I think it depends where you ride. Some claim to have ridden thousands of miles without a flat running tubes. Myself I can't ride 10 miles without a flat between goatheads/stickers and crap on the road. I tried running tubes when I first got back into biking as I was hesitant to go tubless but after getting a flat on three consecutive rides I went for it. Now I don't even think about flats. So for my riding, a combination of road and dirt trails, it was definitely worth going tubless.