Speed reading is no fun. I tried it too and actually ended up reading slower.
What grabbed me about PhotoReading was the ability to get through 3 books in the same time I used to get through one as a beginner. I felt there was a lot of benefit in that ability. The beauty about PhotoReading is it is a relaxed approach. Soft focus on the page. Not pushing the eyeballs across the page faster than the conscious mind can comprehend. PhotoReading takes advantage of your non-conscious minds ability to process information before building conscious comprehension.
The reward for using the whole system is better comprehension. Better recall of the books you've read and you get it done a lot faster.
I love it for being able to dump reading material that is redundant. Like stuff I read before perhaps by another author or even the same author. You zip through that to the stuff that is relevant for your purpose. I don't spend money on books that I regret buying anymore. I just PhotoRead them in the bookshop and check in with myself and know whether to look for more in the book or just shelve it.
And I'm not reading books just 3 times faster I spend between 5 minutes to 90 minutes with a non-fiction book and have way better comprehension of the information. I now can even enjoy novels. These I loved to read in one sitting so 12 hours was the norm. Now I spend 3 or 4 hours with a novel at my leisure.
There is one big disadvantage though. Have you ever carried 10 books in your carry on to tide you over a 36 hour international flight? I started and finished a novel in the 3 hour flight between Sydney and New Zealand along with having a sleep.
AlexK