VPN with Netgear FVS318

So I've got this new netgear FVS318 vpn router here at the office, and i want to test it out. so i set it up, but it seems that I can't get my XP Pro box at a remote site to connect to it. I call netgear tech support, who tells me that you have to purchase a client software to get it to work, since this vpn router uses IPSec and IKE technology, not the L2TP that the XP client uses.

I hesitate to trust them, when it means i would have to purchase a $150 client software. (btw, why would a software cost $150 when the entire vpn firewall router itself costs only $180?)

i'm not real familiar with vpn and its internal technologies.

Return it and dont screw with it. thats just retarded to have to buy $150 worth of software.
there are other options out there depending on what u want to use the vpn for.

that was kind of my opinion as well. are the advantages to the ipsec and ike technologies really great enough to spend all the extra money and effort? I'd like to know what i would be missing...