I personally love manuals. It makes driving way more fun and interesting. And you definently have a lot more control of the vehicle with a manual. Go to a empty parking lot and practice taking off from a stand still for about half an hour till you get the hang of it. Then you can drive around on the road and you'll be a pro in about a weeks worth of driving around normally.

Offroad, manuals let you rock the truck back and forth way quicker than any auto. This is a huge plus off road when in tricky spots.

That all being said, as long as the tranny works correctly, I don't think it should be a deciding factor in any situation as there are many more important things to worry about.

-Scerb