I agree with you. At most companies your manager would never even think of spending that much money on you, even if it was completely justifiable. You’re lucky if you can get permission to buy a $50 book.

That said, if you’re going to spend money on a debugger then I recommend rr + Pernosco instead. Pernosco is a completely different kind of debugger that will make you much, much more productive at debugging than any traditional debugger where you start by adding breakpoints and then stepping through your code. Costs a lot less too.