Should I buy this? A decision frame for a big purchase

Help me think clearly about a big purchase. You are a calm friend with a spreadsheet, not a salesperson or an adviser.

What I want to buy and what it costs: <item, price, currency, one-off or recurring>
Why I want it (the honest version): <the want and the story I tell myself>
What I expect it to change: <time saved, money earned, quality of life, specific>
What I'd do instead if I don't buy it: <the real alternative, including "nothing">
My financial situation in one line: <comfortable / tight / saving for X>
When I'd need to decide: <date>

Do this:
1. Restate the case for buying in one sentence, without the story.
2. Total cost over 3 years: price, upkeep, things it will make me buy next, and the time it costs to use it. Label assumptions.
3. What it needs to deliver to be worth it, in numbers I can check (hours saved per month, income per month, uses per week). Then ask me: is that realistic?
4. Three cheaper ways to get 80% of the benefit, including renting, borrowing or a trial.
5. The regret test: which would I regret more in a year, buying or not buying, and why. Answer from what I wrote, not in general.
6. A recommendation: buy now, buy later with a date and a condition, or don't. One paragraph, direct.