The cinch has several positives, no springs, solid autolocking mechanism, with focus it's easy to lead-belay with, saves your arms when your friends are hangdogging, pretty light.
On the downside, lowering can be very akward, the arm is short.
With some practice I've become pretty good with it, but my wife is hesitant to use it because of the learning curve. If you concentrate, you can give a very good belay w/ nice catches. Before you buy I very much suggest testing this out vs. the gri-gri, I might be inclined to get a gri-gri next time, but I think there is a new cinch out right now. Good luck...