I tend to agree with you on this mechanical brake thing. I made this mechanical brake setup to test the Tekno clutch system on the buggy. I didnt really care for the clutch iitself in the end, but I did really love the mechanical brakes. The mini servo has plenty of power to lock up the tires on any surface I've tested so far and it has much more feel and adjustability than any of the motor brake setups I have had.
I just preordered the new Xray XB808 buggy and plan to convert it right out of the box. This brake setup is going on the new buggy, but I am going to flip the dif back around and use a standard pinion setup rather than the clutch.
It for sure adds weight, but I do much prefer the feel, and the mini servo doesnt add that much weight and gets its power from playing with leverage on the arm.
Ignore the Rx pack. I put it on there temporarily while I was waiting for a UBEC to come in.