Couldn't agree more. We have the Atola. And It is a first line of defense type tool, for us. Works really well for non mechanical failures.
The guy at HDD recovery services on YouTube uses Ace products. His channel has replaced hddguru.com for me. Love that guy. I have learned more from him, then this site has ever
offered.
https://www.youtube.com/user/hddrecoveryservicesHe has taught us that, data recovery requires major investments. It's not as easy as most things you pick up. Truly requires dedication, skill and lots of training. The cost is secondary.
I'd say, go with the Atola for an ease of use, front line of defense, for all non mechanical failures. And Ace line of tools for the dedicated hard core professional data recovery ninjas, for mechanical and non-mechanical recovery. I've seen that guy recover wicked advanced things with the Ace line.. like chip offs, etc.
In summary. We use the Atola for basic recovery (95% of our cases). We send the rest to data recovery services for the remaining, harder cases.