As a person who once started a post proclaiming my love for the cheap suspension fork on my Roam, a year later I have to agree with the anti cheap suspension fork crowd. It's just not worth having in my opinion. I racked up roughly 700 miles on the Roam I bought last year before I sold it. I rode about 70% paved trails and 30% rails to trails (Katy Trail, gravel etc.) and kept the fork locked the vast majority of the time.
A friend of mine has a tough rode SLR - the one with drop bars and it is better in just about every way. The fork does a great job of absorbing the bumps and it just feels more agile. It's lighter, more manageable and it never feels like you are fighting the bike. I'd go for something like that if I knew then what I know now.