[Rockport24]

If you do a lot of rock hopping, it is a very very good idea to just bite the bullet and get them. I got mine last year and it kind of opened up so many more spots for me, I really used to stay away from rocks at low tide before I had korkers. The problem with korkers is that the studs they come with tend to wear down or just fall off altogether after a bunch of trips. DZ has a great method for modifing them which involves replacing the studs with stainless machine screws. If you do a search on this site, you will find the thread where he lays out the method.
If I have a long walk to a spot, I just put them on when I get there, it's just so much easier than walking with them on, plus if any of the walk is on pavement, I feel like I'm wearing the studs (or screws) unessessarily. I also have a couple of spots that involve walking close to private residences on pavement to get to, korkers on pavement tend to make some noise, so that can take away from "stealth" mode. I wouldn't want some yahoo making a racket outside of my ocean-front home at 4am, so I try to have some respect for that.