The FAA's and AOPA's positions are not as thoughtless as they might appear at first glance. You might want to take a look at this:

http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=70

Mandatory upgrading to 406 MHz ELTs for General Aviation is simply not going to happen in the U.S. The potential return on investment simply isn't there. PLBs, OTOH, make a lot of sense.