Mr Selfish,
Granted, many of the 1960's era ships are a bit battered; however, the newly produced B2B used a Kevlar clutch, thumb controlled trim control, and replaces old instruments with new technology. Based on your comments, it seems unlikely that you have flown a late generation B2B.
As far as entry/egress is concerned, you can stop the blades and keep the engine running in less than 60 seconds. Since most pilots will completely shut down to put in their PAX, this is a real benefit. Also, I have to differ with you about the effectiveness of the rotor system. Since most lift occurs on the outer portion of the blades, it is a very effective system and completely eliminates the chances of ground resonance, air resonance, and mast bumping.
I will say that the TR effectiveness of the B2B is pretty weak compared to almost any other helicopter, but the flying characteristics more than make up for it past ETL. In fact, I'll bet you $20 you won't even be able to feel the transition through ETL in a well tracked and balanced Brantly (no shudder at all - not even a slight vibration). Compared to the R22, B47, and 280FX I've flown, the B2B has the hands down best autorotative glide and smoothest decent I've ever experienced.
Ugly? Yep... it is kinda ugly, but so is the Schweitzer in my opinion. I don't know why, the B47 seems to be the most "attractive" small helicopter out there. Hey, between your 2 cents and my 2 cents, maybe we can afford to buy a stick of chewing gum!
R2