I am going to update the 25-year-old multi-turn valves originally installed on my sinks/toilets water supply lines to Brasscraft 1/4 turn valves. I see ther are two styles for these valves…compression and push/press on. Is the choice dictated by whatever is already in place? If not and I can choose one or the other, do I care?
I engaged in a similar venture years ago for my toilets and chose ¼-turn compression valves. If I ever replace faucets I’ll do the same since those are in similarly sketchy condition.
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Quite honestly, it depends. If the copper is not round, you will likely have trouble with both. If the existing fittings are compression, you might get away with leaving the existing nut and sleeve/ferrule . If you do it this way, there is no guarantee it won’t leak still.
Other options is rent a pro-press if you don’t want to solder
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I may have enough extra length on some of the pipe to cut length back a bit to provide a “fresh” portion for connection.
Your feeling then is compression fittings are safer (leak-wise) or more fool-proof?
At the time I recall reading that compression fittings were more reliable. Used a spinning tubing cutter (example) to delete the existing valve - recall several rounds of tightening before it separated, and I was in no hurry.
I prefer sweat-ons hands down. But they have their downsides. Specifically, pain in the ass to put on/take off, esp if you don’t have a drain at a lower level of the supply line to remove all the water at the valve (the toilet supplies specifically tend to be lowest in a home).
For much less work, compression or push-to-connect are much better, the latter being the most labor-saving assuming the pipes are in good nick.
I’ve most recently replaced multi-turn with 1/4 turn by keeping the compressed ferrule and nut and replacing the valve only. It works OK, but be prepared to put a significant amount of torque on them to seal up (large wrenches are a must). Immediately before I removed sweat-ons to replace with compressions because they were easier to acquire.
In both cases, I wondered, though, if one would be just as far ahead to overhaul the existing. But then I’d still have the o-ring crumbling multi-turn cutoff instead of the 1/4 turn I love. Solid arguments either way.
I’m not a huge fan of push-to-connect(aka “shark bite”, etc.). For no good reason, I think. I’ve used it in exactly 3 fittings in my own home b/c I could not get my hands on the sweat-fit I needed at the time, and had this conversation with myself:
Y’know what every auto manufacturer uses today for fuel lines? O-rings and spring retainers. Just like shark bites. Y’know how much pressure a fuel line runs in a modern automobile? 40-80PSI. Y’know what “normal” water pressure is in a home? 55PSI is the maximum recommended by most code. So if the tech is good enough for containing fuel under higher pressure in a shaking, rattling, twisting environment like a car, it should work OK in my relatively sedate home. If you’re really worried about the pressure, think of A/C systems, which also use simlar tech (orings & retainer springs) - 300 PSI or so is one of the lower end operating pressures.
I still don’t so much like them, though. 
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