This past weekend I was at an event with my legion and I explained this discussion to them. They all agreed that, barring aesthetics, they would wear segmentata over hamata any day of the week. Its lighter, cheaper, comfier, and offers better protection. What's not to like? Mail and scale may look better, but being ugly and alive seems quite better than dead and pretty...
Wig, this above quote by Comrade Alexeo sort of sealed the deal. He has hands on proof, and thats aside from all his fancy pics and research.

He and a group of others run around in this stuff, it's from the horses mouth, so to speak.

You don't need to pull a roman from the past to get this kind of info, you just ask an actor.

This sort of scenario reminds me of the the field engineer vs. the academic engineer. The academic engineer can tell you every thing a widget is made out of, how many forumlas are needed to find X and Y, and probably write a few pages on theoretical applications. But he can't tell you how to install it or even drop you a cost estimate. And at the end of the day, thats all any one cares about.