Having used all the systems mentioned, and still use most of them, I can honestly say that none are perfect. All seem to have their own quirky ways of getting things done.
If the system you have can achieve say 75% of your needs, then you are onto a winner.
I used to use my ER collet system for holding cutters in my mill, but found that sometimes I needed 3 hands to mount a cutter, plus also, I lost about 2.5" of throat height, so now I invariably use R8 collets, unless I have an obscure size that my R8 collets won't hold.
But that doesn't mean the ER collets will never be used again, they will be used not only in my spindex, but on my interchangeable tooling between lathe and RT.
The 5C is the one I use mainly one the lathe, I use it about 95% of the time, but I do wish they would bring out something that could hold will the same accuracy, but up to 2" in diameter.
The only one I don't use now is the MT collet system, mainly because I don't have machines that will use them any more, without modification adapters. But that was one system I was glad to get rid of, and what Bob mentioned. They are a self gripping taper, and at times, it seemed like you were beating your machines to death to release them. But if that is all your machine will take, then they are just like any other collet system, and no worse than many.
When you boil it all down, no matter what collet system you get, it will be more versatile than fixed holders, and most probably far superior accuracy than your 3 jaw chuck with normal jaws.
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