i plan on purchasing one of the two just not sure which one. my main question is does the n810 justify the extra $230 that it will cost me over the n800?Also how is typing on the n800's on screen keyboard?

The answer is a matter of opinion rather than right or wrong. Having said that, my opinion as a N800 owner and someone who has studied this forum is that the N810 is not worth the extra money. I share the opinion of some people here that the N800 with an external bluetooth GPS ( ~$50 US) is the way to go. If you plan to do massive amounts of text typing the unit, buy a BT keyboard, or for less money buy a USB keyboard with the proper adapter (mini-B OTG) to use with the N800.

I like the fact that the N800 has two SD slots (even though the USB port can accept external storage now), I like the lighter N800 over the heavier N810. The difference in the screens doesn't matter to be because I am not outdoors where the N800 can sometimes be harder to read than the N810.

For me it is the N800 with ext. GPS. and USB keyboard.

The $230 seems to be a lot for not much improvement. Based on people's comments, the gps is far to be great, and the keyboard is just for casual typing tasks, so if you plan to do serious typing you also will need to buy a bt keyboard.
Typing on the n800's screen keyboard...mmm...it depends. For short typing is just ok, but I am not comfortable typing a medium/large doc with it.
Keep in mind I am talking about the N810 just based on what I've read from users here.
On the ergonomics side, I've also reading some users complaining about the d-pad and light sensor location.

they both have the same processor speed right? would web browsing be any faster on the n810?

Yes and no

The N810 price premium over the N800 is too much at the moment.

I can use the GPS rx'r in my N95 on the N800 via ExtGPS app, and if a lot of typing is needed get a USB keyboard.

Typing via the on-screen keyboard is ok for email addresses, url's etc, but I wouldn't want to write much more than a paragraph on it.

The on-screen keyboard is fine for entering keywords into Google, sending a quicky email, a URL in the browser, entering usernames and passwords on websites, short IM sessions, etc.

If I was on an airplane (or waiting to get on a plane) and wanted to type up some emails / short documents with several paragraphs I would bring an external keyboard ( USB or Bluetooth ) and even then I wouldn't want to do much typing because the fonts are hard on my old eyes. I do blow up the font in notes while I'm typing, then I shrink it back down before I send/save a document. I see very little benefit to the built-in N810 "chicklet" keyboard, over the virtual on-screen kbd. It has some benefit but a tiny one IMHO.

FWIW- the on-screen keyboard seemed more sensitive in OS2007, and had less bounce. I'll look into tuning mine if there is an easy way in xterm.

I would go with the N800. You can get a BT keyboard for $30 and a better GPS receiver (BT) for around $35-$40 and it is still a good $200 lower than the N810. Plus, the N800 has two full size SD card slot, compared to the N800's one Mini/Micro SD slot.

I'll echo the above comments. I looked at this long and hard before deciding and went with the n800. Took me a month or so to come to the decision as to which to get, n770, n800 or n810.

Besides the cost for the n810 being (IMO) way out of line, then I am stuck with the built in GPS and keyboard. After seeing the quality of the built in camera on the n800 the external BT GPS and keyboard made a lot more sense to me.

So, I ended up with the n800 although the n770 seemed to have a LOT better physical form (better protected by FAR). The RSD cards on the 770 were too much for the size and in the n810 you only get one.

Made my decision and have been VERY happy with it. 737 BT GPS does wonderfully and I can toss that on the dash where it isn't shielded and gets better reception and the igo BT keyboard works well too. I have a USB keyboard and homebrew OTG cable for when I am here and pleased with that too.

The tapping on the screen keyboard isn't too obnoxious but I would NOT want to write a book that way :-), but for casual use it is fine.

Hope this helps!

Sorry, I can't seem to edit my post--it was supposed to be N810, not N800. (the 2nd one I mentioned)