Hi ADale and welcome to the forums
Basically the Panasonic is a
much better camera. Nikon have always struggled with their superzoom cameras (don't have any idea why) while Panasonic have pretty much rewritten the rule book!
The only other camera that I think you should consider is the Fuji S200 EXR which is also very good. It retails for about £350 but you get £50 cashback from Fuji at the moment which brings it into your price range. It's not quite as long as the Panasonic (436mm vs 486mm) but otherwise it's got everything you'd need and is a better specified camera than the Panasonic.
Don't get me wrong, the Panasonic is a cracking camera but I've basically poo-pooed the Nikon (as it's rubbish) so I thought I'd give you another thing to worry about!
