Jay Honeck wrote:

OR (heh, heh, heh...), I can keep the same monthly payment, and get MORE
(bwa-ha-ha!) money, with which to upgrade my woefully out of date panel.

Hi Jay,

You don't fly the plane IFR, and you say everything works. Take the free
mileage out of the working avionics and enjoy it. When things start breaking,
possibly consider upgrading at that time.

Money you sink into avionics goes into a dark hole and never comes out at
resale.

I say keep things simple and use the money for better purposes. I know it
doesn't sound nearly as fun, but someday you might wish you'd done just that!
(Especially when you look back on interest rates and kick yourself for not
buying real estate this year!)

-Ryan
CFI-ASE-AME, CP-ASMEL-IA, CP-RH, AGI