I have an FZ50 and have bee thoroughly pleased with it. I agree about the noise at high ISO.
I carry my FZ50 with me all the time so as never to be in the position of missing a shot.
A good example of an image captured can be found here:
http://www.phototopix.co.uk/gallery/...ppuser=90&sl=s
Most of the images in my gallery, with the exception of Mill Office have been taken with either My FZ50 or my old FZ7 (Now sadly stolen)