My dad bought a HC500 and we have had it out in the woods for going on 4 weeks now. He is runing energizer lithium batteries in it and so far we are up to around 5500 pictures and it is still on 99% battery. The flash range isnt quit what my RC55 is but you sure cant beat the battery life. The day time picture quality is better than mine and the night time is every bit of my RC55.