I have used the C-700 for a wide variety of shots. From taking pictures from high-altitude. It shows the glaciers, dams and bridges on highways, even buildings and individual trees changing color in the Rockies. I took a picture at maximum 10x x 2.7x (27x) zoom from a cruise ship in Alaska of Orcas on the beach rubbing barnacles off. I couldn't see the result in the view finder or see the orcas with binoculars, but got good quality full screen images cropping out half of the picture where the orcas were. I've taken close-ups of orchids in Singapore, Bald Eagles, in Arkansas, Geysers at Yellowstone and am very happy most of the time. I carry 5 sets of spare rechargeable batteries and use a recharger that hooks up to the car. With the recharger, I never really have to use more that 2 sets when I have the car. It recharges at home in less than 1 hour, and I seldom need more than 3 sets in a full day of photo taking. I keep about 1100MB of memory cards for a full two-week vacation and read them in with a USB reader. I organize and edit using PhotoParade and save my best ones into Webshots. These work very well for my purposes (viewing on my computer). Shutterfly prints calendars for me and the pictures are amazing.
I haven't had any trouble with the lens cap. Maybe that was an earlier model. The cord attaching it must be facing the side it attaches, but it will open with it on in this position.
I have had a problem early on with purple halo's on zoomed pictures around bright portions of the picture. This turned out to be me moving the camera. I found you can brace your hand against a tree, rock, or anything and get sharp pictures. Also, I don't hesitate to take dozens of pictures of something I really want. Animals and birds aren't very cooperative, but by taking many pictures, I've gotten some great shots. With film, I never would have tried. It is also easy to delete unwanted pictures. For landscape, I normally shot in HQ mode which is still better quality than my 1.3 MP camera gave. The main difference there is it still has the 10x zoom which if nothing else can crop a picture like you want. The 2.7x digital is mostly only good for focusing on something tiny like a small bird.
The only negative I've had is trying to take pictures with sharp contrast - real bright light and real dark shade. I've had this with my other digital as well, as well as with film.