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Have the "plastic" levers that came with the MT5, worth upgrading? More power? Better feel?
Tempted by doing the same with mine but have yet to fork out the £45 needed for the pair. I did accidentally bend the end of one of my levers giving it a bigger hook and it does feel slightly better.
Yes. I binned the two finger levers after only a few rides. The HC levers give a much more direct feel, similar to Shimano Saint/Zee, the two finger levers felt too flexy. They also allowed me to move the levers to a position where I could reach the shifters without the brake lever fouling my ring finger when I braked.
I've changed both pairs of mine to the HC's levers, it's a significant improvement, so much so I'm totally confused why they even bother supplying the huge plastic flexy ones at all.
Actually I found a deal for TRP Slate 4 brakes for 40 GBP pr end, so going to try those first. Seems easier to deal with overall!
Decided to try something else, see: https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/tired-of-magura-mt5-going-to-test-trp-slate-4-heres-why/
Do it.
I had the 2 finger levers for a year or so on my full sus but then got a hardtail with MT trail brakes with the HC levers and had to change them on the full sus immediately.
The HC levers are much better ergonomically, the lever body is now closer to my grip meaning the shifter and dropper remote are exactly under my thumb, never noticed it before but I had to move my hadn to operate them and now it's much more initiative.
Take a look at the thread I made on this last year here: https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/my-thoughts-on-magura-mt5-hc-single-lever-upgrade/