Electronic Dictionary question

[dominic]

Hello everyone! I am a serious student of Japanese, and the need for a J-E, E-J electronic dictionary is becoming much clearer as I progress!

I've been reading this site, but dictionaries seem to be organized by maker, which is not a bad way to categorize by any means, but I'm a little overwhelmed.

I have it narrowed down to these:

Canon G55
http://www.thejapanshop.net/jisho/canong55.htm

or

Canon V80
http://www.thejapanshop.net/jisho/cv80.htm

The differences in a nutshell are:

The first is cheaper and has more words / dictionaries overall, but the second gives you the ability to write unknown kanji using a lightpen.

Keep in mind that the first (Canon G55) would be perfect, if only it had the ability to handwrite unknown kanji. Is it worth trading a few thousand words for the ability to write unknown kanji? Is there a dictionary with as many words as the G55 AND handwritten input? I'd appreciate your opinions / information. Also, money should NOT be a factor when choosing a dictionary, so don't let potential high prices stop you from posting. Thanks in advance.

[IkimashoZ]

While the lightpen does sound extraordinarily fun, I'd say go for the one with the most words. My little Sharp dictionary is far more annoying when I can't find a word as opposed to having to look up a kanji. Mine contains a program where I type the number of strokes in the radical and the number of strokes total and the dictionary gives me a list of usually no more than ten kanji. Very handy. I'm sure those will have something similiar.