trailer is great!
* rides wonderful, stable and safe even going fast downhill, less wind resitance than panniers - you hardly even notice it's there until a hill comes (and then you notice the weight, not the trailer per say) - you have to learn how best to pack the weight for fast downhills - on tour i felt safe going 50mph downhill with 40lbs while my friend with panniers was all over the brakes at 35mph
* easily detachable in a few seconds and you can stow your trailer somewhere safe and do a day or rec. tour or MTB ride w/o unloading all your paniers and racks and stuff
* for MTBing the trailer tracks great - i've down serious singletrack downhills with the trailer on trails w/ small drops where some rec riders were walking their bikes downhill b/c it was so technical - obviously uphill is harder if you carry weight, but downhill and tight singletrack is UNBELIEVABLY good (just don't crash!)
* low wind profile so REALLY nice in comparison to panniers when the wind is strong
* less force and pressure on bike frame and wheels (although i did brake a lot of light-weight racing type triple-butted rear spokes until i replaced them with stronger touring-type spokes)

negatives:
* trailer/bike is long and a pain to 'walk' through pedestrain areas or your hotel, but OK except when you stop and want to load your bike in a train or lock it on a normal bike rack
* as Blue Marble said, there's only 1 bag, so you need you own system to locate stuff - panniers have the advantage 'item x is in left-front pannier, outer pocket'
* i often got charged extra on trains or whatever when panniers can be removed and count as 'baggage'
* it encourages you to carry TOO MUCH stuff for a tour - don't fill it up just b/c you can!

in the end panniers vs. trailer is a personal choice, but for a recumbent where (i guess) full panniers is harder to achieve, the BOB should be the better choice

i am 100% satisfied with mine!

Bob:
** can ride offroad, panniers almost impossible w/o breaking something. if your load is not too heavy you can actually do some pretty extreme off-roading - i'm ridden downhill sections with the Bob and maybe 35-40lbs(15-17kg) on weekend trips in the Alps where other MTBers were walking their mountain bikes...
** less wind resistance if you have head or especially cross winds
** more stable at high speeds although you have to learn how to pack the weight - i did a 5-day trip on the Northwest coast with a friend with panniers and downhill he had to ride the brakes and always dreaded the downhills while i cranked to increase speed!
** easier to unhitch, lock up the trailer and your stuff and do a trail ride w/ racks or whatever
** loading your bike onto a train or into a hostel or whatever can be more difficult with the BOB - although it can be easier... the BOB definitely takes up more space in a bike room unless you detach it but then you have 2 things to carry and have to worry about leaving one unattended
** BOB puts less stress on the bike and requires less maintenance - also as someone else said, you need a good bike and frame for a full-load w/ panniers and with the BOB it's not really important
** no problem with front or full-suspension - front suspension pannier mounts exist, but they can be difficult to find and set up - full suspension and panniers (no idea if that works)

Panniers:
**more places to put things: e.g. knife is in front of left front pannier, etc.
** can be easier for train or something where you have to walk the bike

if you're doing any off-road, BOB wins hands-down. OR if you have front suspension or full susupension, it's also way easier...

For road touring, it's a mixed bag - you have to learn how to pack the BOB - so you can remember when everything is b/c it's just one big bag and and so you can get to the items you need easily without unpacking everything and to get the weight stable...

but i think for road touring neither choice is bad - just different

i've been really happy with my BOB and on my tour with my friend w/ panniers i usually felt i had the better setup except when i had to pay for 2 bikes on the train b/c they counted the trailer as a bike (b/c it has a bike wheel it's not luggage). i also had a little more trouble when pushing the bike through heavy pedestrian crowds b/c of the length

I have the YAK, but the Coz is pretty similar just with the Rubbermaid box instead of the whole aluminum frame and bag.

the Yak is rated for 70lbs. but yeah, the COZ is only 50lbs... i guess the frame must be a little less stout... for touring with the YAK you can load it with way more weight than you should. for shopping or hauling maybe you could meet the weight limit. BUT, my personal comment, is that when they say it's good to 75lbs, it means i can probably use it up to say 100lbs - it's just not recommended and they're not responsible if you break something... in my YAK i've had 50lbs on tour and 70-80lbs for local hauling (like shopping).

see info/reviews:
http://www.ageebike.com/BOBYAK.htm
http://www.bobgear.com/
http://www.phred.org/~alex/bikes/bobcoz.html
http://products.consumerguide.com/c...ex.cfm/id/21792