It don't matter how much you paid for your PDA, it's an investment I'd like to keep in good condition. A few dollars a year to keep it from getting scratched is worth it, especially if I uhm upgrade to a new one and unload the old one at you know where. The scratches may also affect the PDA later, I had a Casio PV-200 that has scratches everywhere. It worked great but a few months before my first Visor it would go on the fritz. What I typed or what I put on the notepad never came out the way I wanted it to come out.