Somebody else was bragging on how much time the Frankford T&P Center saved on trimming and chamfering brass. Then I told him my Gracey trims and chamfers 15-20 a minute, and he was astonished.. (The Giraud may be even faster than the Gracey, since it has a more powerful motor. I dunno, having never timed one.) Many of the tools handloaders choose are indeed an upgrade from what they had before, but are only comparisons of two tools, not several.
A lot depends on your purpose in handloading. Are you after precision or speed? Or are you looking for the best compromise for both? I've tried several progressive presses, and haven't found one that consistently produces precise enough rifle ammo for my purposes--but one of the same models may be fine for somebody else. In fact I know they can be, because a friend uses one and is very happy. But he doesn't desire as much accuracy as I do.
Many people have told me how much faster their loading is with an electronic scale/measure, since they can be seating a bullet while the next charge is dropping. But I've done a bunch of time/motion handloading tests, and a correctly used mechanical measure beats any electronic scale I've tried in speed, by a wide margin, and with the right powders and techniques in precision as well. Plus, none of the popular electronic scales I've tested have been as accurate as a good balance scale, though properly used they're close enough for most handloading.
It also depends on how much you want to spend. I got a good deal on a used Gracey trimmer, but with shellholders it still cost twice as much as Frankford. It was worth it to me, however, because I do considerable trimming of some cartridges, often batches of several hundred.
