Have a Hydra and a Cannonball, can only think of one thing I like better about the Hydra bed and that is the ability to turn it on and warm the oil up since it is engine driven and the cannonball is electric. Cannonball beats it out in every other aspect. I think you have conflicting desires though, some covered above. If you have electric over hydraulic it is not engine driven and IIRC they do not give a 3rd outlet with electric, our hydra has the third outlet and we have used it once, nice to have but rarely used. Had to replace the pump on the hydra bed after a few years, probably some of that is from reving the engine to get it to work better, kind of a catch 22. Only thing that has gone out on the cannonball so far in 2 years and 2K bales loaded then unloaded was the solenoid.

If you go to Husker Harvest I am sure cannonball will have a bed there as well as all the other big names, only thing I wish our cannonball had is telescoping arms and that is only because of the 12' bed. Once you have the independent arms you never want to go back to the hydra bed style. As for needing a flatbed all we do is lift the arms up to 90* and pull the sides off the front and there is a flatbed with no sides.

Just imagine this with no bales and the front side boards gone:

Another one i have with 5x6's: