Difference between iCloud sync and backup

I use a Mac but I would imagine it would be the same for any iCloud customer. If I delete a contact, it is gone from all 4 places: my iPhone, my iPad, my Mac and iCloud's web interface. That's why I back up my data by exporting contacts from my Mac address book. I'm sure Outlook supports such a thing, assuming you have iCloud contacts showing up in Outlook.

On the topic of iCloud backup, it is quite good. I upgraded from an iPad 1 to an iPad mini. I logged in to iCloud and told it to restore the backup from my iPad 1. Within a short time, I had all my contacts, photos, apps and all the data belonging to those apps on my iPad mini and I felt confident enough that everything came over I wiped my iPad 1 and passed it on to my son.