I've had a cushioned button in mine for a year and half now (done 25,000K on it), and i'd never go back to anything else.
What I do is tap the accelerator so it revs it to about 1,500 rpm, take foot off accelerator so it falls, take foot off clutch completely in one motion as te rpm falls from 1,500, accelerate at exactly the same time as you take your foot of the clutch pedal altogether, and it takes off as smoothly as if you were driving a car with a normal clutch. You can control the launch by how quick you are off the clutch and on the accelerator, but if you really want to launch it, nothing beats a 3,000 dump. I can imagine your clutch won't last to long if you do that often though.
The trick is make sure you never ride it. If it's always on or off and never in between, it will last you a long time.
Practice makes perfect, you should be able to feel very easily whether your doing the right thing or not.