Yes, i know Dave. There are also many 'top rods' who don't use braid. The breaking strain may be considered irrelevant by the user but the fact is it still has a breaking strain of 25lb - experienced anglers, fishing a pin, will no doubt experience very few problems using such a line - but in the hands of a novice it could spell disaster. You can probably tell i'm not a fan of braided mainlines for Barbel fishing and no one will convince me that a 25lb breaking strain line is suitable for catching fish that on average weigh less than 10lb - that's just my opinion of coarse.
The reason i don't like the stuff is because every season i see great swims ruined by anglers using heavy braided mainlines - all well and good until it snaps. Once a length of such braid is left trailing in a swim it becomes impossible to extract fish from and on several occasions i can recount tales of friends who have been playing good fish only to have them become tangled in a length of lost braid. The only solution is to not fish the swim until a big flood comes along and clears the snag. You may argue that such breaks don't occur very often, but only last season i fished alongside a fellow BFW member on the Ribble who normally fishes the Trent. He came over with the usual Trent tackle which includes 30lb Power Pro braid and after half a dozen cast was rather shocked when it parted on the strike just below the tip ring - leaving 30yds+ of heavy braid in what was a banker swim. Obviously he did not intend that to happen - but it did - and i ask all users of such heavy lines to consider 'what if'.
Appologies to Danny for going slightly off topic but as Ian said - all healthy debate!