Wheel of Fortune or Wheel of Death?

[Back In The Saddle]

Had my second set of matches yesterday (TH previously, DH last night). I was finally able to make fairly proficient use of the wheel. It helped me a lot and I'm feeling pretty good about it. I caught a couple of IA's; I was able to immediately answer my R's query about whether one team's setter was front row or back.

However, the talk about the wheel/lineup card on the boards seems a mixed bag. There is talk of the need to wean off the wheel, and that taking years to do. There is talk of it taking years to learn to recognize alignments otherwise.

So to my question: Is it worth it to continue using the wheel, or should I spend the time (which sounds like it could be considerable) to learn to do this without it. Or is there a way to use it as a crutch to speed the process of learning to do without it.

With it, I feel like I have a tool that will let me do my job fully today. But I realize it will limit me at some point going forward.

What think ye?