I thought half the point of barcons, DT, friction, and other Retro type control levers was they're less expensive than brifters. At the price they're asking why not just get some used brifters off ebay?
retroshift vs brifter....
same price level, really just a question of slight durability in the simpler mechanism, vs the ability to shift from the drops
not that compelling a trade off in my book, maybe if they cost less than the alternatives...