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I only own 1 Nagler eyepeice - the 12mm, so my experience is limited. They offer very wide fields of view which is very useful for owners of altaz push-to scopes as following an object at high (anything over about x250) power can be very tedious if all you have is a narrow field of view. Although scopes with dobsonain type bearings can be moved very smoothly, it is still tedious, and I find that I spend more time concentrating on keeping the object in the field of view rather than taking in the view. So if you use a scope without a drive you will find them very convenient.
They are also optimised to minimise coma, which is evident in telescopes with a "fast" focal ratio of f6 or below. As you are probably aware, the focal ratio is the focal length (mm) divided by the aperature (mm). The view through an f4 or f5 scope with a cheap wide field eyepeice reveals that a significant portion of the edge has stars that look like comets. Not nice. But if you own a slow f ratio scope, like an SCT at f10, then all eyepeices will provide a flat field of view with almost pinpoint stars across it. I use a WideScan 30mm 84degree FOV eyepeice with my Mease SCT and it is super. It costs a fraction of the $1000 asking price of a Nagler 31mm, and does an excellent job with these telescopes.
Another problem with the naglers is that there is a lot of glasss in there, so light transmission is not as good as some simpler eyepeices. A good planetary eyepeice is a simple plossel, of which I find the Televue Plossels the best.
The best advise is to try and borrow various eyepeices (if you can get someone to part with a Nagler, good luck) and try them in your scope.
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