Ah, the great tire debate.

Thing about tires is, like Don said, you can broke searching for the "perfect" tire.

I've tried A LOT of tires. So many that when I walk into HH and start looking at tires and they're always saying "dude, you're a tire whore!" Thankfully, not anymore.

For me (and I stress...for *ME*) the perfect tire on our local trails is the Maxxis IKON EXO with the 3C compound. Ultra-light tire, strong sidewall, fantastically low rolling resistance, and despited the micro-knob tread pattern, grips to the trail like glue. I run ~22psi front and rear. Anything lower and I'm bottoming out the rear. If I need a more agressive tread, I've fell in love with the Maxxis Ardent 2.4 EXO. Tubeless. A bit overkill for our local trails but a fast rolling, strong gripping tire nonetheless.

Bontrager, Specialized, Kenda...there are a bunch of great tires on the market. Researching, buying, and trying tires can drive a person insane (and broke!) if you let it. Otherwise, trust your gut and buy a set and run 'em into the ground.