Surgeons knot works great as well as a uni. I used them for years. I bought a little thing called a fast tyer and it hangs on my lanyard around my neck. It ties a quick knot. When using braid to mono i give the braid a half hitch at the end just to lock in down. After ten years and thousands of connections I have yet to have one fail.
As fare as braid, i have been fishing it on spinning reels since 2002. I love it as i do a lot of jigging and topwater. Mono now feels like fishing with a rubberband line.
