I have a prop balancer. And I have used it a few times, but only for the props that I have bought since I got it. My existing stash of props were balanced my favorite way: Call up club president on a Saturday. Take all my props and new engine over to his house. Have him break in the new engine (since I was still relatively new at it), and between running sessions, he balanced all my props.

What I am saying is this: You can spend a lot of money on this hobby. Eventually you will get all of what I like to call my "nice to haves." The things that are nice to have, but things that you do not need to have to enjoy the hobby. Like prop balancer, quick field charger, electric starter, etc. On another thread, you mentioned talking to your instructor about the radio you were thinking about. I bet if you called him/her up, they would be more than happy to balance your prop, etc.

But as MinnFlyer stated, you do not need to balance props that often. Listen to what MinnFlyer tells you. He is a wealth of information. Just wait until he starts answering your questions with his famous drawings Then you know you have made it