I agree with you. Although I am running cheap hubs on a commute board for mainly two reason… The noise. Belt drive are loud if you do not run them in FOC and no way you can get a reliable FOC set up for cheap. And the second reason the stealth look. For me the first reason is really important because I do not want attract to much attention (it already happens). I am not even totally sure Esk8 is completely legal where I live 
So from my opinion. If you want to stay cheap and the noise is not a problem belt drive will give you motor performance. Otherwise I am happy with hubs but yes you loose a bit of specs and riding quality.
Great video … thanks for sharing. If I would have seen this I would have gone a different route, and will recommend to my other neighbor who is interested. The hardest thing getting started is sorting through all of the hundreds of options, making sure it’s all compatible, and shopping and creating a budget. This is the first time I’ve seen that done well … I recommend this becomes part of the beginner guide.