Terrain-Aware Handheld vs. IFR GPS?

OK, here's a new take on an old debate:

I fly a 172 with 2 good NAV/COMs, an M1 Loran and a flaky ADF in the
Northeast US. Since everything up here is airways and most of the fields I
go to have an ILS or LOC approach, this is enough to get away with on most
of the flights I take. This is the plane I got my ticket in so I'm used to
it.

I've been thinking about trying to talk my partners into floating the 6k or
so to install a basic IFR-certified GPS like a GX-50 or similar. No, we
cannot afford a GNS-430/480 so that is not part of the decision matrix.

Lately, I've been wondering whether the *real* value of something like the
newer handheld GPSs with terrain alerting (i.e. Garmin 296) might actually
be greater. I know it's not certified, but the certified GPS will do nothing
to warn me that I'm rapidly approaching cumulogranite for whatever reason.

Let's say I cannot get both the handheld and the panel-mount: What would you
choose?

-cwk.