I've had a detroit full auto-locker and a detroit luchbox style locker. The full detroit was actually very easy to live with. Most of the time you'e never know it was there. The only time I'd ever notice anything was pulling into tight parking spots. But it wasn't loud or jarring or anything like that. The detroit luchbox locker was very rough around the edges. Both functioned very well off-road. I think the claims of problems on snow or ice are usually only from people who have never actually driven one. I never had any issues in that regard. I am curious what happens if the skid control system kick in on a modern vehicle. The two may not play well together.

In my FJ40 with the rear diff cover plate, you could install them without removing the diff at all. It was literally an hour install start to finish. You could install one during your lunch break, thus the name lunchbox locker.