realskiers

Two 3 second passes with a hand brush won't do diddly for improving the texture and structure of your base.  As I said previously, my goal is to get my bases running fast WITHOUT wax.  Once they get to that point they're much easier to maintain over time.  Only really old coarse snow puts any real significant wear on the bases.

The point of the roto brushes is to speed up the process.  One pass with a stiff stainless roto brush and you'll see the obvious difference.  I chose the brushes I use because of their ability to improve my base texture and structure - it has nothing to do with waxing - so you kind of have to throw out the conventional advice out there on brushing.  My goal is to polish my base to the point that it looks waxed while having an appropriate consistent structure to keep the skis fast.  IMO structure plays a larger role in making a ski fast than the choice of wax.  Using the wrong structure for the conditions cannot be overridden with a correct choice of wax.  That's part of the reason I keep so many skis in my quiver - they are prepped individually for different snow conditions; from fine structures to coarse structures.

And yes, some would say I'm kind of fanatical about this stuff, but I also have limited time so that is what led me down the roto brush path.