Should I go for the Canon Ixus 500 or 700?

Part of me thinks the 7million pixels is overkill but part of me likes the 6x optical zoom in the Ixus 700. But then again, the Ixus 500 is tried and tested and looks like a fantastic camera whereas the 700 isn't as tested.

I've also read there can be problems fitting a 6x zoom into such a small camera and it can compromise the image quality even if not utilised. Any truth?

(Pixmania have the Ixus 500 for £240 and the Ixus 700 at £298)

What to do?

Edit: Price isn't really an issue since I have plenty of SD cards that the 700 uses. If I got the 500 I'd have to get a memory card so it kind of offsets the price.

Well I've got a 500 and I'm very pleased with it. The 3x optical is very useful and the 12x digital zoom isn't as bad as you'd think.

I can imagine getting chromatic abberations with a lense like that, but really I suppose you need to go to somewhere like Jessops to have a go and see what the pictures look like.

The 60FPS movie capture mode is probably the only thing that would make me want a 700 over a 500.

Quote:
Part of me thinks the 7million pixels is overkill but part of me likes the 6x optical zoom in the Ixus 700. But then again, the Ixus 500 is tried and tested and looks like a fantastic camera whereas the 700 isn't as tested.

I've also read there can be problems fitting a 6x zoom into such a small camera and it can compromise the image quality even if not utilised. Any truth?

Is the 700 really a 6x zoom ? DPreview lists it as:

"37 mm - 111 mm (3x) zoom lens"

which is about the same as the 500 at:

"36 mm - 108 mm (3x) zoom lens"

There is a review of the 700 here:

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_sd500-review/index.shtml

(the problem with DCResource reviews is that the guys lifes in California, meaning all his shots are taken in brillian sunshine at the lowest ISO setting, which isn't exactly representative on my camera usage)