I think the direct way with scp URIs is faster in regard to the setup time as you don't have to setup fuse and fiddle with permissions.

I must admit i don't use it regularly (but i use tramp mode quite often) but you can browse remote directories, change between hosts without mounting a directory first or open files not lying in the current mountpoint. The only major drawback is if you don't use ssh keys or use programs which don't support gvfs/kio