…so you have ridden in front, minion, hr2, hd and mavic charger is as much grippy but with less rolling resistance? is it also big volume?
have you tried any conti tyres?
tried trail king and mtn king yrs ago, they were great but their sidewalls were awful (they've since improved). good rubber, but not as sticky as some others, and strangely terrible in mud (even worse than DHF).
have used HR2, DHR2, and of course DHF (an over-rated tire imho). i find the new "maxx terra" compound a bit firm in wet conditions (ie. not much better than 60a), certainly a far cry from butcher sx or the mavic tires, but similar to schwalbe trailstar. i really like the HR2 and DHR2 tread patterns, i'm sure the "maxx grip" versions are great, but i'd rather not pedal them around. lots of tire punctures in pemby with maxxis exo for me, i've given up. they'd be fine in smoother terrain like squamish or northern vancouver though.
i agree if you can find butcher sx's, hard to beat them for value and performance, but mavic beats them in rolling resistance and tread wear while giving similar performance. wish they made a 29er version of both.
another good option is a cut hans dampf (clip the transition knobs), really improves cornering performance while maintaining its impressive braking traction.
tires tires tires
blah blah blah