On a somewhat related issue, I recently had a bearing fail on a pressure washer; disassembled and found it was a needle bearing with a plastic cage. The cage failed, the needles lost alignment and seized the shaft. Looking at the mess, I wondered why the decision was made to use a needle bearing rather than a ball bearing and eventually concluded that the needle type might provide better shaft alignment than a ball bearing (as the depth of the needle was greater). I thought about re-engineering to accept 2 stacked ball bearings (doesn't this sound familiar?), but I couldn't find 2 such bearings that would fit. Continuing looking, I resorted going back to a needle bearing (to my suprise, was sold as a "shaft location" bearing, but the at least this one used a metal cage rather than plastic.
I shared this because I can see the logic in a roller bearing (or a double row ball bearing) as a good choice if alignment is most critical. In saying all of that, I should admit I have the LN replacement bearing....
I should also add that I'm not an auto mechanic, just a tinkerer who gets irked when I find a failed component that wouldn't have failed if it was just engineered better.