I prefer having toe guard on a bat, all my bats have it, and never felt different than when they didn't. Recently I bought a SC which did not have a toe guard fitted, one of my club mates took the bat to have a feel of it and tapped it on the ground. As soon as he tapped it there was a tick sound and I new something hit the toe, took the bat and found a small hole in the corner of the toe, felt so bad. As soon as I reached home my first task was to fill the hole with glue and put the toe guard on. I usually don't tap my bat much on the ground but I want to be sure when I do it doesn't hurt my bat, just for the sense of safety.