I know I may seem biased, but here is a quick note we got from Jordan after he rode NSW for the first time:
First ride:
Braking surface - WOW. Unbelievable. When is this going to make it onto the Super9? This is amazing. Really. REALLY. I cannot emphasize how good this is. With hydraulic brakes, it's like having disc brakes on there. You can brake so late into a corner.

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Ben Waite | Zipp Senior Design Engineer | The Power of Bicycles: Please contribute to World Bicycle Relief | Zipp | SRAM | Quarq |

Not sure which wheels Jordan was riding in Cairns, but it doesn't seem like he had a great time in the rain. Not sure the story on running "loose" brakes, but here's his account from a race recap:

"I am extremely cautious in the rain, and extreme caution and very fast cycling do not exactly mesh well. I'm sure this is what led to my first stop of the day, about 25mi into the bike, where my brakes that have grabbed fine the day before the race no longer did much more than modulate my speed; I could no longer actually stop, just slow down and not even that well."

If I were buying new wheels, I would get some version of the Hed Black series. Solves all my problems associated with metal brake tracks on "carbon" wheels: Vanity.

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/kj

http://kjmcawesome.tumblr.com/

I have had 202, 303, 404, all firecrest and now have 404nsw. Without a shadow of a doubt braking hugely increased, both in the wet and especially dry. Absolutely no concerns with these wheels and this year alone they have done a lot of descending where braking is required. Zero issues.

Thanks

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On the internet, you can be anything you want. It is a pity so many people choose to be stupid.

I have fc 808/404 combo and also the same in the nsw, but braking in wet weather is not that good on both, in dry weather the nsw seem to be a little better. But i would not say the braking difference is huge. I now use them with cool stop black prince, but will try them again with original zipp brake pads.

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

I haven't ridden the NSW yet, but the one downside of these would be that they aren't tubeless compatible. Given the low Crr for the new tubeless Vittoria Corsa, tubeless may be the way of the future. HED Jet + brakes very well and is tubeless ready.

I don't think I will ever be motivated deal with a tubeless mess every time I want to swap my tires...

I was worried about this too, but I have found there really isn't a mess. You pop the tire off the rim, and there at the bottom of the tire is a small pool of sealant. You pull off the tire and the sealant remains there nicely contained in the tire. Tire goes in trash and I take a rag and wipe off the dried sealant that is on the inside of the rim. I use Orange Seal and wiping off the rim takes maybe 10-15 secs. In the entire process, I might spill a couple drops of sealant, but usually I don't. If I do, it takes me another 5 secs or so to wipe up the drops of sealant from the floor of my garage.

YMMV, but I'm not going back to clinchers.

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Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099

I'm not talking about when the tire is at the end of its life; I mean every time I want to swap on race tires. Or, every time I race. And then put back on training tires.

That's fair. I run separate training and racing wheels (with appropriately different models of tires on each) so that's not an issue. But yes, if you are swapping tires back and forth fairly frequently, tubeless does add a bit of time and maybe mess. I would think though that you could pour the sealant out of the tire coming off the rim into a trash can and just wipe it down like you do to the rim, though admittedly I've never had to do that.

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Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099