[abirkill]

In my opinion a bridge camera with a decent lens will outperform a DSLR with the kit lens in most situations. Yes, the DSLR has advantages in low light performance, shutter lag, and so on, but if you're not going to change lenses then you're not using one of the killer features of a DSLR - one that you're paying a lot of money for.

While I love my DSLR, I do think that a lot of consumers have bought DSLRs incorrectly because they're perceived as the 'best' cameras you can buy. I see so many photos from DSLRs that are soft, dull and flat - with a bit of adjustment to the shooting settings and a bit of minor post-processing these photos would improve dramatically, but the owners don't do this, and hence get less appealing photographs than they would from a bridge camera that will do all that for you automatically.