There are benefits to both. I have used a bench shirt / squat suit / deadlift suit before and thought it was good for helping to break through mental barriers. My current training is entirely raw except for a weight belt due to my strength goals and how I want my body to progress into unassisted functional strength. Some people really thrive on training with gear. My opinion, and it is nothing more than just an opinion, is that you shouldn't be using gear until you are a) hitting serious plateaus in lifts or b) are about 2 months out from a competition in which you'll be doing heavy singles, forced reps AND need to get used to the gear crushing your insides.

For me, I like the gratification of knowing that I moved weight X entirely by myself. Except for pull-ups where I'll use a thin workout band to help my fat *kitten* gets to 12-15 reps where I can only do 7 or 8 by myself.

I'd like to hear from people who have used gear for a number of years and what keeps you using it. Safety? A love of workout bruises?

I got into powerlifting only about a year ago. I've been using gear ever since I started because that is the majority of people I train with. Personally I love it because I can get under heavier weight and like rdzilla said before it helps get through mental barriers by allowing you to hold that heavier weight. That said, I believe it is important to keep training with your raw strength. I recently noticed that I lost a lot of strength or that "pop" in my hips while squating raw so now I'm training a little more often without the gear, but on the other hand I've noticed that my raw bench has gone up after training with the bench shirt. There are pros and cons to both types of lifting but all in all nomatter if your raw or geared nothing beats feeling that weight and finishing a lift.