Can’t work out if it’s a great idea or totally unnecessary .
http://togs.com/pages/faq

I thought the whole concept was pretty daft then realised that on lots of longer rides I’m sitting with my hands in exactly the place these would be fitted.

Been using that position since I hurt my thumb 18 years ago, never considered using a device to do it though.
Marketing ploy, simples.

Look at the gallery on their website. Not one picture with anyone using them as a riding position.

Snake oil.

I recently ordered a couple of sets of Carbon hinged togs, I was going to fit one set to my tripster on the Jones bars and one set to my hummer but i fitted both sets to my tripster – for such a simple design they offer a choice of really comfortable hand positions when bimbling along.

The hinged variety are not up on their website yet but if you email Rita at cs@togs.com she’ll be able to sort you out, the hinged variety are only available in carbon and are $35.

How can it be snake oil when it is there to offer a slightly different riding position? Which it does.

Don’t think I’d buy them, but I too end up with my hands in that position to give them a rest on longer rides on the more sedate sections.

£5 I might be tempted

Used to use stubbie bar ends just inboard of my brakes for that same position, works well for road miles on an MTB. They’d be good on the Bend H bars or some other M-bars I have, the thumb-hook rest area seems to feel better with a more swept bar but bar-ends are a bit clunky there.

great idea or totally unnecessary

I’d go for ‘useful to a few riders’.

Bit like the hood stubs on old French road bikes –

and bar-ends inboard on the bars on Mike Halls TD bike –

I’ve got a set. They work well. Give a different position in endurance racing, helps with back and shoulders. I tend to climb fire roads with my little fingers hooked round them like a mini-bar end. Helps lock the core somehow so you end up using less body movement, and then saving energy or putting the power down more efficiently. Also if you’re grovelling into a headwind on the road, you can use them against your arms to give a bit better stability/confidence when your resting your forearms on top of the handlebars aero-roadie style.

For racing, don’t knock them as snake oil until you’ve tried them….For dicking about in the woods I wouldn’t bother.