[LRflex] OT gear advice needed

Hi All,
an excellent friend of mine shoots a consumer line Canon 400 and would like a trans-standard zoom lens to replace the one in the kit, because he doesn't want to carry two lenses and his his too limited.
The 18 - 200/300 range would be fine and we're planning to present him with one on his birthday mid september.
Problem: I've read very bad reviews of the Canon consumer 18-200, Tamron too, and I don't know about Sigma.
Note: my friend is a family/holiday amateur shooter - he doesn't care about specs so long as it works for him. My concern is rather about stabilisation and user friendliness ( is he not my friend?).. 

Could you help me pick out one that would fit in?
The price tag is not so important as the ease of use, reliability, and versatility. 

Thanks in anticipation for advice, experience and help.
Phx

------
Unsubscribe or change to/from Digest Mode at:
  http://www.lrflex.furnfeather.net/
Archives are at:
   http://www.freelists.org/archives/leicareflex/

Other related posts: