My take on the use of UV filters

[Xenedis]

I've always known that UV filters are pretty much unnecessary as far as UV is concerned but I use them as protection against scratches, fingerprints and dust.

Dust doesn't concern me, because it gets everywhere (including on the UV filter itself), and can be blown off.

Fingerprints have never been an issue for me, either. I don't touch the objective element, and I always use my hoods, so I'd have to try very hard indeed to get a globby fingerprint on them.

I've never managed to scratch a lens, either. The optical glass on objective elements is a lot thicker and tougher than people expect. Having said that, I am careful anyway, and certainly use hoods and caps all the time.

It's far easier to clean the surface of the filter rather than risk scratching the lens.

I've found that cleaning filters requires as much effort as does cleaning the lens's objective element.

A UV filter will provide little or no protection from damage incurred from a heavy impact (from dropping the camera for example)

Agreed; my analysis of impact-related accidents in my OP goes into sufficient detail about that.

I use screw on filters and have never had any trouble with the filter getting stuck or cross threaded mainly because it's a simple case of being careful.

That comes down to not over-tightening them, and it seems you're doing it the right way.

They don't need 500lbs of torque to stay on; they're threaded, so they're not going anywhere. All that's needed is sufficient tightening such that they won't come loose, but don't need much exertion to unscrew.

It all boils down to a matter of preference. To me, it just makes practical sense to have something to protect the lens surface. I'd rather spend $30 to replace the filter rather than having to fork out considerably more to get the lens repaired.

It does indeed come down to preference, but based on the analysis I've done, my actual experience (including dropping a lens) and my desire not to introduce any potential or actual image degradation, there's far more reason in my book not to use them.