Of course, in 5th it's even harder to be a Technomancer with decent mental and physical stats, so the usefulness of the echo is diminished right out of the gate unless you make a few house rules.
I don't think so. IMO, the benefit of Mesh Reality was reducing how vulnerable you were in VR. It didn't give you extra passes, and most TMs didn't have more than one in meatspace. But it meant you could be doing VR stuff, with all the VR bonuses, without having to be unconscious hiding behind a crate somewhere.
My original 4e concept for Firebug had her using Mesh Reality to be jumped into her pimped out motorcycle while still conscious so she could pitch molotovs at other riders and stuff still. But since rigger technos are so gimped in 5th, that's not doable for even more reasons...
It didn't really make you
that much stronger, but it did so in a really cool and unique way that made TMs seem incredible, since they were doing something that should have been totally impossible.