Both the collection-for-in operation and .map() method can return some manipulation of elements from a previous collection. Is there ever any reason to prefer using one over the other?
var myList = [1,2,3];
var alteredList1 = [for(int i in myList) i + 2]; //[3,4,5]
var alteredList2 = myList.map((e) => e + 2).toList(); //[3,4,5]
Use whichever is easier and more readable. That's a deliberately vague answer, because it depends on what you are doing.
Any time you have something ending in .toList() I'd at least consider making it into a list literal. If the body of the map or where is simple, you can usually rewrite it directly to a list literal using for/in (plus if for where).
And then, sometimes it gets complicated, you need to use the same variable twice, or the map computation uses a while loop, or something else doesn't just fit into the list literal syntax.
Then you can either keep the helper function and do [for (var e in something) helperFunction(e)] or just do something.map((e) { body of helper function }).toList(). In many cases the latter is then more readable.
So, consider using a list literal if your iterable code ends in toList, but if the literal gets too convoluted, don't feel bad about using the .map(...).toList() approach.
Readability is all that really matters.