Personally, I like the hotchkis rear sway bar. I can still jack up the rear at the center (the bar "kicks out") and I can place the stands on the rear to remove the tires. Also, if you plan on running the 1" spring relocation kits, the hotchkis bar can work with just some special bolts. You'd have to bend the arms on the stock style rear sway bar.
As for helping handling. I run 1" bars up front and stock rear springs in back. I had a 1.125" Addco sway bar up front and no rear bar, and the car would roll pretty hard on sharp autocross corners. The rear bar installed on its middle setting solved a LOT of it. My "tuning" change for the new year is to go to the softest setting to get the car more neutral. Some of the best money spent!