Hi and welcome to the forums,
I think the applicator is worth it's money for what it is; it's a good tool to apply rhinestones and studs just one at a time. It's great for replacing a stone that fell off from a larger design on a tee for example.
If you want to press smaller designs you could use a home iron for starters. Watch out with steam irons as they have dents on the bottom where the steam comes out. Those are the cold spots of home irons! If the stones are under the dents they don't get hot enough for all glue to melt completely so they don't adhere well.
If you want to do it professional you buy yourself a heatpress to press to designs on the fabric.
Loads of good info on pressing rhinestones to find on these forums, just do a good search and you'll find plenty of posts on that and other subjects
