Cheryl,
Yes, I bet you didn't find this discussion before and I am so glad you asked the question.
This comes down to the "How are you going to use the unit" question. I am not going to try to answer it, but I will hopefully provide some thinking direction.
Slides do add "free" floor space. Friends have one that is very nice. They have never had trouble with it, but as Dutchman noted, they do require additional maintenance. In my opinion, this cannot be overstated.
Another issue that stopped us from acquiring a unit with slide(s) is that with one unit we looked at the galley and/or head (I really don't recall what) access was made difficult with the slide(s) in travel position. This may be less of an issue to a solo. This is a very unit dependent issue.
If you are a big time traveler, the beauty of slides is diminished. Only diminished and not eliminated.
The slide mechanism is all a purchased part not unlike the chassis of most coaches. So, if you are considering a specific unit, get to the group for that unit and see how common difficulties are with the slides. I do know of some that have been flawless for a very long time. They are not all that way.
Our current coach was on the road about two decades before slides came it the general market. (The earliest I have seen were part of the GMC Futurliner (c.1939) We just live with it, but we also had a small sailboat for a while and that was good practice.
So, there is a great big non-answer that (I hope) may help your consideration.
Matt
