I just bought a hard tail 29'er. I was wondering if suspension seat post's were a gimmick, or a nice luxury. What price point offers good quality and value?

I had one on a cruiser type bike. When sitting on the seat, compressed the suspension fully and then had no impact on the ride, except to make my ride height too low. I think I spent $12-$15 on it. Maybe more expensive ones actually work?

Our mountain bikes are hard tail (no suspension on front either). I've never spent much time on the seat when on trails.

I have one on my cruiser also. I was curious how much abuse it could take on a mountain bike.

Thudbuster LT and Thudbuster ST. Love them both, the ST more. On a 29er and 26er.

The suspension seat posts are basically allowing the entire bike to ride up and down relative to you. They are comfortable but as a suspension piece on the mountain bike, the unsprung weight is the entire weight of the bike vs. just the rear wheel and triangle.

I agree 100% with Rawwhite1969. My words exactly. You get on the seat and it's too high, as you sit it lowers and now you are too low so you need to adjust the seat up to where you want it. If you need to lift yourself off the seat to put your feet down, the seat rides. I now ride a fixed aluminum seat post on my MTB.

The telescopic versions I've tried also made it feel like the rear tire was going flat, due to the slight play in the bushings. And I really didn't feel a lot of benefit, either. If I were going to try another, it'd be the Thudbuster for sure, but for now I'm happy enough with the hardtail and rigid post.

I used an old Rockshox post on a hardtail. It definitely helps me stay seated on the rougher stuff and is actually surprisingly active even with an elastomer spring. I just set the saddle height half an inch higher to account for sag and that's it. One of the best $60 I spent.

I've got a Cane Creek Thudbuster (ST) on my Felt 29er Carbon Elite. Love it. This is a quality product (it's Cane Creek) and you will pay for this quality.

I like my Thudbuster. It's a parallegram, as it moves the distance stays the same, just the setback changes.