I belive the baton is a great self defence wepon, the retractable ones excepionaly. They are leagal, concealiable, and effective. (If proparly trained.) In my line of work they are great. I am serving in Iraq right now and cannot tell you how many times mine came in handy.
I have been studing for about 16 yrs and my father was my primary instructor. When I first started he told me befor I can hit I have to take it. He was right. I can now take a beatin for about 20 min and still be good to go. So I guess for the most part it dose work just have to be willing to let someone beat the hell pot pf ya.