As far as temperature and UV exposure, they've done good things with vinyl composites since it first came out. Look around you at the number of New England houses with vinyl siding (there's a lot).

That being said IMHO, vinyl gutters are for the DIY guy because they can be installed like a puzzle. The joints will create spots where leaves and other debris get hung up and they need to be cleaned.

Some folks still use wooden gutters (which need to be treated with paint/oil to keep them lasting).

I like seamless aluminum. Or the high end places get copper for their slate roofs.

Vinyl is cheap, but will do the job.

Strength = steel

Performance = seamless

Vinyl will work, but isnt the best.

In any case I recommend a screen for your downspouts so you can clean that easily instead of trying to take apart the downspout every year to clean it out.

what's your recommendation?

I've found screens just block/clog things upstream causing it to overflow the gutters so why bother with the gutters in the first place?

You can either catch it up top where its easy to clean, or catch it somewhere in the downspout which you have to take it apart and find the blockage.

Kind of depends on your roof, how high it is and if it is easy to walk on. If it is high up and steep slope then your kind of SOL. My house I am able to walk on my roof and clean em out. I just put some gutter worm in the downspout and clean those out periodically. There are also these downspout guards you stick in the downspout to keep them clog free. Each require periodic cleaning. Otherwise I take my cordless 40v blower up there and blow the gutters out.

Various gutter debris shields out there. I cant really recommend because I haven't used them. There is also a gutter style that allows you to flip the gutter over and empty it out that way.

But best gutter type is the seamless steel. Strong enough you can pretty much hang from that stuff and it looks nice and doesnt leak or catch debris being seamless.

The issue may be the support system for the gutters: I've had snow loading on my roof that slowly slid down and deformed my heavy duty steel gutters and popped off some of the hanging straps. Keep an eye on your vinyl gutters this winter....

I have been watching a few things on youtube, ran across this spoutoff which looks like a real solution for downspouts. There are also the flipgutters for easy cleaning of the gutter.

Lots of other ways to clean gutters from the ground as well. Saw something called a skyvac, and you could put a garden hose on a few extensions to try to clean it out that way, could use extensions with a blower, kind of depends on how much buildup there is if it will be effective.

I'm not in New England or other super cold place, but I've had pretty good luck with seamless aluminum gutters.

On one older house I used to own, I had soldered-seam copper gutters. They were probably original to the house, 50-60 years old, and were still in good shape. I can't even imagine what copper gutters would cost today, though. (Shudder.)

I've tried a lot of ways to clean gutters and now use a big shopvac that has a large diameter hose.

Don't try it with a small hose or low power vac.

You can get long J shaped vacuum attachments that let you clean gutters from the ground, but I prefer to climb a ladder with the hose, so I can see what I'm doing.

Aluminum gutters come in a variety of gauges, the thin ones crumple when you lean a ladder against them, the thick ones don't (assuming enough braces along the way). The upcharge is typically modest for the thicker gauge and well worth it. Many low end installers can't do the thicker gauge materials and higher end installers won't do the thin stuff.

I wouldn't use vinyl in New England or anywhere else.

"the thin ones crumple when you lean a ladder against them, the thick ones don't "

Exactly and the box stores all stock the thin crap.