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?
No, it doesn't - you can search for anything, and all types, NDB, VOR, VRPs and place names, airfields etc are included in the list of results. In the menus, for some selections a drop out list lets you choose which item if there are multiple item types which share the same name - this mirrors tapping on the screen where there's a VOR or other navaid on an airfield for example.
Tapping and dragging over a large area with the AV80R isn't an issue, the refresh is fast and not noticeable.
How does the Aera work with the triple As? Does it charge them if they're rechargeable, or does it have a separate internal battery? The battery life of the AV80R is much worse than the Aera with about 2 hours, so for longer trips you need a 12v supply. But it uses very cheap Nokia phone batteries - I found a few on Amazon for 2 quid each so they are handy standbys if needed.