Long story short: I used to have unlimited access to a very nice woodshop through my job. Pretty much all machines. I no longer have access to that shop and have been finally building my home workshop for a while now. I am making the switch entirely to hand tools. So the big caveat here is that my skill with hand tools is still at the beginner level and I'm learning as I go.
Now the time has come to purchase a few joinery saws. I am considering a few makers, namely: Lie Nielsen, Gramercy Tool, Bad Axe. The big conundrum I'm having is that most of the reviews I've read of the Gramercy and Bad Axe (and other high end) tools are glowing and it seems many people have moved away from their LN saws to something like these. However, as I'm sure everyone knows, the Gramercy saws virtually double the price of LN. Given that I'm newer to hand tool work and still learning, I'm inclined to buy the cheaper LN saws and use the money saved to get other tools that I still need as well. But then there is that little voice in the back of my mind that says if I buy the highest quality tool, I'll only need to buy it once and save money in the long run; because in the event that I ever decide the LN tool isn't sufficient anymore, I'll still have to buy a new saw. But at the same time I wonder, what if the LN suits me just fine and I never feel the need to replace it? I'm making myself loony.
So I guess what I'm looking for is just to hear other peoples' stories of what route they chose and why. I'm not terribly brand specific at this point, I'm more just wondering if it makes sense to start with the affordable tool, or suck it up and pay for the best. I'm developing a pretty good beginner tool set, but bear in mind that I still have quite a few other tools I need yet aside from the saws.