Hi Slim Slag:
I use a GNS 430 for IFR flying and it does make it easy. However, if the electrics go, so does the GNS 430. Hence I take a battery operated hand held GPS along with me to maintain situational awareness & navigation capability.
If you also lose your gyros, the heading screen on your GPS is much, much easier to read than a compass, especially if you are turning and even more so if you are accelerating. Ground speed from the GPS is a subsitute for airspeed if you lose your pitot/static system. So, in the event of vac or electric systems failure, use of the GPS would be SOP for me. Also, if I had to, I would use the altitude information in the GPS, but would be cautious about trying to judge roc/rod information from this.
If you regularly fly IFR and only have one vac system, try using your gps under the hood on a VMC day with a safety pilot sitting next to you. It might just save your life one day.
Having said all this, I still try to keep current on partial panel, using the TC is easier than the GPS to keep wings level, providing the electrics are working.
Perhaps I'm preaching belt & braces, but vac pump failures are quite common, as are electrical systems failures. I've had both, but not at the same time. A few hundred pounds for a gps seems to me to be good insurance. When I can afford a handheld r/t, I'd like that as well. But inability to talk doesn't usually kill you, and there are clear radio fail procedures to guide you.
mattpilot:
I really thought it was a wind-up. You were very, very lucky.