Jeez, a whole bunch of disc brake philosopy (all percetly valid) that does not address the OP's problem. That problem is clearly related to pads not bedding in or some other issue that is reducing friction. That's all there is to this.
If the pads are semi-metallic and the OP has never really hit them hard, he might just have a glazed pad type situation. I installed new pads recently and it took a few hundred km with some really hard stops until the braking was where it should be - it was near useless immediately after the install. My wife who is tiny always complains that here disc bike does brake as well as her rim brake bikes. I take her little bike for a test and sure enough - not good. I take it to a steep hill and hammer the crap out of the brakes and she's good to go. (I get funny looks - a big man doing hill repeats on a midget bike
) In fact, I think most people, as much as they love their disc brakes, are riding around with far from optimal braking performance.
So to the OP - trust me and others when we say you are not getting the best out of your equipment. When working properly, and admittedly that can be a challenge sometimes, discs will provide incredible stopping power and great modulation with the least hand effort. They will be better (though not by that much) then the very best alloy rim brake set-up.
The weight, aerodynamics, expense, maintenance, etc. that is another issue for another thread.