I think ive seen those big buckets your talking about before. It looked nice, but it is big.
These other ones hold up great, as long as you remove the handles. It never seemed as steady to me if the handles were left in and I tried to carry a bunch of water that way. Other wise they will last a good while. They are more of a soft bendable plastic that will hold up better. I like them a lot for misc tasks, like throwing dirty mfs into, holding an oxy mix in while cleaning carpets, etc...