Originally Posted by Ostuni
flame me too then.
i'm a noob and recently went to the lbs for the same thing. the owner almost wanted to talk me out of buying the mirror. he said with experience i'd get good at safely peeking over my shoulder at regular intervals... i bought the mirror anyway - the kind that attaches to the helmet - and used it once then threw it away... found that looking for the little mirror was taking my eyes off the road longer than peeking over the shoulder...
When you first started driving a car I'll bet the car's rear view mirror also distracted you from time to time, and you took your eyes off the road to use it. Would you drive your car without a mirror now?
Compared to twisting around to look back, the mirror is much safer to use. Unlike twisting around, the bike never wavers when using the mirror and your eyes are off the road for much less time.
Compared to "listening" for traffic, the mirror provides much more information, much sooner.
I find that a good mirror (e.g., the Take a Look) greatly enhances "situational awareness" while riding, with almost no effort.