@Jotne thanks very much for your reply. I have not been brave enough to try and combine these approaches yet, but I can see where you can get the best of both worlds by doing so. I guess there is “no one bridge to rule them all”… 
(sorry). it is curious that newer hardware does not have the switch menu even i.e. 4011. Or perhaps they will add it with new firmware later as it is really new. Or the new method will be the only method with VLAN aware bridges. Time will tell.
Also - @Jotne. I would love to get your input on this thread. I would very much like to hear your feedback on the matter. I should have posted it in the General forum me thinks.
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/the-dude-cacti-splunk-nms-where-do-the-fit-overlap/124868/4
Thanks