Nobody that thinks about it a little bit will be without one of these things as soon as they are easily, cheaply, and commonly available. If I want to do ear training - I'll do it on my phone and computer, not during my tuning.

Also, to Mac's point, I realized windings were part of the tuning issue, but there is also a 'springiness' and 'twang' sound that new steel strings have that older strings don't. Is there any scientific reason for that ? - rust maybe ?

Lastly, given the windings issue, I suppose the tuning pegs that lock/screw the string into place with minimal windings are inherently superior for those stringers that are doing more than 2 or 3 windings (of which I am always guilty)