Difficult to say if you have a problem with the actual camera. Sending it to Fuji for testing might be an option but, if it's out of warranty, that might be costly [see the thread about the S3Pro]. It may be that as you've got more into the swing of using it, it's limitations with regard to speed of focussing etc. are becoming more noticeable to you. I remember the S9500 had a few reliability problems when it was first released - speaking to someone at a big photographic retailers she told me people had been exchanging them for the earlier S7000.
As you have such a collection of XD cards your options for another camera are limited to Fuji and olympus. Olympus do make a similar long zoom all in one but results from it seemed a bit of a mixed bag. If you could run to 480.00 [the S9500 would be saleable!] then it's still possible to get the Olympus E-400 with two lenses - might even find a cheaper one on Ebay. This is the ultimate travel DSLR - tiny and lightweight compared to others, it's fast become my favourite camera. It would mean changing lenses but the anti dust system means you don't have to worry about getting stuff on the sensor [taking the usual care]. I think you'd be impressed with 'from camera' results and the camera would be far more responsive than a bridge camera.
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