I run sintered (metallic) on the back so I can (if I want/need) drag it going down hills and organic on the front for when I actually need to stop. I also dislike the feel and noise of sintered pads but for the back they're fine.
The Edge 800 has about 100 megabytes of internal memory. On average, about 75 megabytes is available to add supplemental mapping, activities, routes and courses. When using the internal memory just for activities, the device can record about 10 hours of data per megabyte with every second recording. This equals approximately 750 hours of activity data.
I do quite like the look of those little trailers, especially the http://www.extrawheel.com/ (be nice if it came in a lefty, could probably rig something up using the truing adaptor) But I don't really fancy carrying the bike then having to go back for the trailer when the terrain becomes unrideable.
Depending on how you define affordable, PHD are the way to go http://www.phdesigns.co.uk/ (arguably) the best down clothing anywhere, can either use their custom jacket designer or send them an email and they'll be able to sort you out.