not convinced...

Spent couple hours last couple of nights trying to animate a character with bone tool.

problems I've run into
-registration points changing from time to time without my consent
-difficult to line limbs up
-buggy, sometimes the armature will just disappear or start spinning in circles and I have to go back.  This seems to be more likely to happen if bones are overlapping each other when you tray to adjust them.
-Yesterday onion skinning did not work, today it does.  Sure, why not, right?
-as is in a movie clip, it is hard to go back and fix something in the middle of that timeline.  But it doesnt even seem that you can change things in the motion editor.  Oh, but you can clear a pose, good to know.

still
-it is kind of a fun way of doing things.  You do not have move each piece on its own and hope they move nicely together.
-after you animate it looks like you can go back and change the timeline to "animate frame by frame" which could help if there are any little things to fix.

in conclusion, I am feeling slightly disheartened.  Slightly.
I have read up on the bone tool a little and it seems it is generally regarded as incomplete and not terrific for things that are more complex.  I did find a more in depth guide from the book "the missing manuel flash CS4(thanks google books).  Maybe it has some important tips, or maybe it is a waste of time.

here is the video (assuming it works on blogger)

as you can see his limbs are everywhere.  Oh, and his upper and lower torso fit fine together until the last ten minutes, then a gap formed.  Go figure.  Nevermind.  Video ain't working.