How reliable is the Panasonic/lumix DMC TZ5 - Cameras

Hi,
TZ5 is a fairly reliable and solid camera. It's been out for a while and there are still no known issues with it.
The ones I've been asked to repair have all been damaged due to owners' negligence (usually been dropped, had sand in lens mechanism or suffered water damage). I still haven't encountered a TZ5 which just suddenly "stopped working".
From a repairman's point of view I can say that TZ5, just as the TZ3 before it, is really really well built. It's easy to dismantle and put together. Everything is well thought of. The lens is a work of art.

Of course you need to be careful with this camera to avoid e.g. water or sand - these might kill your tz5. Sand clogs the lens easily (of course this is an issue with just about any compact camera)
I can definitely recommend it.
Hope this helps,
Raf

I have sold the tz3 for the past year and there were problems with the interal lens shutters sticking on closure-besides that i would highly rec the 5-wide angle-10x and great lcd-read reviews at dcresource or dpreview