Wow, what a great thread. I may finally know what I want. But please don't hold back any comments or criticisms.

I have a Piper Archer. I have no GPS or fancy displays, just a classic panel. My transponder is an old Garmin GTX 320 that is working just fine. I have been holding off buying a Stratus portable unit because I would like to spend my money on a more permanent solution.

I am leaning heavily towards the Navworx ADS600-B. My AMT says he is willing to take a shot at an install if he doesn't have to hack around with the existing radios. With the TransMonSPE we should be able to use my existing transponder and encoder by merely clamping the device around the transponder antenna cable. The WIFI module should allow me to display traffic and weather on a tablet. We need to bolt the main unit in, get power to it, install a light to indicate that the UAT is working, install the GPS antenna, install the UAT antenna, and configure it with a $10 PC cable. The crimping equipment called for in the installation manual will only add about $300. I guess my AMT will have to update the weight and balance data (about a pound and a half) and sign it off. The only challenge I see so far is getting a "transponder test set" that can interrogate the aircraft's transponder. And if there is a way to beg, borrow, or steal one I am going to try it.

What do you folks think? Have I laid out a plausible path to getting ADS-B? I don't know if we're at the tipping point yet or not but the only avionics shops that have even bothered to give me a price were at or above 8 grand. This could be less than half that if I dig in and get a little dirty. As far as worrying about the hardware being orphaned some day, well, buying the Garmin transponder sure didn't save me from that fate.