I find problematic that so many weapons are underwhelming compare with others.
Un some situations, like Frailty line compared to Ice Carbines, for example, you could argue that the trap option (frailty, in this case) have some kind of redeeming value in a niche situation that somehow excuses it for being much worse 90% of the time while being more expensive. That's the typical defense for the crappy Ivory Tower Design philosophy.
But some examples discredit that idea. Take a look at Stacatto Rifle, Surge, compared to Sonic Rifle, HFD.
Both are sonic weapons. Both do 2d10, have same battery and spend same charges to shoot. Both have deafen as crit. The stacatto, however, is automatic, and have 10 more feet in range. It is also cheaper, and requires one level less.
The sonic rifle is there just to punish Timmy for bring Timmy, and reward Spike for being Spike. It is not even a trap option, trap options "look" good, and thus deceive people with less system mastery. It is just a worse option.
This is a Core vs. Armory issue. Core had really bad cold and shock weapons that offered bad damage without any offsetting benefits. Armory corrected this, but couldn't get rid of the poorly designed weapons already published.
For some reason the fire, plasma, and shock weapons in Core were pretty well balanced.