I hate spigots

When I was checking FG on a pale ale I made, i noticed my spigot had developed a minor leak. No big deal, but it made me aware that I am developing a hatred of spigots. They leak, can harbor nasty things and are a pain to clean. Here is what I plan to do: Buy new ale pails without spigot holes at the LHBS. When the beer is done fermenting I will siphon into the bottling bucket. No leaks and easy clean-up. The only disadvantage that I can think of is that I not be able to periodically test the gravity. I don't think this is a big deal however because I typically do not use a secondary and I let the beer sit in the primary for up to 3 weeks. What do you guys think?

I agree 100%.

Boohoo on those crappy spigots. I thought it would save time and improve my process, but instead it just leaked and was a PITA to clean. Back to the autosiphon I went...

you can take periodic gravity samples with a thief

Maybe I'm just lucky, but my spigots never leak and I've never had a contamination problem. I've been using the same spigots for nearly ten years.

Half of my buckets have spigots form when I first started out. I agree with hard to clean and just asking for a leak. After I bottle, I fill mine up with water and a little bleach, then let some of that drain through the spigot. I let that soak until it is used again.

Search out a higher quality spigot. It is a lot cleaner and faster to use a spigot than to sanitize and use a siphon and then have to clean it when done. The spigots are cheap, keep a few extra handy.

I've now done things both ways, since a few months ago I used my bottling bucket for a primary.......but even though I've never had any spigot problems (other than figuring out how to take the red rotating part out to clean it), I'd have to come down on the side of the KISS contingent here. The Fermtech autosiphon for me, and for the foreseeable future.

You can pop the center out of a spigot with about 20 lbs of force and 5 seconds of time. If that presents a "sanitation problem" then how do you ever keep a siphon or wine thief clean?

+1 on what samc said.