Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
I think for a lot of folks, the pleasure of using a thoroughbred tool is worth the dollars.

Then there are those, and you're not alone, Charlie, who look at cost vs. benefit and "good enough tools" and go with lower cost approaches, either because they have to or because it makes more sense to them.

For me, it's a little like the folks who would never buy an old hand plane, even for rough work; or who buy an old hand plane and spend hours redoing the japanning, refinishing the handles, etc., so it'll be pretty, even though much of what they do affects the actual function not at all.

Different strokes for different folks; horses for courses; your mileage may vary; whatever works for you. I've probably made my attitude clear, but I respect those whose decisions differ.