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Considering MSUs are all the rage for 7th edition, tactical marines in transports serve an important role.

I'm planning various lists for my Ultramarines, and I've come across a bit of a condundrum.

A naked 10 man tactical squad in a Rhino 175 points.
A naked 5 man combat sqaud in a Razorback 125 points. However I'd be more inclined to put an Assault cannon on the top, making it 145.

My thinking is this -

It's a bit cheaper, and 5 men will control an objective almost as well as 10 man unit.
Assault cannons are largely considered pretty good.

However -

5 fewer wounds.
Potential waste of 40 points sticking a gun on a cardboard box, I mean, an armoured transport.

For context, I'm putting Vindicators, Talons and a Shadowsword or Land Raiders in my list, so I'd have thought the Rhinos/Razors would be relatively low priority.

What do you guys think? Any experience, alternative loadouts? Interested in anything constructive before I spend £100 in tanks and £50/100 in Tactical Marines.

You can combat squad something like a plasma gun/plasma cannon into the rhino and use it's two firepoints, then have other 5 guys score an additional objective. You could even combat squad then on foot and send the rhino alone and score three objectives.

If you want to flood the board with armor and minimize targets for your opponents anti-infantry, 5 man squads in razorbacks is the cheaper, more efficient option. 10 man squads in rhinos are a little more versalite and well rounded. Rather than paying for a more expensive tank + gun upgrade, you can get a 35pt tank and use the marines weapons for the fire power.

I mainly play razorbacks with my grey knights henchmen squads that have no useful guns, but always bring rhinos for my purifiers with psycannons.

Not sure bout ultramarines but ravenquard with scouting rhinos and combat-squaded 10 man marines inside do wonders.

I've always liked the idea of the divided 10 man squad plus a razorback. 5 marines stay back in defensive positions with the heavy weapon, 5 marines and a special weapon ride forward to go after the objective.

I like split combat squads in Rhinos. I find it maximises efficiency of both the squad and the transport itself. This is a fun tactic:

Roll up to an objective/other important area held by the enemy. Disembark combi/special weapon half and unleash salvo. Fire the heavy from the hatch (snap-fire but better than nothing) and another bolter, and whatever the Rhino has (2 SB is pretty nice for extra shots, to be honest). You then have the objective threatened, so if you've cleared it, you can send in half the squad to hold it while 2 more OS units drive off to do something else. If not, you can disembark the other half and apply double the force. The enemy has to kill 3 OS units before they've completely cleared the area.

Basically, it means you can commit as much force as needed, without the compulsion to over-commit a whole squad when half would do. It's just generally more versatile, and means you can get a lot of units a lot of places doing a lot of things.

If you want an all-out advance, that is pretty great. The Razorback method is better for holding a backfield objective while simultaneously assaulting. It means you can get full BS fire all game from a missile launcher or lascannon.