FELs, nice toys or efficient tools?

An FEL is an intrinsically interesting device and pushing its performance presents a natural challenge to a physicist. Nonetheless, the main justification for doing FEL research is of course its potential as a unique, versatile source of radiation to be employed for something useful. After 25 years of FEL research, one may wonder how efficient these tools have become. In this paper, I will reflect on this issue from the perspective of 10 years of operation of FELIX as a user facility.