Elevators: Cascaded vs Continuous

[MichaelBick]

To prepare for the season, I have been CADding different mechanisms to fit our teams resources. Right now I am working on an elevator, and am trying to decide how to rig it. I've seen both continuous(254) and cascaded(1114, 973, 971) work very well. I believe that continuous is more efficient(the first stage goes up first) but also that is harder organize your wire rope. On the other hand, cascaded is easier to rig, there are multiple ways you can implement it(chain, belt, and rack/pinion), and that it is less efficient. To make the best decision for my team, I would like to know:

1) Which method do you prefer? Why?

2) How have you solved the problems with each method?

3) What other problems have you run into? How did you solve them?