I've had a range (mini's, xt servowave, SLX, Hayes stoaker trail, jucy 5/7, tech M4 and my new bike has magura marta SL)

all pretty good in my opinion – only set I've had issues with is the Hayes (bent piston)

in terms of 'power' i find most disc brakes are more-or-less-sort-of-the-same-ish.

give or take a bit, you know.

ASSUMING: the pads have been kept free of contaminants, it's easy to get them a bit oily if you're bit careless with the chain spray (i know, i shouldn't use spray).

(a clean set of deores will perform way better than a set of oily M4's, etc.)

the biggest difference between brakes/manufacturers that i've seen has been things like reliability/faff/expense/resistance to heat.

bikewhisperer – Member
Plenty more 9's with sticky slave pistons. I have a feeling that the issue with the 9's is due to road salt so if you only ride them off road then they are plenty good.

I've got Hayes HFX Mags and they have exactly this problem – after riding through the heavily salted roads recently. I think you may be right.