Michael a few people that I know of have little hose clamps to keep the hose on or stop it leaking. The barbs keep their shape even with boiling water, so shouldn't be a problem with a hot system.
Dave, I do know quite a lot of people who use them for everything and its just a case of either working in a slightly different way, or putting pressure on the pole in a slightly different way. It will take a little practice before it just comes second nature. If its something you are not doing much though, it would take a while before you got to that stage.
Peter