Parallel vs bootcamp

I have an imac running mac os X snow leopard. I want to put windows 7 on it but I want to know which windows 7 runs better in, parallel or bootcamp. I like the idea of parallel because if windows crashes, it won't take mac os X with it. I have had that happen to a computer at work when I had windows xp running in bootcamp. I have never used parallel before though so I need some opinions on if it works good or not. What do you guys think?

I use parallels for most of my windows needs. It works great.
You do know that both, parallels and VMWare can just use your bootcamp instalation
You can use parallels for basic windows needs, then boot into windows for heavy gaming.
Just install a normal bootcamp installation and parallels or VMWare can use it.

I like how easy and seamless a parallels session can be. It takes very little system resources away from normal tasks. It's nice to be able to transfer files back and forth right from the desktop I even had had both windows and ubuntu running at the same time, all 3 were very usable.