If I were funding a science expedition, I think I would prefer that people use an off-the-shelf item, even if it's a little bit more, than spending time hacking something together. In grad school, a labmate of mine pointed out that supporting a junior researcher costs ~$200/day (with tuition, stipend, and benefits), so if spending $200 on an experiment or piece of equipment would save a day of work, it's usually worth it. I'm not saying it's not useful to have people who can do the hacking, but you want them to spend their time hacking things that can only be hacked.