Originally Posted by supton
I had a soft tonneau on my truck for a winter or two. It worked ok. I would make sure to keep fresh snow off it immediately (just like the rest of the truck); mine was a tri-fold so no velcro or snaps to mess with. It worked just fine. IMO they are cheap enough to try out--if you don't like it, flip it on CL for reasonable money (or buy one off CL in the first place). I found it easy to flip up and down, and if I needed to remove it was off in a minute or two. They do seem a bit flimsy, the rubber weatherstripping is apt to need replacing after a few years, or something will break, but again, cheap in the first place, thus cheap to replace.
Admittedly they are not theft proof (to the contents of your bed), so if that is your goal the hard cover is better. I just look at 'em and think they are cause more problems than they are worth: if you need to move something too tall, you wind up leaving it jacked up and tied down. They are too heavy to take off often. They cost a lot and are probably hard to get rid of (not sure any used car lot wants them on a trade-in). [But who am I to talk? my truck has a fiberglass cap on it, which has all of the same problems, but is relatively easy to break into, so it doesn't have even that. But it's exactly what I wanted, and just like you, if you want a hard cover then get one.]
There are hard covers that are tri-folds that give you access to your bed-without removing the cover. Also-Kelley Blue Book does allow adding a cover option when evaluating what your truck is worth. The last truck I traded in I left the hard cover (BakFlip) in place (because it was starting to become dull) but they dealer left it in place and advertised it as a feature.
Fiberglass covers-while nice looking are probably the worst of hard covers. They are heavy, you don't have full access to your bed, takes two people to remove, and take up a large amount of storage when you have to take it off and put it somewhere.