I used both cloth and disposable. I also bought about 3 kinds of cloth diapers and have my favorites.
Fuzzi Buns (I see now they have lots of colors). I loved the nylon outer shell with the adjustable snaps and the soft fleece lining. It's a "pocket" diaper so you need an insert to absorb moisture. I loved hemp inserts and bought a dozen on ebay. Hemparoos, I think they were called. But since regular chinese prefolds were cheap, I used those often for inserts.
I also had some Kushies, with built in covers and without covers, from ebay. Velcro tabs were nice. Didn't need inserts unless you wanted more absorbency. But Kushies leaked quite a bit with DS#1. DS#2 couldn't fit into the newborn size b/c he was 10 pounds at birth!
I also had some home-made (not by me, lol) cloth diaper covers made from fleece. I used a prefold cloth diaper or 2 inside and then the fleece cover. I didn't like these very much as they leaked the most and my ds could't wear pants (wouldn't fit over his large diaper, cover, etc) and it was too cold in November to let him be without pants or jammies.
When my ds 1&2 started daycare, I had to use disposable at daycare. Cloth at home until they outgrew my several systems. DS#1 is potty trained (yea!). DS #2 is 13 months and uses a mixture of cloth and disposable.But getting too large for my cloth diapers.
Washing: I didn't soak. I had a pail with a lid and dumped poo in the toilet. The rest went in the pail. Sprinkled baking soda on top for odor control. When pail was full, dumped load into washer. First wash: no detergent, cold wash and rinse. Second wash, warm or hot water, 1/4 amount of detergent, vinegar rinse. Tried to line-dry outside or inside but sometimes, I needed the diapers and machined dried, NO fabric softener.