I think presales are much better than ICO as it happens generally privately. Anyways my favourite is just funds. You are basically buying share of fund in the name of coins. And they quarterly pay guarenteed dividend. It is quite same with icos but with guarenteed returns.
Why do you think presales are different than ICOs? In 90% it's just ICO with bigger bonuses.
However, I still find ICOs the post appropriate way to finance projects or Airdrops to create demand and decentralization.