We have a 12 yr old Hitachi PR12a that sits next to our Oliver planer and Crescent jointer. It does a beautiful job, especially on 1/8" thick and smaller thicknesses. These are available used for 2-300 hundred dollars on Craigslist.
We use CNC, Tablesaws, Jointers and yes we even use hand planes.
Hand work puts a lot of soul into the work.
Steve