Congrats on the new Jeep! You are going to love it. Soft top or hard top is a personal decision. It just depends on how much work you want to do. What are these downsides of the soft top that you speak of? I've had a Jeep for 11 years now and only had a hard top for one. The only down side that I could see (hasn't been a problem for me) is if you frequently need to access the rear storage area. On the soft top you have to unzip which can be a pain. I have a two door and the only time I unzip the back is to remove the window. In the winter if you are needing access to that space, you don't want to be trying to open that rear because in the cold it is more difficult to manage and could possibly crack in extreme cold.
In the winter I've had no problem at all keeping warm with the soft top only. The heater on my TJ and now especially with my JK will absolutely roast you. Even with temps in the single digits once the inside is warmed up I have to keep turning down the fan speed to the lowest setting so I don't burn up. If you live where you get a lot of snow, you may want a hard top during the winter as it will be easier to scrape the windows since you can't scrape soft top windows at all.
So to answer you question concerning the summer - Soft top only! I bought my TJ with the dual tops and I got it in October. When spring came around I took the hard top off and it never went back on. Ended up selling it. The soft top is so easy. One day you might want to roll with just the windows out. Another top all the way down. Another just flip the freedom top back. With the hard top on and you are out and it's a beautiful day you are stuck with a hard top. Makes me claustrophobic just thinking about it. I personally don't even have the windows in my Jeep unless there is a big storm coming. 0-20% chance of rain - no doors/windows and top down. 30% - top up, no doors or windows. 40% - top up, doors on, no windows. Anything more than that and I button it up until the rain passes.
Congrats again and welcome to Jeepz!
