Most people like to speed up their page-load time, but reducing the number of tools you rely on seems a strange thing to do (unless it is some kind of enforce-artificial-constraints thing).
A good craftsperson knows their tools well, and knows which tool to use where. Reducing the number of tools seems artificially limiting.
Knowing tools takes time. And it seems like every week I'm hearing about some great new dev tool. Do folks actually try all of these? It seems you'd be perpetually at the base of the learning curve if you did.
True
And it seems like every week I'm hearing about some great new dev tool.
True
Do folks actually try all of these?
No
Hearing about something is a data point. Hearing about the same thing, multiple times, from multiple sources you trust is a sign you should try something.