Are soft-close toilet seats worth it?

Across the reviewers we read, soft-close (also called slow-close or quiet-close) seats are widely considered worth the modest premium because they prevent slamming, protect small fingers, and reduce wear on the bowl. The main caveat raised in r/HomeImprovement and r/Plumbing threads is that the slow-close mechanism itself can degrade after a few years on cheaper seats, so durability of the hinge is the key spec to evaluate.