I don't bother with the chamber type, but have used the 'stick-in-the-muzzle' type for several years now. It's just way too easy. Not all firearms (not talking just rifles) let you look through the bore to get yourself "boresighted". For example, I've used mine on Win 94's, shotguns (had to get creative with the centering arbors = funnel for the muzzle, then a couple cut 20ga hulls for the bore centering insert), semiauto rifles, Revolvers, pistols, etc etc.
One advantage over spying through the bore is that you don't have to worry about the rifle moving. I'm the worst about moving a rifle in a fixture when boresighting, so when I go from the bore to the scope, and back again, I end up chasing my tail.
As others have mentioned, they aren't perfect, but they're cheap enough, I paid $30 for mine. The chamber mounted ones seem great, but they're expensive, and you need an arbor for every chamber.
One 'sneaky trick' I use these things for is to double check my zero in my scope without firing a shot. Once I sight in, I throw the crosshairs on a target at 30yrds, and mark the position of the laser dot on a reference paper. Then if I bump my scope I can drop the arbor in and make sure the dot and the crosshairs are in the same position.
Ultimately, I bought mine cheap so I could sight in a firearm that I couldn't sight down the bore, then saw how handy it was, so I use it for everything now.
But no, it doesn't really save you any shots over just looking through the bore.