I am in the Brooks hater camp. They are definitely not for me. The one and only one I had didn't work out well at all. That said some people do love them and they may be a great choice for some folks.

I will add one caution... Reading here you may get the impression that they are in the large majority among touring riders. This leads to folks thinking it is an automatic choice. I definitely didn't get that impression looking at riders I met on popular routes in the US (Trans America, Southern Tier, Pacific Coast, and so on).