i know it's 'radio wars' but even so, I do try to stay objective and (reasonably) balanced on these debates. IMHO personal opinion presented as fact doesn't add much to the discussion (e.g. 'brand x has a crap link').
No system is perfect in every respect. Spektrum have had issues in the past and the problems of DSM2 at the really large meetings like SEFF are well documented, acknowledged by Horizon, and addressed in the DSMX update. No argument from me on those points.
'Brown out' is something that's often labelled a Spektrum problem but fundamentally is in reality a problem caused by the BEC or battery failing to maintain adequate voltage supply to the receiver. It's far from a 'Spektrum only' issue as any receiver will fall over if it's voltage drops low enough. Brown out is more an issue associated with the inadequate linear BEC fitted to cheaper ESCs than anything else.
HOWEVER, I'll not argue that it is true that older Spektrum Rx's were more prone to brown out failure than some others. This is because Spektrum receivers at the time had a brown out voltage (i.e. a voltage that caused the Rx to shut down) that was higher than some other brands. Also older Spektrum Rx's took a little longer to re-boot after a brown out than some others. However these issues have been addressed on the latest receivers and they are now as 'brown out proof' as any on the market.
FWIW apparently Hitec receivers are almost as bad as older Spektrum in terms of the voltage they brown out at and time taken to re-connect. In fact Hitec can be worse because in 'scan mode' they wont reconnect after a brown out at all. What saves Hitec is their SPC feature that provides a separate power supply to the Rx which should ensure that the voltage never falls below spec. That of course only works if you actually use the SPC.
Anyway, the solution to brown-out for any system is to ensure the power supply to the Rx is adequate... do that and you haven't got a problem regardless of what brand you fly.
An impartial review:
http://www.rcmodelreviews.com/2.4ghzshootout.shtml