...I was wondering if people who have used both forums can shed some light on the features they found useful , stability etc..

i have left out other contenders as these seem to be the favourite ones.

as of now i just know that

1) phpBB has lots of mods and hacks...not sure about smf

any more info would be great

thanks
ch

xoops has its ows forum "newbb"
so why not go and ask in their own forums?
or simply using google:

3 seconds seraching for "smf features" in google:
http://www.simplemachines.org/smf/features.php

Sorry, yet again, this is an open source forum
I asked that same question on here maybe 2 years ago or more?

SMF on speed, WAP...yet unsure how far XOOPS bridge is.....*.

PHPBB more user and custom as has been around for ages, SMF came after...yet BBpixel has made X-PHPBB for age now so should be solid, yet you would need to pay I think to make it a full bridge (unsure)...
Our older one would Probably still be intact...just need updating...as on X-PHPBB they use the XOOPS systems members ...
* So SMF not having a full bridge in fact makes it better in a way, as you can have two sites inside each other, one forum with real time who is online, and PM system...yet on the other have a full wiki and article Content management system surrounding it within Xoops, with out one touching the other as we do see on many site's now....

So considering I my self was think about installing SMF on my own site, as well as my XOOPS site without touching anything.... yet simply for wamp, forum, PM would be so cool when I am out, that may do so, see how the server load copes...and adjust my themes and may be I get SMF as tried phpbb,, and though it is good...
yet SMF was built from the ground up and took from where they were...plus like the half bridge...as if a user logs in from wap and XOOPS isn't mmm easier standalone bridge in the long run...

Anyways that is my thoughts....