A couple years ago I got a job that required a few custom bends in 1-1/2" RMC. Because most of my work is either residential or control/instrumentation stuff, I didn't have a bender that would handle the job. I was going to rent one for the job, but Northern Tool had a hydraulic pipe bender for sale for less than a 2-day rental on a Greenlee would have cost me.
Sure, this thing isn't even remotely close to a Greenlee in build quality, but for a tool that might only get used for one small job, it's hard to justify shelling out $$$ for the "Made in USA" version. If I was bending rigid on a regular basis, it would be a different story.
Cheap tools have their place, particularly for "one-off" jobs, or if you want a tool that you can modify to do some strange function.
