Camlocks worth it for me?

First let me start off by saying I am a grad student so money needs to be well spent.

With that said I am hoping to get a pump here real soon to help move liquid around. I have had a couple close calls with spilling hot wort and safety is one thing I do not skimp on. I also will be asking for a plate chiller for my birthday so with those additions I will need a good amount of connections. My final set up will be 2 pots, 1 cooler, 1 pump, 1 plate chiller. I batch sparge so water will go from my large pot into the cooler. I will then collect the wort from the cooler into my smaller pot. From there it will be pumped up into the larger pot on the stove to boil. After boiling the wort will go through the plate chiller into the carboy. I am looking into getting camlocks as i will need to switch from the pump to the plate chiller. I would also like to disconnect the pump to get it out of the way when not in use as I am in a small apartment kitchen and space is at a premium. As it looks now It would cost me $12 to get hose barbs or $42 to get camlocks. So my question is do you think for me camlocks are worth the $30 or should I just use hose barbs. (how sad is it that $30 poses this question maybe someday!)

How much is your time worth and how often do you brew?

One thing I have noticed is that taking the cheap way out to start with ends up costing me in the long run... YMMV...

Good luck!

I love them.

I got the aluminum ones, which are a lot cheaper. But I'd never go back now.

+1 love them.

i brew at most once a month. Would taking the silicone on and off tear it up?

Not necessarily, but realize you will have to take off and put on worm clamps over and over...

I did what you are talking about with hose barbs and hoses...

Will it work? Yes...

Does it suck? Yes... (IMHO)

Do I love my Camlocks? Absolutely...

Camlocks for the win! They are worth it.

Def worth the money, you'll never regret it!

No question that the camlocks are worth it.

Yeah I sucked it up with the hose barbs for a very long time, and then finally came to my senses. Camlocks are just SO MUCH EASIER on brew day.

Did the hose barb thing for quite awhile... Got the camlocks and now wish I would have done it from the start. The barbs where a waste if cash and a pain to move hoses from. When I look back at what I spent on them it makes the camlocks look cheap

Another vote for absolutely worth it!

"and the survey says.... Camlocks!!"