It's mostly a minor thing but you have to take a hand off the bars to shift with downtube shifters. From a reliability standpoint they are hard to beat.

In dry conditions I've found that pretty much all rim brakes (except on some department store bikes) work well enough to stop you if they are properly adjusted, the wheels are true and you're used to them. It's not that I think dual pivots aren't better than older style road brakes, but in my mind it's a moderate difference, - not a night and day one.