Keep in mind that I'm a Retro Grouch.

STI's ROCK! For convenience and ease of use they have no peer. They have a lot of parts including some springy things that will shoot out from who knows where when you try to take them apart so there's really no repairing them and they are expensive to replace.

The thing that I like about barcons is their simplicity and reliability. They solve the complication issue with STI's at the cost of a little loss of convenience.

Down tube shifters never bothered me until I got used to using the others. Now I don't like them anymore.