Anybody have any experience, or seen in use, either the R and R Beadbreaker ( http://www.randrbeadbreaker.com ) or the Extreme Outback Tyre Plyers ( http://www.extremeoutback.com ) ? I am thinking that for about $250 these might not be a bad investment. Could change tires at will, then only have to pay for balancing!

 

I think I've seen reviews of both on the web. You should be able to find them with a bit of searching. I think the R & R beadbreaker is a little easier to use since it doesn't rely on brute strength as much, but it may be slower.

In either case, I personally wouldn't use them as an alternative to a tire shop but they would be insurance for travel out in the wilds if you think you might end up with two flats.
I think they would just be too slow for normal use unless you're really trying to cut costs and you do a lot of tire changing.

I tend to have a set of tires put on and there they stay for several years until I need to replace them or get a flat repaired (which always seems to end up being a replacement anyway with my luck). It would take me a long time to recover the cost if that was my objective.

Alan