This spring I have played all three venues.
My impressions:

USDAA - for me, the least fun venue. I also find it to be the least friendly
and most competitive. Very focused on speed, yet very technical...
Speed is rewarded (Dice knocked a red in snooker and won the class. We did
2 - 7 points and still had time for the closing.)
Be prepared for bad approaches to the contacts.
Requires the most of dog and handler.
That said my favorite course this spring was a USDAA Novice jumpers with
amazing flow and speed - total BLAST.
(Dice needs a standard leg for her AD - she has all her games..)
Personally I don't like the lack of structure in trials - lack of workers
and general disorganization. It tends to stress me out.

AKC - Less technical than NADAC and more than USDAA. Least tolerant of
errors. Competitive but not as bad as USDAA.
Does have some breed snobs. But people from the other venues unfortunately
tend to assume way too much about AKC people, that they are all breed snobs,
cut-throat completive etc. But I really find it to be less so than USDAA.
And my dog win ExcB enough that it can't be that I don't have competitive
dogs. Personally I like that it's okay to push yourself.
Needs games. Very Organized, but only two classes. People much better
about helping out than USDAA, but mostly because there are fewer conflicts.

NADAC - by far the most relaxed. Courses are the least technical and have a
very different type of challenges than AKC or USDAA.
I really like how trials are run and generally find them better organized
than USDAA.
I find you can make the most errors in NADAC and still qualify, at the lower
levels.
But I know I prefer more technical courses. While I will probably do more
NADAC in the future, I find it harder to keep track of rules/titles, which
discourages me from going for higher level titles in it. The gamblers
change for example I can't figure out (Kizzi has her Nadac Novice gamblers,
but not her standard - how does that work? (RHETORICAL!) I don't want to
have to work that hard to figure out.
People are very friendly and laid-back.

Generally I think people will find a primary venue that works for them. For
me it's AKC. I will probably keep doing a little USDAA and a bit more
NADAC. But I really find AKC fits me best. I just wish it had snooker and
gamblers.

Comments on other things:

I would have a problem with anyone who determined rules for a venue
competing at and winning Nationals. It's a big conflict of interest.

Concerns about cheating - it gets out of hand. If half the energy worrying
about someone else's unfair advantage went into to training the dogs, you
wouldn't have to worry about it.

ILPs - I once heard someone bitch about the "Brittany-mix ILP'd Springer" -
who was a Field trial champion, definitely not ILPd. I definitely have
heard comments about ILP/out-of-standard dogs and it pisses me off no end.
I know it happens with my field-breds too.

Sheltie people - they do congregate in a way I don't understand. Cocker
people really don't cluster like that. It's very odd, but not in a hostile
or bad way. But I get to beat them regularly so I don't worry about it too
much .

Training on Saturday Night - I have done it. I have a course in my
backyard, and if one of my dogs blew their contacts we train it Saturday
night. Why not? My dogs aren't tired. Never knew what tommorrow's course
or gamble would be. I would avoided training that if I know it, but I would
work on anything we have problems with that day.
I really don't like the idea that you would know tommorrow's course. Why
not just change the sequence a bit, or swap something out on the gamble?

I travelled with a set of 12 weaves and three jumps all last fall. I had a
baby dog and I wanted to genearalize her weave skills. So we took it on the
road. At the hotels, at every place we could rent taining space, and so on.
It was great for her. I still go around to parks and such.

But in general the whole venue bashing thing is basically, well, silly.
Work to change a venue or spend your money elsewhere.
Waste of mental energy.

I find USDAA to be my least favorite and will probably continue to do just
two-three USDAA trials a year, but it doesn't mean anything is wrong with
USDAA.

--
Melissa S. Frye
Skyrocket cockers www.mfrye.com/skyrocket/