Tab control-multiple cards or hidden groups?

[James Hale]

Recently there was some discussion concerning the use of hidden groups with the tab control. An app I am working on currently uses a tab control with five tabs that currently go to different cards. The cards concerned all share a number of other controls responsible for about 60% of their area with the tabbed panel taking the rest. Some of the panels are simply variations of another (e.g. Simple vs complex search).
I am now wondering whether there would be an advantage in reducing these five cards down to one and use the hidden group method.
Given I am not starting from scratch my question is, would there be advantages to me in making this transition?
So for those of you employing this method, why do you?
Is it having a single card script?
Is it keeping the stack structure simple?
Is it...?
I would be very interested in your thoughts.

James