On one hand traditional altitude training has many believers but scientific support is far from conclusive. It looks worth a try, but only if you have all the fundamentals of a good programme in place anyway. For example, there are many out there who go for the expensive nutrition supplements around game day, but live on a diet of takeaways etc during the week. As above, get the basics right first. Probably dependent on personal circumstances and time availability cost etc.
Health is certainly a factor.
The Tent is recreating a situation you would put yourself in anyway. The Hypoxicator cranks the altitude up higher than you would attempt at traditional altitude. Many coaches wouldn t dream of making their athletes do what other coaches put their athletes through, just in terms of training intensities and volumes. One of the big problems is that there are those who think if its not detectable it is okay . Which is always a problem when you can t test for everything you ban.