OK - finally time to come out of the closet and post my 2p worth.
Had my Aera 500 for about a year now and some 50+ flying hours - having sequentially upgraded from a 295 then a 296.
Generally, very pleased with the Aera over the previous two as the touch screen is far more intuitive and much easier to use "in anger" in flight. The database is great although I've yet to use it out of the UK. As a Satnav for the car? - don't bother!
As a primary navigation device ( apart from a map of course) it's first class, but it doesn't give the best situational awareness for position or airspace - like the Aware, for example.
I tend to do all my route planning at home on the PC using Memory Map, then export the gpx file into the Aera and fly the route, which works just fine. I still like to use Memory Map on my GPS enabled HTC smartphone, as a secondary back-up - to give that comforting "moving map" feel.
Looking around at the moment at the plethora of new tablets coming out. If I can find one with a screen readable in daylight, GPS dongle nailed to to top of the coaming, running MM or perhaps the excellent Skydemon - then I'm sorted!
