I chose the aera because of the comprehensive obstacles and airspace(including airways), it's touchscreen and because it's durable. Sure there are pocket pc's which have more features at a fraction of the price but what happens if you get caught out in the rain? The aera like its sibling is waterproof, everything is sealed and the garmin build quality is flawless. I ruled out the Av80r as it didn't have airways and is strictly a vfr unit, otherwise it would prob have been a better choice.
The touchscreen really makes this intuitive to use, it only takes a couple of minutes before you feel at home with it. I was creating flight plans and had the unit configured exactly to my preferences by my first flight! It's definitely a step up from the bulky and awkward to use 496.
The battery life is poor at only 5 hours when compared to the 96c with 40hour battery life and uses double A's. I've flown many aircraft where the engineer has made the cigarette lighter u/s because it plays havoc with the electric supply.
The bluetooth is for auto mode only. This means that you can't connect it wirelessly to a zulu headset for terrain warnings or music. It works well as a handsfree kit in your car. The auto mode is identical to a nuvi to so it works well. Garmin include the full european maps with the aera, more than I need but a quick search on google shows worldwide coverage readily available and free from some sites
On a final note, I have to mention that searching on the aera is a little awkward. You can search for an identifier or a city, just not at the same time. It's a small niggle but means that search results are limited to the category that you started from. I've also noticed that tap and drag over a large area causes the screen to refresh slowly, I wonder if the Av80r suffers from these problems?