I'm retired, but still find myself doing computer network-y things--including running new network cable. So far only for our own home, but I'll soon be doing a project for a buddy--and perhaps another individual.

When I was still working I had access to a cable tester. I really miss being able to tell if a new cable install is right.

Problem is: These things are very spendy. Spendy as in $1,700, MSRP, for a new Fluke Qualification Tester. They can be had on the secondary market for half that, or less, but, still: A lot of money. Particularly for "casual" use.

I'm thinking about it, anyway, because such a tool is the only way to know for sure. More importantly: When a cable run isn't working correctly, or at all, these things are the only way to find out why. (Short of the trouble-shooting equivalent of throwing darts blind-folded.)

Plus, if I'm being honest with myself, I simply like good tools.

That got me to wondering if many of my SIGforum friends were of like mind: Willing to spend stupid amounts of money for specialized tools they'll rarely use because, well, sometimes certain tools are the only way to get the job done. Or at least make it a darn sight easier.

Question:
Have you been known to spend silly amounts of money on specialized tools you know you'll rarely use?

Choices:
Yes
No

Question:
If "Yes," above, have you ever suffered buyer's remorse?

Choices:
Yes
No
N/A

 

I own a Wilton 8” machinist vice. Not inexpensive new.
*** I went to an auction where there was a table with it mounted, power strip and the table sold for less than $200, vice incl.

I own a Rockwell hardness tester. These sell for $3500 uncalibrated to $5k new.
*** Auction for $400. Needed work but came with all the tools and calibration blocks.

Very few tools do I buy brand new. I would rather buy quality, for less $$$ and go from there.


My Starretts and Mitutoyo are heirloom tools for my kids.

I have a $6000 photospectrometer.

I'm guilty.
I have a Bridgeport with tooling, TIG welder, all sorts of machining and sheet metal and various other gizmos, most that get infrequent use.
But when I need them, I have them.
I can do overkill on all sorts of things.

Sometimes I spend more on the tools/equipment than it would cost to hire it out.

I have a number of SFTs (Special Fucking Tools, or in more polite company, Super Friendly Tools) I rarely use. For example, I seldom get Ford Triton timing sprockets (when I do, nobody wants to fix them due to cost), but I've got the holding tool to hold the camshaft still so I can torque the bolt. If anybody brings in a Volkswagen Touareg for brakes, I've got the 16mm tamper-proof triple square socket for the caliper bolts. (Volkswagen, in general, has a fetish for triple-square fasteners, so I went ahead and bought the rest of them.) Other tools I used to use quite a bit, but the cars that needed them are no longer on the road. I can't remember the last time I used a timing light. However, most of them cost under $100. A surprising - and much cheaper than the tool trucks - number of them came from Amazon.

A few years ago I spent a lot on money on a shop full of very nice woodworking power tools. Mostly used, a little buying and selling. I havent done as much woodworking as I had planned. But the consolation prize is that if I do want to give it up, I could sell everything for a very tidy profit- due to the big increases in new power equipment prices.

No, but I’ll regularly spend absurd money on tools/toys that I use on a regular basis. Sadly, that sucks up too much budget to spend on stuff I don’t use.

It runs in the family.

I inherited an automatic horse shoeing machine my great grandfather he bought in the mid 1800s.

You obviously know how to use it and you will use it, so why not?

I've bought expensive stuff even though I know I'll use it even just once or rarely but I've gone through the decision process.

What kills me is buying stuff that I never actually use nor does it give me any mental comfort from having it even if I don't use it. It doesn't even matter if it's not expensive. One that comes to mind is I bought a drill doctor that I eventually gave away when I was moving. Never mind that I rarely need to drill anything but for the price of the drill sharpener, I could have bought several hundred drills on top of the three sets of drill bit sets that I already had at the time I bought it.

Bought a factory scan tool and have about 200+ shop manuals.

Didn't spend all that much, but I have saved quite a bit.

Being able to reprogram most functions and enable/disable specific features is a big plus.

Wife's TPMS sensors were getting low on battery power and that means replacing them. Too bad the tires were nitrogen charged, oh well. I got the sensors for half of what my former employee discount would cost me - at an online auto parts vender (SAME PART NUMBER AND BRAND) then once installed I needed to get the GM system for her '12 Buick to recognize them.

It takes a special scanner - there are half a dozen from make and years - and the factory or a tire shop was gonna charge $50-75 to do it (since they didn't swap them out and charge me up to $250 to do it.

I bought an scanner from an online source for less than $25 shipped, scanned them, they took, job done, now it sits. Expensive? Not really, but I won't get any more of my money out of it. One time use and done.

I did buy another tool which cost me $400 after all the fab to get it working. I don't plan to use it, ever, I hope, and other owners say that once you have one then the need seems to go away and never reoccurs. A 9,000 pound winch with remote.

Kinda like the $485 generator, just sits around waiting to do nothing and I'm even saving to put a propane conversion on it, another $180 for a potential one time use. Stuff like that is piling up left and right.

I've got about $300 in parts and more to go for another tool - deer rifle - with my current luck it won't ever be aimed at one, I'll just drag it around in the woods, another $750 in an AR chambered for another weird cartridge. Looking online I see I'm not the only one doing that, too. The last one is $1,100 into it and I don't have it when I see one. It's usually not deer season either, oh well.

Not to forget the $500 P365, $375 Canik, $485 SW 4566TSW, etc etc etc. Tools never used for self defense - but I have them. Given that situation, this thread should get tens of thousands of replies . . .

If I need a specialty tool, I try to buy from Harbor Freight to minimize the financial impact since its rarely used.

Not "silly" money but, I do have a Craftsman wrench for a GM 350ci distributor

A few "used only once" tools from Harbor Freight

A 20mm - 30mm 1/2 drive Craftsman socket set

And some other once used Snap-On tools

I like tools. I buy them if they’re neat looking or just want it.

The money will be spent on something. Years from now, you'll still have the tool/firearm.

I don’t intentionally, but it’s amazing what I can talk myself into sometimes.

I have not regretted those purchased until now. We are getting along in age and downsizing homes. Now I am inventorying all the tools I have and I am amazed at how much I have that I will likely never use again. But now I am parsing out a lot of my tools to sell or donate so hopefully I will have much less soon.

Sometimes you have to buy a specialized tool because it's the only way to complete a particular job. Even if you never use that tool again, if it was a net savings in time/money on that one job, it was worth the cost.

quote:

Sometimes you have to buy a specialized tool because it's the only way to complete a particular job. Even if you never use that tool again, if it was a net savings in time/money on that one job, it was worth the cost.

Agreed.