From first to worst?

I've been trying my best to follow along from afar but recent comments have left me confused. It used to be that Fox suspension outperformed pretty much everyone but lately I've been seeing comments that suggests they aren't top dog anymore. What's the deal? 

While it can hard to quantify suspension performance, what would you say the ranking is right now amongst the top 3-5?

Cheers from Peru!

My Fox 36 feels like a full on race fork whereas my Lyrik was set and forget and just worked. Im sure the Fox outperforms the lyrik when tuned right but the average Joe blow is probably off the mark a ways.

This is a hard list to really quantify, as everyone has their own preferences and dislikes. It seems that the big two (Fox and RS)  leapfrog each other every so often in terms of who has the better offering. RS came out with their Charger bladder which put them on top, then Fox had the FIT4 which seemed to be 'better'. I for one have never been a Fox fan, but I havent really ridden one since my 2011 RC2 Air. My wife is very happy with the Pike on her bike, and I cant fault the BOS DeVille I have on my bike in terms of performance (servicing is another thing altogether). The 'top' two will probably always be RS and Fox, but there are plenty of good offerings from DVO, Manitou, SR Suntour, X-Fusion etc. It really depends on your riding preferences and the depth of your wallet!

you'll have to tear my Bomber out of my cold dead hands

FOX is an industry leader in gold coloured stanchions.  

36mm-ish single crown fork options out now besides the big two: Cane Creek Helm, DVO Diamond, Formula Selva, MRP Ribbon, Öhlins 36 RXF, Suntour Duralux, Fusion Revel.

Currently the only draw of FOX for myself is the ability to Mix and Match CSUs and SuspensionWerx servicing and support.  Many of the forks listed above are sold and serviced by SWerx and a few of them have the option of ordering with a reduced offset CSU in the wagon wheel'ed variety.  

I can't and won't accept FOX QR15 on a long travel fork.  The good thing is the 49 is a 5-bolt BOOST 20 axle so I'll hope that they release some 36 lowers in 5-bolt BOOST 20 configuration (since I'm dumb enough enough to willingly buy CL hubs)

Is it true I have to risk being collateral damage in a drive by to get my RS serviced?

My friend has a fox 36 with the Push coil upgrade kit and its the tits. Can't beat coil forks. The only issue with fox forks is the csu seems to last only a few rides before it starts creaking.

I have the DVO diamond which has some really nice features like the OTT adjustment. These are shipped really dry though. I dropped my lowers and greased up the dust wipers and it transformed the fork. This is probably the most sensitive air fork I've tried yet.

The Manitou Mattoc is probably my fav in terms of adjustments. The hydraulic bottom out control is brilliant and so effective. Too bad about the chassis though. They need to drop that reverse arch.