I have used oar-rites on my oars since I bought my boat in '95. They are useful at times, but lately I have been wrestling with the idea of taking them off. I frequently pull the oar-rites out of the locks so that I can "feather" the oars while rowing. This allows me to get a little more energy to the oars at the end of the stroke. I have noticed that a good many guides don't use them. When I fished on the Kenai with Dan Meyer, I asked him why he didn't use them. He said that he gets more control, more power and rowing is quieter without them. The positive side of oar-rites is that they always keep your oars in the correct rowing poition. To each his/her own. Piscator.