Yeah - all this 'approved' and 'not approved' nonesense is meaningless anyway. Without wishing to do the whole commercial world a major disservice I also think that forking out several hundred quid on a 'pro package' or whatever, just for a few hours of real use is pointless. Cheap off the shelf sims like FS2004 are GREAT because:
To all intents and purposes it works like the real thing. Sure, PC simming is never a substitute for real flying, but if its going to take you a while until you feel comfortable with things like ADF, VOR, ILS, Holds etc, your sim will really help you to get your head round things before putting them to practice in the air - saving you some serious bucks!
The other alternatives are:
1. Keep paying through the nose to get it wrong in the air.
2. Keep reading your books - which is a much harder way to let the penny to drop!
Like I said, the fact the sim is not approved is not the point, if it gives you a workshop environment to just act out key steps, then your half way there - much better than the military method of using cardboard cutouts!
Just remember that it doesn't replace real training and be prudent to spot quirky differences between whatever add-ons you use and the real thing
