I've owned a set of Carbone clinchers for 10 years. They are tough, but as already mentioned they aren't really CF wheels. The rim is a fairly heavy aluminum box. I rode these wheels on a daily basis for about 3 years. The rear wheel eventually failed, a spoke eyelet broke which, as it turns out, is fatal to the wheel. The wheel appeared to be in perfect shape but when the internal eyelet broke, that one spoke could no longer be tightened. MAVIC reported that the wheel could not be repaired and sold me the later SL version for $400 (about 1/2 of retail). Unfortunately the SL version has black spokes and larger graphics that don't match the more attractive earlier pre SL version. On closer inspection it appears that the eyelets in the SL may be a bit more robust (they're hard to see even with the rim tape removed).
Tests have shown that the Carbone and similar wheels can improve your speed by about 1/4 to 1/3 mph which doesn't sound like much but can make a big difference competition. I now ride mine only in flat time trials. For road racing or crits I think lighter wheels accelerate quicker, at least they feel like they do, I have no statistics to back that up. Cross-winds are really noticeable but after I got use to the wheels this didn't bother me except when riding in a pack, then they are bad news. Mine have 57 mm rim profiles, some later versions have smaller profiles.

Al