Price Paid:  $130.00 at Landry's Boston

Favorite Ride:
Smooth pavement, a good shoulder and some shade

Bike Setup:
Listing here for other things comfort related, Specialized Allez aluminum frame, Kysrium SSC SLs, Michelin race 2 pro tires, Hutchinson light tubes and SKS race blade fenders.

Summary:
Put simply, this is the only saddle you will ever need. An awesomely well designed and manufactured component (my experience is on the Toupe with no padding). I got back from a long ride in 94degree Boston heat and "never" had complaints in the saddle area. The ventilation is just superb right where you need it the most. Blood flow and numbness? zilch issues. It does an amazing job smoothing bumpy roads. My previous Specialized saddle that came on the bike was extremely annoying, I was very anxious about going with the brand again. A wonderful minimalist design, designed by folks with brains, not for just looks. As the cliche' goes, I did not feel the saddle even at the very worst moments. The accolades elsewhere are all spot-on (Toupe won the best saddle award from Outside magazine). I have been on it for about seven months now, doing everything from commuting with street clothes to rides. The Toupe comes in three sizes, your LBS would have a foam pad that you sit on. The resulting impression measures the sit-bones width and informs which size to get, this is something that I would be precise about and not wing-it. How durable is it? with reasonable care, it should last a long time (like wrap the titanium frame with electric tape ;)). As with shoes, the saddle is a critical point of contact. That Toupe is under 150$ is simply the most value for money in bike upgrades. The only real concern I would cite is that I am 125lbs, depending on rider weight, the padded Toupe might be worh checking out.

Strengths:
Pure unadultrated comfort, excellent vibration damping and ventillation, (incidental stuff: light weight and a looker)

Weaknesses:
Padded or not-padded could depend on rider weight.

Similar Products Used:
Specialized saddle that came with the bike, less said the better.

Price Paid:  $120.00 at ebay

Summary:
This is the best saddle I've used in terms of comfort but the quality of the build is questionable. It is light but at the price of a very thin shell which will break after few months of use. I ride a lot so I've waited few months to write a review of this saddle. It took me a week to get used to it but after that it feels very comfy.

Strengths:
Comfortable, light

Weaknesses:
The shell is weak

Similar Products Used:
Fizik Arione

Price Paid:  $100.00 at FBC

Favorite Ride:
Lone Pine Rd, Ca. 11 miles of stairway to heaven

Bike Setup:
05' TCR advanced T-mobile color, Full Dura Ace, speedplay pedals, American Classics 420 = 15.6 lbs

Summary:
I 've had this saddle for about 3 weeks now, and like what everyone has said it takes about 2 weeks to get your sit bones used to it. For the 1st week my sit bones were a little sore, the same for the 2nd week but no numbness anymore. I initially had the saddle set with the nose slightly down but I kept creeping forward, but once I set it leveled it was cush. Now on my 3rd week, I can honestly say that the discomfort is almost all gone and it just dissapears while I ride. The only slight discomfort is the initial 1-3 minutes at the start of my ride, just because you're perched on a pretty firm material but after that its great.

Unlike the saddle it replaced which was an arione, which is comfy from start to finish like it's like sitting on your couch but some numbing sensation it's not a bad trade offs. However, I had to lower my saddle height a bit due to the unforgiving carbon material, where as the arione you kind of sink down as you saddle up. Overall this saddle has been great thus far, I will comment again in a few months with a follow up.

Strengths:
White 130mm Very HOT!. The saddle itself is very forgiving on bumps, carbor frame also helps there. The finish is good compare to what I've read from others. White saddle I thought would be very hard to keep clean, but all I do is wipe it with down with a damp towel after every ride and it stays new. Very thin, Very sexy and very light. Different width sizes. Specialized BG great stuff!

Weaknesses:
none so far. Maybe the price, but no more numbness so its priceless!

Similar Products Used:
Arione, selle italia flight, SLR and san marco aspide, era, concor

Price Paid:  $140.00 at LBS

Favorite Ride:
Anything smooth

Bike Setup:
Scott Alu, Dura Ace/Ultegra mix.

Summary:
My experience is very similar to the previous poster's. I'm 165 lb and used the 143mm model. I can definitely see the genius in this saddle. The shape meshes very well with the human form...at least mine, and it puts the sitting-load squarely on the sit bones, completely sparing surrounding soft-tissues. For rides up to about 2.5 hours this is quite nice, but beyond that it becomes an exercise in pain-endurance. Mine is a vertically stiff, unforgiving aluminum frame which, coupled with this essentially pad-less saddle, just beat me to death and made the contact points very painful. With a more compliant frame I think this thing would have been perfect...but after ~2.5 weeks of trying, including rides up to 70 miles, I'm going to return it (lbs has a 30-day saddle return policy). I've seen enough to know this isn't the saddle for me. Another problem I had (kinda) was with the sharp edges. If I wasn't perfectly positioned I could feel the edge where the saddle flares out digging into the back of my leg...just something to look for if you try this saddle. Anyway, my quest for comfort continues.

Strengths:
Very well shaped to put load only on the sit-bones. Light, and makes me look faster than I am.

Weaknesses:
If you're between sizes (like me) the smaller size will hit you in the wrong places, but the larger may be a little wide (and the edges are sharp if you're in contact with them). Also, I am quite disappointed with the quality control. I looked at a bunch of these at the lbs...some had rails skewed one way or the other, some had seating surfaces that were not level (left-right), etc. I had to search through a bunch to find one that was symmetrical and level. This is unsat for a $150 saddle.

Similar Products Used:
Selle C2 (numbness), Terry Fly (no numbness, but too much padding), Specialized Alias (edges too square...chafing when in the drops).

Price Paid:  $130.00 at LBS

Favorite Ride:
PCH

Bike Setup:
Fuju Carbon Team Pro w/carbon seat post - Ultegra/Dura Ace mix - Speedplays

Summary:
Good looking, okay for short and fast, but more than 2 hours - ouch! I'm 5'9" 170lbs, used the 143. Thought the pain was from not enough time in saddle - road it everyday for a few hours for about two weeks - never toughened up to it. Pain right on the sit bones, got worse everyday.

Strengths:
Snappy look, nice flex, light weight, great for shorter rides.

Weaknesses:
Painful beyond 30 miles. Not much padding right on the sitbones.

Similar Products Used:
Selle Italia Prolink TransAm - thinking about going back to this model.