According to protocols I found from Nature (Heckman et al 2007) and Cold Springs Harbour (Forloni et al 2018), the PCR products must be purified using gel electrophoresis and then a QIAquick gel extraction kit or a similar product. According to a senior person in my lab, we usually use ethanol precipitation for PCR products because the gel method results in loss of a lot of the product. Is this a question of quality over quantity?
Also, is there a difference between the QIAquick gel extraction kit and the QIAquick PCR Purification kit, and which is better?