The best Kanji dictionary?

[bdmp]

I want to really get my kanji down so I want to get the best paper dictionary. I know kanji well I just want the best dictionary for the job.

"Kodansha's Essential Kanji Dictionary: A Compact Character Dictionary for Students and Professionals" which is ok but it is compact so it lacks some things. I also have a 1960's "Tuttle Nelson Japanese-English Charecter dictionary", but the joyo kanji was decided on in 1989 so it doesn't have any information about that.

So, today I went to the store to look at dictionaries. All the dictionaries had huge differences. For example is I looked up 応　in one the radical would be 心 and in another it would be 广. Another example is the method used to look up the Kanji; "The Kanji Dictionary (Hardcover)
by Mark Spahn, Wolfgang Hadamitzky, Kumiko Fujie-Winter" I thought was the best dictionary but the method to look up kanji was like nothing I had ever seen. I wanted it but i thought it might cause me problems. I think I know which ones are good but I know there might be somethings I am missing.

Also I want to move to a Japanese language dictionary if I can so here is what I am looking for:

1. The best most in-depth, most standard kick-butt Kanji-English dictionary.
2. Same as above (or as close as I can get) but that is somewhat small enought to carry around in my bag.
3. Same as #1 but Japanese Kanji (non-english) dictionary
4. a version of number 3 that I can fit in my bag.

So please give me your suggestions thanks

[trip_hop]

The two best are Halpern or Spahn/ Hadamitzky.

I like S/ H because the radicals and look-ups are similar to the Chinese style. Have 2 well preserved copies of it (home + office) dating back to 1990, and in use frequently. Others swear by Halpern.

Choose one, learn the system and stick to it. Swapping between different systems will get you nowhere fast.....

[Dinocracy]

I had used Halperns dictionary (wouldn't want to carry it around) ever since I was at university as you could look at a character and know what page it was on without looking up the radicle, which was good. However, thesedays most of the time when I want to know a kanji, most of the time it will not be listed in the Halpern dictionary as I think it only covers the joyu kanji (could be wrong though).
I now just use a Japanese dictionary as I can almost be assured that the character will be there.

[Ewok]

I have the Kodansha I think (red paperback? about an inch thick...), and love the lookup method. Can lookup any kanji in about 10seconds thanks to its simple and straightforward lookup method. Nowadays I just use my electronic dictionary with a variety of guessing the reading and flicking through results or using it radical lookup feature.