My trial ran out a few days ago.  And I haven't posted about R# for almost a month.  I have to a few more things to share, and perhaps I can save everyone some time.

The R# team has done quite a few small things to raise the tool a step above my expectations.  There are a lot of things that may seem small, but really turn out to be significant improvements to the way I manage my code.  Simple things, like, locating new code (via refactoring) with similar declarations (fields with fields, properties with properties) have impressed me.  R# saved some me steps that I didn't even think about.

I have grown fond of the simple code cleanup suggestions when viewing a code file.  Also, I am really taking advantage of R#'s ability to add a namespace import for classes I reference in my code.  I've mentioned these things before.

The new toy I have been playing with is the Live Templates.  I was doing some pair programming last week with a coworker who was visiting from out of town.  I was showing him the TDD approach and the BDD that I am experimenting with.  I was a little embarrassed that I was typing the same pattern of code over and over again, so I created live templates for new test classes and test cases.  (I haven't quite transitioned to the BDD lingo yet.)   The Live Templates worked great!  The are amazingly easy to create and maintain, and equally fluid to use.

Just a quick look at the menu tells me that there is a lot more R# has to offer.  It's going to take a while to play with everything and adjust my coding practices accordingly.

I suppose that you've figured out that I have decided to keep R# around long term.  In my opinion is is worth the price.  I'm glad my boss thinks so too :-).

In the interest of completeness, I should mention a few of the negatives I've encountered with R#.  First, there is a noticeable performance degradation.  This is especially significant when viewing my ASPX files.  The screen can freeze for a couple of seconds on occasion.  Not fun.

Second, I had to get a separate download release (untested) to correct a type recognition problem in ASP.Net.  Even that update only cured part of the problem.  It is painful when the project compiles, yet R# reports an unknown type and refuses to provide intellisense.  I had to turn off R# intellisense in order to get around the problem.

Finally, related to the performance issues, but really more of an annoyance.  The initial load time for Visual Studio is greatly affected by the time it takes to load all of the R# libraries.  Loading VS has nearly become cup of tea time (I don't drink coffee) recently.

Despite these drawbacks, I feel R# will significantly improve my productivity.  For those of you considering R#, get off the fence and buy it (or implore your boss to do so like I did).  It's worth it.