My A210 has been just fine. I like the big numbers. They may be unreadable with the sun at a certain angle - I haven't noticed, but all radios are. I fly a Falcon 900 with acres of glass digits and at some sun angles it's more difficult to read (and it's a 40 mil$ jet). I like the built in intercom on the A210. Didn't have to buy and install a separate one and it's very programmable. The dual feature works fine for picking up ATIS. The SL30/40 has some nice features, but the price is about 50% higher. I paid just over $1,000 for mine in a VAF group buy. I think the SL40 (don't need no stinkin VOR) was about $1800. For what you're paying, I think the ICOM is a good radio. If you can afford to spend some extra bucks in a VFR bird, get the SL40. If you're going IFR, maybe an SL30 and an ICOM for a backup COM. I did this in my RV-6 (except I used a G-430), and made my own audio panel for about $35.00. And the 5 micro-switches was 25 of that. It had an internal op-amp to amplify my music, was 1 inch tall, 5 inches wide, and about 3 inches deep - internally fused - worked great. I'm not sure you should discount the ICOM for sunlight readability. It's good for communicating, and has 3 aux audio inputs for things like music, XM, and EFIS/EMS inputs.
Scott
RV-8 FB