I generally use a 5001.3 and 1200 with all the bells. I do keep a 600 to hand cus its light and easy to store. I used it the other day to check a dead brick. The 500 Plus suffers if you forget about the battery. Never really seen the purpose of the Plus to be honest. I have a tray support for a 500 with a monitor and I just like the 1.3 for my ancient games. Everything else I can generally play on the 1200.
I too think the 600 suffers in terms of expanding. Plus they can be a pig with the hd. I always think that if you're tempted with a 600 you may as well get a 1200. And for the 500 size I would stick with the red power light. Anyway back to Manic Miner .... so addictive.
PS I tend to think both models suffered from being stop gaps between the 500 and the 1200 historically. They were never developed significantly by the user base as most were using 1200s and 4000s in the end. Just my thoughts.
