<<Getting in and out of the big contract is a lot harder to the best of my knowlege>>
That is not true ... the big SP is easy to get into or out of ... no need to use limit or stop orders to get in or out ... they are very liquid ... even overnight on Globex, very little slippage.
Apparently, there is very little knowledge about futures here, especially the SP ... this whole discussion of Mini vs BIG SP is ludicrous ... THE BIG COMMERCIALS play in the BIG SP world ... period.
The Mini SP is a different market ... especially as far as analyzing the future (or past) movement of the SP itself.