Jools, I couldn't have said it better myself. The Pentax K200D was my first DSLR, and it's still my only DSLR. I'll buy another Pentax body at some point, but I can't imagine not continuing to use the 200D for as long as it keeps going. I have something like 60k actuations on it and it's still going strong. I don't use a grip because I have small hands and never had problems with swapping batts in the wild (where I usually take pictures). I just carry spares. I wish it had a better image at ISOs above 400, but overall it's a solid, sturdy camera and copes with any kind of weather.

The first system I used was Miranda. When they went belly up I bought into the Pentax system. A bunch of things, two of which I wanted, were offered on Kijiji the K200D was included. I used it as a point and shoot with 18 to 250 zoom at my granddaughter's wedding. During the day the photographer and her assistant used four different Canon bodies. Of the 250 files she chose to sell at normal viewing conditions the exposures of the K200D are interchangeable with them.

A bitter sweet day today. B&H sent notice my K-1 was shipped. That means my 200D is going to have to sit on the bench while the rookie takes it's place.

Just purchased a used K-5. For the first 2 weeks, it was my only body, as I had to find out all the best settings for my kind of workflow, and establish user modes for these.
Now, as I am through with this, the K200D will be the back-up, and the *istDS for special purposes.

K200 is my only one camera It is the best for me