Just fitted me 4500 trek with new brakes

replaced the promax v-brakes with shimanos xt's

bloody ell! these are powerfull, forgot I'd left the fork so soft, quick check, no I havent! its the new brakes, massively more power :-)

V's or discs?

V's

not a fan of discs.

You mean you havent had much experience?

I tried some mechs on mates bikes, not that good I thought.

tried some Shimano Hydros, powerful but felt a bit dull, and exspensive.

I've got in the order of the best brakes:
Shimano XT Disc (awesome!)
Shimano Dura-Ace caliper (should be good at £140pr!)
V-brakes (Ok, but no-where near as good as discs)
Avid Cantis. (Pain in the ass to set up and crap)

Shimano deore XT M760 V-Brake is what mine are

V-Brakes are soooo easy to set up.
When done you can stop on a sixpence if needed.
Discs are a bit more faffy.

The hydro XTR's on the S-Works are amazing, almost as good as mono m4s

faffy my a$$ you just havent got em set up right lol. i got xt disc 760's on my specialized and they are instantanious. super grippy compared to any v brake or even shimano deore 555 which are damn good.