Personally, having ridden a spring U-turn Recon and an air one (honestly, no idea which exact one or year, just that they were both 130mm) I can say that I preferred the coil U-turn. It felt more supple and I guess predictable (not sure thats the right word), plus I love travel adjust (even here in Ohio where for the most part we only have 50 foot elevation changes at a time). I'm not sure about reliability though, but my 200 pound friend (he used the stock spring) used one all of last summer with no issues (and his bike was ridden hard enough that the frame broke.)