Here's what I use to copy webserver log files from my hosting account.
rsync -e "ssh -l user" -avz 'www.noctilucent.org:/customer_logs2/user/access.*' .
It works nicely with ssh. If I put keys on both sides, I could leave it running unattended. As it is I hang around long enough to type the password and let rsync take care of the rest.
As a user, I only care that rsync is fast and convenient. As someone who makes his living making computers work more efficiently, I'm also interested in the rsync algorithm.
Rsync is, by the way, one of many good things that come from Australia. Cheers!