From my perspective it depends on why you are flying. I don't use a light aircraft for any "must go" travel or else I'd have an IR(R) and different criteria and definitely an aeroplane with an autopilot (oh how I miss the Diamondstar !).
My flying is restricted to pleasure, so I only fly on a navex (say Redhill to Whitstable to Ashford to Tunbridge Wells and back) when the weather is good enough (say 2000 ft and 10 miles) to make it a pleasure.
If I need to fly to do a few quick circuits for currency, then I will accept lower limits because I don't (plan to) lose sight of the runway so 1000 ft and 6 or 7 miles will do.
I wholeheartedly agree that doing some good IFR training does a world of good for your self confidence on instruments, even if you don't get and maintain the rating.