But your paying a premium for rentals. Normally it is cheaper to own the gear and mine yourself assuming right conditions.
Exactly. I have done all forms of mining. The cloud mining that I did was not the happiest experience I've had. Both "cloud mining" sites ended up being scams. I think the ONLY way to mine is get your own machine and plug it in. You can't be scammed by a physical machine you have in your possession, you know full well you really are mining.
Buying the right rig will get ROI in about 3 months and the rest is gravy. Try doing that with rentals or clouds.
3 month ROI is kinda gone for most. Unless you have free electricity and got a deal on used gear. For almost all 3 month ROI left during end of GPU mining day's.
Renting and Cloud mining are really two different things. Renting a machine to mine BTC and paying BTC for that rental is a loss (unless you are solo mining and get lucky with lots of hash).
Cloud mining varies by company. Make sure to do your research before jumping on a site as sadly there have been many scams. Any investment you should research though.
I've always been lucky with my rigs. I rarely buy them directly from the company, I get them used. I've always ROI'd before 3 months and I sell them at a good price.
That being said, I have terrible luck with trading. I lose every time. EVERY time.