Originally Posted by Wilfred Laurier

Equally spaced gears are not important, but non-equally spaced gears means having some close together and some farther apart. The larger jumps are seen as a flaw in planetary gear systems, compared to derailleur systems that can claim, albeit generally through redundant gears and two shifters and derailleurs to keep moving, very small jumps between gears.

It's like the move between 7 speed (when I first entered the cycling industry in the late 80s) and 12 speed cassettes available now - for most 'performance' focussed riders, these extra gears are used to get smaller gaps between the gears and not higher or lower gears at the limits. A 2X12 (24 speed) with a standard double chainring2 (eg. 52-39) and road-racing cassette (~11-26) gives extremely small jumps between the gears if you know the best combinations. An 11 speed Shimano Alfine hub, for example, has bigger jumps, but you only need to futz with one shifter and it always goes up in one direction and down in the other.