Paid for itself after 2 usages. Repaired 2 garden carts with broken plastic polyethylene buckets. to replace the carts I would have paid $150 or more. Took less than an hour to do both projects. Practiced on a plastic plant container for 5 minutes before starting. There is a learning curve here. The device is reasonably well made and fortunately the instructions are self explanatory. Don’t expect much from the package instructions. Interestingly, although they are different materials, metal welding and plastic welding are somewhat similar in that by going slow and studying your materials in advance you can achieve a good union. As I have practiced on other projects the quality and strength is getting better as you would expect with any learning curve.I found the criticism of inconsistent heat irrelevant. The machine takes 30-60 secs to heat up to its final temp. After that if its too hot or too cold adjust the dial accordingly. I use the 7 setting most often.