Okay, this is for the '96 Tracker of mine.  31's, Calstiffi 6" lift, 16V 1.6L, 3 speed auto, soon to get 5.12 diffs, and my daily driver.

I have a Powertrax NoSlip locker in my Ranger and love it.  Road manors are very nice, quirks and bangs are negligible.  I LOVE the traction increase and wouldn't do without a locker in anything I intend to wheel.  Used to be my DD and I even taught my wife how to drive a stick in it with the locker.  No complaints.

However my Tracker is my DD now and has open diffs.  Even for the winter driving up here I feel a locked rear end is better than two open diffs.  However it's got something like 40" less wheel base and I've never driven something like this with a locker in the rear.

I won't wheel it hard, it needs to deal with daily use and abuse, 31's...MAYBE 32's are the biggest tires it will ever see, and has to be nice manored enough to let the wife drive (she loves the Tracker).  Oh, and I can't afford the ARB...by any means.

Locker, spool, weld, nothing...opinions, comments, thoughts, etc?

Can't be of much help as I have ARB's and they would be the best solution. I agree with you that I can't imagine not having a locker for wheeling. Either a locker or spool. The spool will be constant in the way it behaves but I wouldn't want it if I was doing plenty of road time, my wife would tell me where to go if I did that  So I guess an auto locker would be it for me.

I would think the quirks and bangs would be much more noticable in the Tracker since it's shorter, lighter and the rear axle is much closer to your butt...

I had a locker on my 92 sidekick and the 29" BFG's and we get crazy winters here and all i got to say is when i put it in the truck was easier to drive in the snow. U just can not punch it in 2wd around coners. BUt in 4wd man i could drift the shit out of that truck with out a worrie.

If you can do one do it. If they made one for the GV that would be my first mod. Winter driving in the GV is not as nice as the sidekick was.

I thought '01 GV's had the same rear axle as the Trackers/Kicks?

I'm hearing positive reviews from Lock Right and spool owners.  I've got to ponder both.
It's the ring gear removal that scares me a bit.