I wondered about taking mine to a diff guy and having reset it as LR seem to think its fine. If that is what the problem is, then it make me wonder just who's building these things in the first place

I agree with the fact that there's a bit of noise due to all the gearing, but I've driven other brands, and they have had no where near the noise of mine.

There was definitely no "grab" with my handbrake, I actually just adjusted it last week when I replaced the brakes. It was way loose , ooh, and hey presto, the little light doesn't flicker any more