Tire technology has come a long way in just the last five years. Even as late as the 90s there was no such thing as dual-purpose tire. You either had a mud tire...or a street tire. And you gave up performance in one of these categories to gain it in another. Back then you HAD to run beadlocks because you HAD to air down to get anywhere. However, with modern mud tires...you can drive states away on 37"s and still have a nice handling, braking, steering rig. Highway noise is nothing compared to what it was back then, and off-road performance is the same if not better. I rarely air-down unless I know I'm wheeling for the entire day (softer ride)..OR if I'm getting into some loose sand. When I do air down...I run 18-20 psi in my 37" KM2s and they will grab ahold of anything. No beadlocks needed.
No doubt the cool-factor of beadlocks will always be there. I'm just sayin they don't have the "bang for the buck" that they use to (before radials). I got other stuff to spend money on that yields a more drastic improvement. I'll save beadlocks for the same day I buy the trailer -LOL.