I've seen a few mentions of this, but how important is it really to balance your prop? If it's that important should you get a prop balancer or is there another way?

Its good to balance the props as you will have less vibration which translates to more RPM, longer lasting engine (relatively), longer lasting air frame in bad instances. Of course you can fly w/o balancing it but why not make the performance more efficient. Also, a DuBro balancer will last a life time!

For sport flying with smaller props, (up to ~ 12" dia) it's not actually all that important. It's a "nice to do", not a "must do". It is however, necessary for larger diameter stuff, & for smaller props turning at obscene revs (like the racing & combat guys).

If you are just flying sport stuff and not turning up big RPMS, like trainers and stuff like that, get the grey APC props. They aren't all that expensive, and most i've used are already balanced, and usually don't need too much fussing with, especially at sport speeds. If you use other props, balancing them will help reduce vibration. Vibration can do lots of other nasty things to a plane other than just wearing the engine out. It can kill electronics, wear out linkages, put holes in fuel tubing and tanks and more, so it's worth a few minutes on each prop to get it right, don't you think?

If you are wanting to balance props less than 20 inches, the top flight magnetic balancer is inexpensive and very accurate. APC's seem to take less sanding to balance than Master Air Screws. Doesn't hurt to check them out before you put them on your plane. It only takes one really poorly balanced prop to shake something important loose at the worst possible time.