What is the difference? It looks a little better if you use bake even strips but I still have to cut the top off to even it. Am I doing something Wrong?

I don't use them anymore because they are a time consuming PITA and don't seem to make any difference......

They don't make a cake perfectly flat but it greatly reduces the amount of cake "trim jobs" that go in my trash can. Helps with more even baking, lessening the probability of having hard corners while waiting for the center to bake. I personally won't bake without them.

Many CC'ers get the same or similar results by using the flower nail trick.

I use them a lot but I hate the straight pins so I use binder clips (black metal clips) instead. Makes them a lot easier to use.

I find that I have just as much success with cutting strips from a large bath towel and saturate them in cold water, ring them slightly but still keeping them quite damp, and pin these around the pan with a large safety pin. In using these, I can cut them to the exact sizes I need and it is much cheaper.

I can see how the amount of cake you trash would probley decrease. I always use mine to make cake balls. I have only tried them twice. Ill give them another shot.