The idea of bio media seems to be getting way too much attention in this group, for right now on planted tanks. Media choice is always important as it tends to make things go better if we adapt to whatever the tank situation calls for using.
But the idea of needing lots of bio media in most planted tanks is likely to be way overblown if we consider what happens in most of our planted tanks.
If we were running tanks with lots of large messy fish, we might need to consider getting the best performance out of the limited bio media we can get in our filters but that doesn't happen in planted tanks very often. What you have in the tank is what should be the main factor in media choice and there are very few tanks where folks combine a heavy load from a group of large cichlids, etc. with lots of plants! It can be done but not with most of the big guys who require lots of bio filtering as it often comes down to choosing the space for big fish or doing more plants with fewer fish. The big boys like Dempsey tend to rule out lots of plants, so it is a pretty rare combo to find.
So if you do the normal planted with lots of tiny fish who create very little waste, the bio media is pretty much a non factor. The plants do the work of the extra bio media, so go for ease of use.