changing into lower gear going uphill.

[Dogtrousers]

You should've tried it with non-indexed simplex gears that used to take a good mile to find the next cog. Try riding hard up a hill, trying to ease off whilst having one hand on the bars and one on the downtube lever trying to coax it into gear, now that was an art and you really did need to be in the right gear for the hill before you got there. Still, proves even indexed brifters have their limitations.

Downtube shifter bore alert.

I ride a bike with non-indexed friction down tube shifters and I never have to coax it. I just reach down, stick the lever where I want it to be, it changes. Done.

Admittedly I do have modern bits and pieces like a modern 8 speed cassette and a modern chainset with pins and ramps, and a modern (MTB) RD so maybe that makes things a bit easier.

I much prefer the feeling of connectedness with the downtube shifters. And if you do ever happen to drop the chain for any reason it's so much easer to catch it and put it back on while riding using a friction shifter on the front mech than a brifter.