>>I don't use nVarChar types because my applications do not require unicode support.
>>
>>AFAIK varchar type is alive and well - no deprecation on it. If unicode support is not required then varchar saves space over nvarchar.
>
>Well, this message says "The data types text and varchar are incompatible in the equal to operator.". So, are you able to do a where clause with an exact match on a VarChar field. Because, I can't.

Can you show your statement? This error message means that TEXT type can not be used for exact match. Varchar field can and should be used.