[joedoh]

if you have freezing temperatures for days in a row where you live and dont care about speed, manuals are definitely nice. if the climate is temperate and you have the extra money, electrics are nice.

the things I like about manuals is: they are in the cab with you so if there is a problem, its right there, no climbing under a truck that refuses to lift. also, you can buy big bore manuals (the valve orifice is usually what sets the speed of the system, not the airline unless you are running 1/8th or 1/4) and modulate your speed by how much you open the valve. If you live in a cold climate you can warm up the truck and the valves warm up with the interior, less sticky, electrics usually get mounted outside the cab so not much warm up. Electrics are more finicky about dry air too. Cold electric valves usually stick OPEN, not shut, which sucks when you are trying to get to work.

the things I like about electrics are: cleaner in the cab, no running big lines with minimum bend radii behind the dash and trying to hide them, as bk2life said. Block setups are awesome too, all your connections in one place, like the VU4 setup. When you have electrics you can program different maneuvers to one switch, it can take as little as one switch to get the truck up or down, and some electric controls have presets for ride height making it automatic when you start the truck.

an engine driven compressor is the way to go, I have had one on the last couple trucks, no RNNNRNNRNNRNNR waiting 4 minutes for the tank pressure to be high enough to leave in the morning, even with a slap empty tank (system leak, hard to find) the EDC had me up and ready in under 40 seconds. Sometimes you can get an EDC system cheaper than a compressor set.