I have gained apx 1/4” BPEL in the past few months using an extender. My PE experience has been on and off for a few years, and since I don’t have the privacy to pump anymore, I decided to try an extender. I started last december (2013), and the first month consisted of me mainly figuring out how to use the thing.
I personally found that the padded foam (under the strap) cut my circulation off too much. My head would quickly get cold and purple. I also had some minor pain during that time in the beginning, and I had to stop for almost a week to get things back to normal.
So I started using only the flat rubber strap that comes with it to hold it in. While it took a while to get used to, it seems to work really well now. I can leave it on a few hours without losing circulation now, and I wear it during most awake hours as long as I don’t have any strenuous physical activity going on. I am probably now averaging about 10 hrs a day wearing the extender. It seems like I am progressing fairly quickly now also, maybe about 1/8th of an inch per month. This is about equal to my best progress when I was using pumps all the time. (For a long time I used bathmate, an air pump, and jelqued a lot).
I will never post pics of my progress, I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone. This is really for my benefit being here. If it helps you though great. I just want to minimize the chance of my identity being revealed, hence the fancy original username :)