I started using braided hoses shortly after they became available and have used several brands including Miflex and Phantom Hose, but have started migrating back towards rubber hoses. For years, all or most of my regs had braided hoses. A few years ago I had 1 one of the high pressure braided hoses blow off of the crimped fitting on the first stage right before a dive. I took photos and sent it to the distributor, the hoses were recalled a month or so later. I've also had a few instances where the low pressure and high pressure hoses failed and started leaking along the hose before or during a dive. I didn't like how my long braided hose wrapped around or scratched on my neck. I don't mistreat my gear, but i don't baby it either. It's heavily used, rinsed and stored well, and inspected each day before dives. But I do appreciate being able more easily identify wear and tear (crack, bulges, etc..) with the rubber hoses. I've had a high pressure rubber hose fail on me during a dive and leak through the perforations on the hose, but that was my only failure with a rubber hose during a dive. I'm not against braided hoses. If the dive shop only had that as a replacement I'd be okay. I like that they are light and super flexible. But if i were to re-hose my whole set I'd look for rubber hoses first.