Solder the Joins or Use Connectors on a Long Run?
On a long run the first decision is not the method, it is how many joins you are willing to have. Once that count is as low as the geometry allows, whether you solder the joins or use connectors on a long run is settled by access: solder what you will never reach again, use connectors where you can still get a hand in. A connector can be reopened and a soldered joint cannot, so let the access pick the method.
Joins come from four places: reel length, corners, obstructions, and cutting to fit. Reel length is worth planning around, since you can order lengths that suit the run instead of taking whatever falls where a reel ends (reel lengths and where joints land covers the arithmetic). Some corners can be turned with the strip rather than cut and rejoined, and a corner you never cut is a join you never have to make a decision about.
Depending on the product, many LED strips can be cut at their designated points and reconnected with a compatible connector or by soldering, and cut interval, pad layout, strip width and connector fit are specific to the strip in front of you. Read those off its spec sheet before ordering.
Connectors repeat well and come back apart
On a long run you make the same operation over and over, and a connector makes each one identical, with no heat near the strip.
Reversibility is the other argument. A connector comes back apart, which suits any join you might revisit: inside a cabinet, in a surface channel whose lens lifts off, at a corner the millwork may change. For power in from the driver, one option is a LEDClub solderless strip-to-wire connector supplied with a 72 inch lead; check its compatibility against your strip on both product pages, since fit is per product. The LED connectors and wires collection holds the rest.
A clamp contact is mechanical: it adds a little resistance, depends on clean pads seated fully, and along a long run those resistances sit in series with the strip's own.
