I had (and still have) a Manitou Splice fork which wasn't that great - the lockout was on the top of the fork leg and to be honest I hardly ever unlocked it!
After only three and a half years the Manitou now sags so badly that it bottoms out just from me sitting on the bike. I couldn't be bothered to refurbish the Manitou (refurbishing the fork myself would be a complete faff and I might well bugger it up), so I've decided to go the rigid carbon fibre route.
I know most people on an MTB ride with shocks ... but when I started riding MTBs shocks were a luxury! I saw the nuke-proof one on the 'net for £80 and jumped at the chance to buy it.
IMHO I'm better off on a nice carbon-fibre rigid fork than a crap suspension fork!
If I had the money I would by a top-notch fox fork with handlebar lockout, but damn they're expensive!!
Mind you I am a long-distance XC rider, not a nutcase downhiller, so a lightweight fork is best for me.