Once and for All: Are Cast Iron Skillets Worth the Trouble?

Cast iron's great (assuming you can lift the damn things, as one gets older that's absolutely an issue) and once you've had it a while, just wash it like a normal pan and it's fine.

IMO no. Carbon steel pans offer the exact same benefits and are much lighter, easier to handle, and easier to clean.

Still, I even moved away from that. In making a great steak the pan is a factor, but much larger factors are quality of meat and how long you've dried the steak. A great steak dried for 5 days in the fridge is consistently much better for me than the same steak dried only 2-3 days, but seared in a cast iron/carbon steel pan.

If you like 'em, use 'em. But you're not missing anything if you don't use cast irons.