Great reasons vbab78
Link to onelife website
I haven't tried onelife nappies, but having looked at their website they look very similar to MEOS to me, and seem to be better in terms of the high rise you might need for a taller toddler. I've done a quick search on UKParents (which is a good site if you're interested in cloth), and a lot of people seem to rate them quite highly, certainly more than MEOS. Personally my ds has now outgrown MEOS at 22m (also has a 6ft 4 dad!), but it isn't too much of a problem - with a good wrap, they won't leak out of that anyway.
The reason that I prefer Tots is that they have elasticated sides and waist, which is great for poo containment. However, my ds has numerous food allergies, and has constant diahorrea, so this is more important to me than most people. I would always be wary of a birth to potty system, mainly because they'll be bulky on your newborn, and then smallish on your toddler, whereas Tots have three sizes. However, these do look really good in terms of drying, and apparently stay softer than MEOS. If I was you, I'd join UKParents, and pose this question on their cloth nappy forum. You get people using every brand of nappy going on there, so you'll get some good responses from people that have tried onelife nappies.
Nappies per day - well, a lot more in the early days - you can be changing every couple of hours. It depends whether you get a prolific pooer or not. My ds is a several times a day boy, other children are once every few days. Now he's older, it's a lot less. I'd say we maybe go through 6 nappies a day, it depends on whether he has pooed or not when I change him - quite often I change him because I'm getting him ready for bed, or when he's just woken up, and then he poos 5 minutes later. Sometimes I do just change the liner then and leave the same nappy on. I'd say if you have 8 per day, that would be plenty. So you would need 24 in that case - two days worth dirty, and a days worth clean whilst the others dry. I have up to three days worth dirty, wash at the end of the third day, and then have another couple of days worth clean whilst the others dry. Have you got radiators you could dry on in the winter? If you use a radiator rack they don't go too crunchy. Will you have access to a washing line in the summer? In the early days, they will probably dry quickly on the washing line as it will hopefully be warm , and if you run out, you could always supplement with disposables for the first couple of weeks.
You also need wraps, again you need more of these in the early days - possibly 6 or so. However, I wash my wraps with clothes if they are clean (wraps benefit from fabric conditioner, whereas nappies mustn't be washed with fabric conditioner). Now he's older, three wraps is usually plenty (if I run out, he goes in a larger size until the others are dry). The onelife wraps got quite a good write up on the UKP site as well, but I'd imagine ME wraps are just as good. You can pick these up on UKP very cheaply if you have time - I've had lots for £3 or £4. Sometimes they're brand new.
I don't mind answering any questions I love cloth nappies, and could talk about them for hours!