Between a 700 and a turbo charged 295, i would go for the 295 anytime. The 700 lacks the angle of attack on it's short gear that a 295 gets. Particularly when the shock sprigned legs put the 295 on high heels in the first 50 feet of rolling.
The problem with the pressurized carb of the 295 is that it does not easily allow leaning for altitude take-off. I don't think that the automatic leaning leans at full throttle position. When i was flying in the west with the Winnebago, some guys showed me how they lean for altitude take-off with injection. Quite simple but it does change a lot in the power available.
May be someone could point out that it isn't true and that the carburetor of a 295 will still lean at full throttle position.
But i am not sure. When we took 011 from Vancouver to Montreal, the plane had a couple of bad ideas that were put on it. Like a reverse cooling fibreglass cowling. The engine was running at really too high temperature. Each time i would pull the throttle, it was getting worse. Then Neil said to us on the phone to push the throttle all the way. Bingo, the engine was running with a lot more fuel and was rich enough to do the trip to montreal. All the small bad ideas were reverted to original design, and now the plane works perfectly.
It is this experience that make me say that at full power, it does not lean for altitude. But i might be wrong
A hundred years ago, i saw Larry playing with the mixture at altitude take-off. But i was too young to understand what he was doing. And i don't remember what was his idea.
Louis