title: CodeIgniter Active Record vs. regular queries
body: <p>Currently I use CodeIgniter with regular queries, i.e.:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$sql = "
      SELECT *
      FROM my_table
      WHERE item_id &gt; 1
  ";    
  $q = $this-&gt;db-&gt;query($sql);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have started looking into ActiveRecord, and it does look nice, and has the advantage of the query being built regardless of which database driver is used - however, I strictly use a single database type per project in general, so this is not really a benefit for me. </p>
  
  <p>I found that regular queries (as I have in my example) are more readable and easier maintained in my opinion, so I am currently thinking of keeping with regular queries.</p>
  
  <p>Besides for the reasons mentioned above, which should I choose, and for what reason(s)?</p>
  
  <p>Thank you</p>