I'm also in no rush, taking my time and getting it down right. I also considered the VAL INS 422, being that more and more VORs are going away every year (we have NOTAMs all over about nav facilities "not longer being maintained"). I opted for GPS only. The intention is not a hard core IFR platform. For me it's an IFR trainer and after I have my ticket I'd punch through some marine layers along the coast without having to stress too much. I'm happy to spend a little $$ to rent a 172 to get VOR, LOC and ILS training done, as long as the majority of my training can be done in my plane and then after that I can fill my marine layer mission with GPS only.
In order to keep from critics slaying me for a GPS only solution I'll clarify. I've read the FARs, I'm in compliance. I have a GPS696 for back up slaved to the AP and HS34 as well (yes not IFR certified, but in an emergency it's much better than nothing) and as an additional back up I have a handheld nav/com as well as foreflight running on 2 ipads and an iphone.
I look forward to your updates and will post my learnings as well.