As written above, no legal need for any of the equipment if in Class G.
Moreover, IMCR training is routinely done as VFR flights (as far as ATC are told) under the hood, which is how you can fly beaten up old bangers to Class D airports for IMCR training.
As regard sensibility, it always suprised me why DME was not taught in the basic PPL. It's the simplest radio nav instrument to use by a long way. I used to use it on my pre-PPL solo flights. Just dial in a few DMEs and you have a position fix - just like that.