Looking for some guidelines or etiquette practices. Or just general opinions.

We loaned a digital camcorder to a friend of DH's. Camcorder never made it back to us. Friend is a good guy and offered to buy us a replacement, or give us an amount of money toward an upgrade.

Camcorder was older, about 5 years, but only used 3 or 4 times. Fat me would never let it come out of the bag b/c then I might have to face the facts of my huge ass. We paid a high price for it, which is really irrelevant since they've dropped so much in price and it's once hi-tech features aren't all that "hi" anymore.

So what's the right way to handle this in terms of replacing the camera? Do we find a modern day camera with a similar set of features, and base what Friend "owes us" on that? Or does Friend "owe us" based on the current value of the camera, which is really low since it's an older, discontinued model? E.g. if we could go and buy a modern camera with similar features and it would cost $500, should Friend pay $500? Or should he pay, say - $150 toward the $500, because maybe we could have sold the camcorder for that amount?

Hrmm...

I would only want half the replacement value. He can contribute half and relieve his guilt, and you can get a brand new camcorder for (basically) half price. That would be the solution that would feel comfortable for me.