Before I learned to speed read the way I currently do, I tried learning using RSVP. In my personal experience I didn't find it very helpful, and my comprehension rates (when using RSVP) plummeted. I'm in complete agreement there.
As to my 1,300wpm, you're partially correct. 1,200wpm is just about the limit at which I can read word by word, line by line in a book, using my hand as a pacer. After 1,200, I stop dropping conjunctions, pronouns, and prepositions, and anything that can be inferred through context or isn't necessary to the meaning of the sentence (e.g. - absorbing key words and ideas, but still more precise than 1/2 a page at a time).
Here's the book I learned from so you can judge the merits based upon something better than my attempted explanation: http://www.amazon.com/Breakthrough-Rapid-Reading-Peter-Kump/...
My conclusion is that yes, speed reading works and it's real. The book takes you through various 15 min exercises, one per day for 30 days. At times these exercises are a real pain and I really hated doing it. Sometimes it feels like you are making no progress and not comprehending anything if the exercise makes you go faster than normal.
But at the end (and throughout) you can do a self test to see your improvement. The test also covers comprehension so you can verify you aren't just skimming. The improvement was dramatic. I ended up reading twice as fast by the end with no loss in comprehension.
I still use a lot of the techniques today to reinforce it, although if I'm reading for pleasure I don't usually use the techniques (but still read faster).
One downside to it that I've noticed is that I'm much worse at catching typos in things I write now. Since my eye is not focusing on each word when I read I have to really force myself to slow down if I'm reading to proof something instead of comprehension.
Here is something I wrote on it a while back: http://www.startbreakingfree.com/77/business-education-part-...
Some of the claims about reading a book a day are marketing hype. So don't expect miracles. But in general yes I'm convinced it works. I definitely read faster now, and it's probably worth the investment of a month to learn it to get the return in productivity.
http://www.amazon.com/Evelyn-Seven-Day-Reading-Learning-Prog...
I bought this one recently as well due to reviews on the Evelyn Wood book, but haven't read it yet (Land of Lisp is taking all my spare time):
http://www.amazon.com/Breakthrough-Rapid-Reading-Peter-Kump/...