Well, the Gravity Suit still reduced the amount of damage you take, too. And I definitely seem to remember skipping around underwater far more in Phendrana than anywhere in Echoes. And again, I think I only used the Echo visor, like, five times. Thermal at least worked as a night vision substitute, and was designed to find those pesky cloaked pirates as well.
Comparing the Echo visor and the X-Ray visor would be more fair. But the X-Ray visor was simply cool as hell... That's why it's returning!
[edit] I'm not one of those who say call those items "useless" by the way. The only item I found really useless was the... grab... thing... in the beginning of Zero Mission. THAT was a filler item. [/edit]
Comparing the Echo visor and the X-Ray visor would be more fair. But the X-Ray visor was simply cool as hell... That's why it's returning!
[edit] I'm not one of those who say call those items "useless" by the way. The only item I found really useless was the... grab... thing... in the beginning of Zero Mission. THAT was a filler item. [/edit]