Well yes, having just replaced two in my house within the last week I'm pretty much what you'd call an expert. While there are certainly pros and cons for both the hard (plastic and wood) and the soft (padded vinyl) let just expel my opinion. There's a sanitary feeling with a cold seat. This warm padded seat just doesn't convey a, "lets get down to business" attitude I expect. In all seriousness you're likely to get more life out of the hard seats than the soft ones. Yes, its true the hard ones tend to fail at the hinge but that's long after the vinyl ones fail in various other places.