Good question for those like I that live in an area that can get snow. Although we've been getting less and less it seems. Fine by me but 18 or so years back we had to clean the roofs as it kept pilng up with out enough sun in between to melt off. What a PITA that was .

I doubt there is anything that is totally maintenance free, like the commercials claim they are. Still, I'm sure some types are better than open gutters.

I have the kind that are completely closed on the top and use the adhesive property of water to flow over the curved edge into the gutter. The edges get dirt on them and cause the water to drip rather than flow into the gutter and I think some Maple seeds flow with the water into the gutter. In my area, it will take a lot longer for the covered gutters to fill up with debris than open gutters would. They do seem to create ice dams in areas of my roof since any melted snow will flow onto the colder gutter topper and freeze. My house is only one story so when it starts getting warm enough for the snow to start melting I go out with a shovel and remove any buildup on top of the gutters. The ice seems to come off pretty easily.

I think the mesh type of covers that sit on top of the gutters would eventually clog with dirt and debris, but I don't have first-hand experience with them. I've seen ones on TV that look like screens and think they wouldn't work for very long without needing to be cleaned.

It looked like the crew was trying to preserve them at first, but then they just ripped them off. I knew going in that I was going to lose them.
I was told two things:
1- It could void the warranty on the new roof (not true)
and
2- Since they did not sell them, they were unfamiliar with how to put them back up.
Even the township inspector claimed to have never seen them before. They came with the house when we bought it 20 years ago, and I was somewhat skeptical. Time won me over.

They do get dirty, but are easy to clean when doing the annual power wash of the house. If they were dirty in the fall, snow could stick to them. Made sure to power wash as late in the year as I could and then there were no problems.
The roofer I used is one of the better ones in the area. I should have looked into the warranty on the helmets to see if I could have had them removed and re-installed after. The screens were an additional $1500. Right now I am considering that a lesson learned the hard way.

Our house is a 2050 sq foot ranch.

Had mesh guards installed when built (1991)

Wooded lot with lots of oak and hickory. They didn’t do much. Leaf steams would easily get anchored in the mesh.

Had to break out the ladder and clear backed up debris regularly. A huge dangerous pain. It really was.

Years ago, replaced with the more modern type. I guess it’s a white aluminum (or something similar).

Mesh openings are much smaller.

Still have to blow off a feed areas once or twice a year, but no ladder.

I use a blower extension with an Echo PB 620 backpack.

Takes about ten, fifteen minutes.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ECHO-Po...Kz-JoNsAZxoCQ3YQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Interesting. I'm looking at doing house with lots of Oak Trees and concerned about stuff bypassing mesh also. I got to do something soon though because these gutters fill up in a couple of months and then sand accumulates at bottom of gutter and ants build nests in there and it's really bad cleaning them out then!