I had bar end shifters on my last touring bike, and used them for 23 years. At one point I was even comfortable enough to shift while standing up to climb or start from an intersection. When I got my current tourer and switched from the Sora brifters that I couldn't get comfortable with to Dura Ace bar ends, I didn't find them quite so easy - they seemed a lot stiffer then I remembered the old Sun Tour bar-cons being. Now I have some older 105 brifters that I found on eBay and get on a bit better with them. Mind you, part of that is that the levers are a much better fit for my hands than the huge brake levers that the shop fitted when they put on the Dura Ace shifters.
One drawback to bar end shifters is that they add about 1" to the length of the bottom of your handlebar. If I had kept them, I think I'd have had to have the bars trimmed back, because I occasionally found myself shifting with my knees by accident.