But, if you grease and repack a non cartridge setup, it will last much longer. This is the primary dichotomy between the two :

With a sealed cartridge bearing, you have no maintenance, but you will have to replace the entire cartridge more often than a loose bearing BB (assuming that the loose bearing BB is properly maintained). You also have to throw away the whole cartridge and buy a new one.

With a loose bearing BB you can re-grease and pack as necessary, which leads to an extended lifetime compared with the sealed cartridge BB. You can also replace only the parts needed as they wear out, unlike the sealed cartridge BB. You will have to actually work on the loose bearing BB more frequently however.

So, I guess it really depends on how much your time is worth, or if you like tinkering with things. Some sealed cartridge BBs are so cheap these days it is hard to justify the maintenance cost of a loose bearing BB. Personally, I really hate throwing the entire assembly away so I try to use the loose bearing type when I can.

The new sealed cartridge BBs with the external bearings (i.e. Hollowtech II) should last much, much longer according to various sources. This is due to the bearings/races being much larger compared to older BBs. If this is true, these would probably be the best value.

--Israel