Screen protectors - yay or nay?

Do you use screen protectors on your handhelds devices?

Personally, for the most part, no. My iPhone 5S never had a screen protector, and after having it for almost 2 years now (due for an upgrade in spring) still not a single visible scratch on the thing. I do imagine if I held it up to bright light I could probably find a hairline scratch or nick here and there, but nothing that I see in every day use. I do keep it in a good case and that case is still going strong after a few drops, though there are damaged spots (that's kind of the point, though).

Same goes for my iPad - no scratches or nicks I see in everyday use, though there is one little nick I can see in bright light. Granted, somedays I can't find the thing even though I know roughly where it is.

My Vita is also screen protector-less, though I keep it in a pretty heavy duty case when not in use. Again, no visible scratches. I take care of my electronics as much as I can.

The one exception is, as of about an hour ago, my 3DS. I had tried a couple screen protectors on it before, but could never get the darn things on without getting bad air bubbles, dust, or cat hair under them. So I gave up for a while. But then fairly recently, I did notice a couple of hairline scratches on the touchscreen, particularly a cluster in the upper left corner, likely from using the Pokemon-Amie features in Alpha Sapphire. I did notice early on the touchscreen seems to be some sort of plastic, so it scratched easier. Oh well - I don't have a special edition or anything, but I figured I'd try one more time to at least prevent further damage. It seemed the online consensus was HORI brand, and they released a set with an interesting tab system for applying them, which is supposed to minimize dust and air bubbles and the usual annoyances. Skeptical, but willing to try it after reading generally favorable Amazon reviews. I ordered them, they arrived today, and I applied them successfully. Their tab system, though hard to get at first glance, worked. Minimal dust, and what little got under them I could gradually push out with my debit card without doing any damage. They seem to adhere with some sort of static effect instead of adhesive. No air bubbles, totally clear, touchscreen still responsive and 3D effect (though I seldom use it) works as before. Also it makes the small scratches that were there totally invisible.

Good to hear that you had a good experience with the HORI brand. Personally, I left my 3DS naked. And regretted it, since the top screen now has 2 pretty deep scratches on it. My psp started off scratched up, so I didn't bother with a screen protector.

That's cool that your phone and ipad never ended up with scratches though. The screen is made out of a really tough glass, so it shouldn't scratch, yet I've had horrible luck with that. I used to have a sony xperia, the first one they came out with, and, somehow, it ended up having a dent in the front--a small dent, but it was much wider than a scratch. I'm kinda ocd when it comes to my phone screens, so it drove me nuts for the time I had the phone. So after that, I've HAD to get screen protectors. Lest they end up with dents. Ugh. Then I have to make sure the screen protectors don't have dents or hair underneath... but that's a whole 'nother story.

Now I have a scratch in my screen protector. I was doing something with the stylus on the touchscreen when my cat jumped up into my lap, and she left a hair on the screen that I didn't notice until it got between the screen and stylus and left a nice scratch in the middle of the screen. Now, when the screen is on I barely notice it in gameplay. I can feel it when I run the stylus over it, but I'm busy playing a game so I don't give it much thought. But that's the point of a screen protector - to take scratches instead of the screen itself. I actually ordered a second set of HORIs which is sitting in the drawer on my nightstand so I have them ready when I replace the current set.

NEVER any screen protectors ! I don't like them and prefer to haave a screen as "natural"