[pwg]

Myself? Never, as I don't have one. When I want to find out what a device is consuming, I hook it up through my Fluke multimeter to obtain the current draw, then calculate the rest.

But, for general use by anyone not a EE or Electrician, hooking up a general purpose multimeter to mains power to measure current draw is a not recommended, much danger here, operation.

Therefore I erred on the side of caution and recommended the method that was most safe for all involved in all situations.

What I suspect you will find, however, is that you will find uses for the device that you never anticipated once you have one.