I have a loop that looks something like this:
for (int i = 0; i < max; i++) {
String myString = ...;
float myNum = Float.parseFloat(myString);
If its an all-or-nothing fail, then the first format makes sense. If you want to be able to process/return all the non-failing elements, you need to use the second form. Those would be my basic criteria for choosing between the methods. Personally, if it is all-or-nothing, I wouldn't use the second form.