I've read posts in this group about IS and how important it is.
I bought the 5500 before I heard about this idea and I can't say I've found
the lack of it a problem. Before the 5500 I used a heavy SLR (Olympus OM10)
and lenses or a Bronica on a tripod. When I swapped the the 5500 I found it
small light and with an amazingly good zoom lens compared to the kit I had
to carry before. While it does sometimes warn me that the shutter speed is
too low for the zoom I can generally take a photo using all the tricks
needed with an SLR. It doesn't always work - but at least I'm not wasting
film :-)

I'm not that serious about photography any more and don't want to spend a
lot of cash so the 7000 seemed like a good option - and perhaps what you
never had you don't miss.

Thanks for the comments though.
mikej