I can see that refresh cape being useful for lowman situations where every bit of refresh counts, ie holding Khimaira with just rdm and pld. No, it isn't necessary to pop a poison fruit 24/7 just for extra refresh. But it definitely gives players a competitive advantage in certain situations where it may be necessary. Kinda funny how people would rather bash one another than focus on this recent discovery of a cheaper alternative to poison pots and an alternate use for this type of item besides resisting sleepgas.
For the record, Cheviot/Umbra cape is a decent idle piece considering alternatives. Idling in some random piece of equipment that does nothing until you cast or use a job ability is not going to give you the same benefit of avoiding damage when you didn't expect it. It's kind of like Paladins that idle in full enmity while standing around doing absolutely nothing until their next JA/flash is up (assuming they're not spamming curekits).
Btw the alchemist who did that lil paragraph rant on the first page made me lolz.