I personally believe that due to the nature of Li-Po cells a balancer is ABSOLUTELY essential. It only needs one cell in the pack to drop below a non-recoverable voltage and the pack is a write off.

Cheap cells tend to be less well matched than their more expensive brothers, but it is possible to get weak cells in any pack.

I use a FlightPower V-balance module attched to an Ultramat 14 AC/DC charger. The balancer can be used to equalise a charged set of cells without connecting the charger. It has a particularly interesting set of LED's which indicate the balancing action going on during charging. Once I started using the balancer it did not take me long to note that cells such as Thunder Power are particularly well matched compared to other cheaper makes. This is obvious by the amount of balancing activity displayed by the LED's

You might hear comments that people have been charging LiPo's for years without one and that they are unnecssary. True, you can charge Li-Po's without one, but you may be significantly shortening the lifespan of yours packs without knowing it.

No, they are definitely not a fashion accessory. I cannot recommend them strongly enough

Hope these comments help.

Good luck