I've never used one or felt the need for it, but maybe I'm missing something.

I don't have one and don't know what I would do with one if I had it. Having said that,everyone has tool preferrances so if the gardener will be around more than one season I'd buy one for him. I am extremly hard to please when it come's to a garden hoe.

Speaking of hoes I have a child size garden hoe which I can use with one hand to chop out small weeds that I don't want to have to stoop over and pull.

Klem, what is your preferred garden hoe?

I don't even know what a garden claw is. I probably have one but don't know it by that name!. I'm guessing it's that 3 pronged tool but I only have one that is hand sized.

... got me wondering whether this claw is a must have.

Can be for people that can't handle the extended bending needed to till/cultivate much with a pitch fork, hoe, or pronged hand tool. AKA "stand-up tiller".

Don't own one, but used it on someone else's project. Handy in tight spots and a nice change among hours of bending.

I find it useful. Partially because while some tools can do many things (eg breaking the ground up can be done by many tools), but having the right tool for the thing you need to do, helps immensely. It's why there are all manner of shovels, spades, and other digging tools. Even those bulb planter things have their purpose, as opposed to digging to plant a bulb with a spade.

However, as having all those tools can get costly, as well as need to be stored, then I would say that not having a garden claw is OK, especially if you're not sure when it will be used.

As an aside, one of the tools I have, which no friends or family have, is my Fiskar weeder (the one good for taking out broadleaf weeds). I use it several times a year, even taking it to use at family members' homes. But they, on the other hand, would do weeding using other tools, or not at all. So we come down to the fact that in gardening, we can get similar results from various tools, without specifically needing to specialize. However, tools that you like to use and use often, can definitely be in your stock of tools to have on hand.

If you're talking about that 3 pronged hand held thingy, I have one but can't think of any use for it. I also have the fiskar's weeder that purslanegarden mentions above. It is a very effective and useful tool! Got mine when my back went out, but we've kept ahead of the weeds and I haven't needed it in a while.

I find a hori hori knife to be my goto garden tool. I also find cape cod or nijiri gama hoes to be quite useful. And a hand pick axe as well. I tend to always buy shovels at estate sales and leave them in various corners so i never have to go find one. I had a garden claw but is was of no benefit to me. The twisting motion was to awkward. Also, zip tie some pool noodles together for a knee pad, another cool trick to save your knees.

Where is my Hori hori knife? Wandering again, having a tete tet with the lost jar of cinnamon.. The handle is now held together with electric tape. I should change that black tape to yellow tape.

I use my hand-held claw to work granular fertilizer into the top soil around plants. Sometimes I use it to pull up roots from a hole I'm digging up for a planting.

I have a garden claw (long handle gold prongs) and have used it..nice to be able to stand upright and break up soil..we have many many tools..could survive with less but we like options..I would say we've gotten our money's worth out of the claw..

I also have the long-handled garden claw, but only use it occasionally to loosen the soil. The hubs bought it to dig up weeds without bending, but I found it useless for that purpose. :)