Does anybody have or use a break in bench? I was thinking about getting one but not sure if it really does the break in any better and ensures a longer engine life?

i was always told break it in like your gonna drive it. i just think it will be broke in diff than if you were running it w/ a clutch and on the bug. all of my motors have lasted long and i never used one yet. some will tell you they swear by them. i will say as long as you heat it up before you start it for the first 1/2 gal at least then you got nothing to worry about.

I think the idea of brake in is to "eat up" the piston to the point where it will move freely into the tapered sleeve and expand the sleeve so it also matches the piston.
I suppose the reason not to hurry it up is not to destroy the surfaces of the two parts.You want them as smooth as possible so that you don't have leak down at the compression stroke.
Those who destroy their engines at break in maybe is because they rushed it and cause it was too close they destroied the piston and sleeve.Think about it!!!

So bench or no bench, an engine that revs too much at brake in will be !

I also believe that an engine should be reved with some load on it like an 1:1 engine would be broken in.

Novarossi wants you to use a breakin bench and prop to break in their engines and it's hard to argue with such a successful company when it comes to what's best for their engines. That said, I've broken in many, many engines using both the blubbering rich idle a few tanks method as well as the bess (heat cycle) method. The blubbering method worked well back in the day, but with the tighter tolerences and more advanced alloys being used in todays race engines the bess method has proven to give me the most life from my engines. The average RTR or sport engine will pretty much need a few tanks at idle to loosen it up, but top of the line race engines don't need the pounding this method uses to reform the pinch area so the piston can pass it without getting stuck. A proper heat cycle insures even expansion and proper "seasoning" of engine parts which will result in optimum output over an extended service interval.