nice idea, it will have relatively limited use for most. If you need a compact that can take anything you throw at it, then the Olympus mju TOUGH 6000 is a solid choice that, like many of the other mju cameras in the range, will do you proud whatever the conditions. If you're looking for a compact solely for day to day image taking, however, then there a many compacts out there that focus on the resulting images rather than the tough exterior - it seems that, as yet, the two haven't been merged into one strong contender, though with a little more persistence, Olympus will undoubtedly crack it, as the TOUGH 6000 does have glimpses of brilliance.