Ball lock vs pin lock

Which you you folk prefer and what is the difference between the two. I am considering buying a couple of 3 gal kegs from http://www.leeners.com/kegging.html#togo and am at a loss here. One more question: These kegs probably do not get bent out of shape due to over carbonation. So in order to avoid over carb is there some sort of relief valve? Thanks.

gas and which is liquid. On balls you can, and it can be a real pain to get say a gas disconnect of a liquid post.

my buddy tried to put the CO2 tap on the Out post, and it got stuck there half way ... and both of us wrestled with it for valuable seconds as a beer gusher drenched us both, nearly hit the ceiling, before we thought to open the release valve... the intent of overcarbonating it and put some work into it. ben

easier to find ball lock kegs. It`s next to impossible to find pin lock 5 gallon kegs anymore. My setup is all pin lock, and I finally got enough kegs to keep me happy, but if I were to do it all over again I would go with ball lock kegs no question.

I prefer pin lock because it is impossible to put the gas onto the liquid and vice-versa. With ball locks (bollocks!) you can mix them up and it can be extremely difficult to get them back off since they are slightly different sized (not quite big enough to prevent you from putting the smaller fitting onto the bigger post, if you push hard).
But realisitically my favorites are the ones which are cheapest. I have 8 pins and 5 balls, and my gas system happily serves both. I`ll buy whatever I can find, especially if it is going for $20 a keg cheers, -Alan

gray=gas ever again!

Although it`s possible to mix the out and in sides of a ball lock keg, the quick disconnects are color-coded, and every keg I`ve seen has "OUT" and "IN" labels on the posts; that said, I went with ball-lock kegs because they are narrower diameter than pin-lock kegs, so they have a smaller footprint in my refrigerator. Of course, this makes them taller, so make sure they`ll fit in your intended final-use location!
Another lame reason to go with ball lock vs. pin lock is the fact you need to either mangle your own socket or buy a pre-cut socket to remove the post in order to change/clean o-rings, etc.
And, if you ever misplace your gas QDs, you can always use a liquid QD. daniel

Ok, enough fun. I do have two 10 gallon kegs where their is no indication which post is which. You tell by the notch on the gas side. Needless to say I labeled them with a permanent marker...

makes sense, you want to see what kind of beer it is when you tap it....

They _do_ have an indication of which post is which...the notch on the gas side.