I won't push anybody to buy an ICD2 if not needed. I buyed it in the past ONLY because Picstart didn't had 18F4550 in their list and Microchip said to me that they haven't plan to include them. And while my BK844A was out for repair, i decided to buy an ICD2. used it few time, never used the ICD feature (or maybe 1-2 times) and now, he's gathering dust.

As long as the Pickit 2 device list fit to your need and you don't want to spend too much money, it's probably the smartest choice.

I buyed Pickit 2 for curiosity first. Wanted to know how good a <50$ programmer could be. I'm impressed.