It's really hard to for me to draw a conclusion on them to be honest, because, they seem to work different every time I use them. One time I'll be able to hear all the takes, the next time some will be muted and others won't. Sometimes Mute works, then it doesn't. Sometimes the mute tool thingy works, then another time it won't.
It leaves you confused as to whether it's a bug or something you are doing wrong. In other words, they are not intuitive enough to where you can use them logically without thinking about it like you could Layers.
And I don't know if it's just my system or what, and if it is ... why? ... but when I try using the pan envelope ... it flat out doesn't work. Whenever I use it, it controls the volume and does nothing with panning.
I guess what I'm saying is, Take Lanes would have been much better received if they would have put more time in to making sure they do what they say.
Compared to Layers, in their current state, on my system, I agree with the OP. They are horrible to work with for me at this point, and I don't use them at all which has really thrown a wrench in to the works for me. Not a show stopper ... but definitely a deterrent.