Confused between two dictionaries, help please :)

hello people

let's get through this ..

I'm confused between two dictionaries : "Kodansha's Romanized Japanese" by :Timothy J. Vance AND "Random House" by :Seigo Nakao

let me clarify something .. I'm not a beginner student .. I know Kana, basic Kanji + grammar and I could understand half of conversation

which dictionary would be suitable for me?? please help I need to buy it as soon as possible ( I know they're not expensive, but I'll buy it online so the shipping cost + taxes will make them expensive to me if I bought them both , that's why I could afford only one dictionary )

If you know kana, there's no need for a dictionary with romaji (which both of these seem to be?). Kodansha also do a furigana dictionary, Oxford have a few options including a beginners and a mini dictionary.

What do you want the dictionary for?
e.g. is this something to have at home, on your bookshelf as a reference item.
or is it to take with you when you travel - e.g. something more portable.

If you know kana, there's no need for a dictionary with romaji (which both of these seem to be?).

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exactly, but I can't find a dictionary with kana-kanji , I've found a Kanji dictionary which will require A LOT of knowledge in the number of strokes ... etc and I'm not good at it ^^"

What do you want the dictionary for?

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a reference item =) you see .. I have a lot of children-furiganaized stories .. and I'm willing to start from there .. reading a furiganized book and look up for the words in the dictionary

I'm not sure what site you're looking to buy from, but try looking for "Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary" (if they have the romanised version they should have that one).

A separate kanji dictionary may be worthwhile if you will being studying 1. from materials without furigana 2. while away from a computer. I can't suggest one since when I generally either use a electronic dictionary which has handwriting input or a multiradical search when I'm online (like WWWJDIC: Multirad Kanji ).

But it's good to learn the stroke order when you learn kanji - then you can know the number of strokes if you need it (I write it in the palm of my hand with a finger and count, I don't know them off the top of my head). Once you know the basic rules you can usually make a good guess at how new kanji should be written.