I just started flying the SSE, and am not an expert, but the rubber bands scared me too. Someone at the field uses a spring in his SSE, and he was nice enough to give me one. It worked nicely, but I lost it and haven't been able to find one of similar tension. I have been using cable ties and they seem to work great. My only fear is that I will snip a receiver wire when I cut them off at the end of the day. I have never known a cable tie to lose its grip, but I throw 2 on (they are pretty cheap, and for now, I need to worry more about my flying than the plane! ).

All that being said, I'm sure a bunch of SSEs fly with rubber bands - else that would be all over the message boards.