Yea, $180 is a lot of jack. I do believe, though, that a small collection of reference set-up tools is nice to have: a 9-12" square (I got mine from e-bay for $20), a 24-36" 1/4"-thick straightedge, and a master guage or equivalent for checking parallelism on the table saw. I have others, too, but I would not try to argue that I'm any better off. I use a plastic drafting square for most things.