After my first mining trip after purchasing a max glow max harvest range tool, I would say that it is worth the 5k price, and then some.
Coming from someone who is trying to play this as self-sufficiently as possible, this should encourage anyone who mines in this game to fork out for one.
Not only do you get the immediate benefits of light and gathering, it essentially saves 5 skill points, and i would happily pay 1k per skill point.
Thanks Hazir for the pointer.
In beta for pure light level it was topaz + player light for me. I don’t know if they have been nerfed or others buffed. That is a good few builds ago. I haven’t got to the level to test them all again yet.
the auto harvest range makes all the difference in hitting blocks above \ below you 
I forged my own light+auto harvest/magnet tool but i used unstable boon so i have a lot of quirks and defects (currently with 0 durability. bad luck on rng lol). Still very useful when im at full hp as the other quirks/defects dont matter on the offhand tool.
My forge is powered now and i have mats for pure boon compounds too so i’ll make another at some point.
But yes 5k would be a good investment for a correctly forged one.
I use a grapple with glow boon. That way I can hang and hammer at the same time.
Light epic was one of the first skills I got on my miner and I’ve never looked back. 100% worth 5 skill points in my opinion.