Never actually tried it but, I would it might lower your gathering time and increase your % of change of getting something. Might as well maybe give you a few extra skill pts in order to harvest some higher level resources spots.
From what I have read here, there currently is no benefit from using one of the merchant bought tradeskill tools. There might be in the future, but for now, save your money. You can still harvest, mine, etc, without buying anything.