Panaracers punture easily? Not in my experience, I've never pinch punctured on Fire XC Pros in a year of riding. Switched to them after an almighty crash when I hit mud on 2.1 Trailblasters.

I find the Fire XCs great as an all round tire in anything except deep mud. The Trailblasters roll faster, but are iffy in wet, muddy stuff.

Trailblaster 1.95s are OK in quite soft conditions, but not deep liquid mud. Basically you just need to gain a little experience with a couple of different types. There's much more to tyre design than just simply sticky rubber and a grippy looking tread pattern. And some tyres work well for one rider but not another, hence all the different views here. You an read all the comments you want, but the only way to be sure is to get some and try them!

Bontrager Jones F&R - great in all but mud -
but I rarely ride mud anyway so no bother there - they handle, rocks, roots, gravel, off-camber switchbacks all osrts of shite in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Colorado - never had a pich flat and I usualy run them at 27psi(ish)

or

Michelin Wildgripper Xsport - bloody good for a 1.95 tyre - have to run them at about 35psi though

or

Bontrager jones F$R with about 200 small wood screws sticking through the knobs - I can find traction in deep powdery snow, hardpacked snow and I've even learened to corner on ice in them (although that still shites me up!)

or

whatever takes your fancy...I'm sure that you can pick one or two tyres from the plethora of models, makes, widths, tread patterns, etc out there and find one that suits, I did and last year bought half a dozen sets of Bontys co's he's coll and I love them!

:)

Bontrager Jones F&R - great in all but mud -
but I rarely ride mud anyway so no bother there - they handle, rocks, roots, gravel, off-camber switchbacks all osrts of shite in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Colorado - never had a pich flat and I usualy run them at 27psi(ish)

or

Michelin Wildgripper Xsport - bloody good for a 1.95 tyre - have to run them at about 35psi though

or

Bontrager jones F$R with about 200 small wood screws sticking through the knobs - I can find traction in deep powdery snow, hardpacked snow and I've even learened to corner on ice in them (although that still shites me up!)

or

whatever takes your fancy...I'm sure that you can pick one or two tyres from the plethora of models, makes, widths, tread patterns, etc out there and find one that suits, I did and last year bought half a dozen sets of Bontys co's he's cool and I love them!

:)

Conti Verts on my hardtail. Cushioning, lots of grip, good in most conditions, a bit of a drag on the road but only 20 quid a pair!

IRC Seracs (2.1) on my full-suss. Great tyres unless it's muddy. Fast and puncture resistant but wear fast and are not cheap.

I used to really like XC Pros but had a new set which punctured 7 times in two rides - never went back.

As Toni says, there's a difference between the 1.9 and 2.1 Trailblasters, the former are, I think it's fair to say, better in soft conditions than the bigger ones, which have great big, fast-rolling tread blocks. Fabby on dry trails and rock, sketchy on mud.

So much is down to where and how you ride though and how good you are, some people seem happy on semi-slicks in virtually anything bar knee-deep bog, others want tractor tyres all the time.

I've had a couple of pinch punctures and a tear on the side wall of my rear Tioga 2.1 DH. Saying that though I've been riding on flint, chalk and sticky mud in the Chilterns and they've been good to me. I am replacing my torn rear Tioga with a Pana Fire XC 2.1 steel because I understand they are bullet proof. I am keeping my front Tioga for now. I know the Pana's are also quite heavy but I'd trade weight for reliability any day.

Can anyone suggest a better puncture proof XC tyre that can cope with a bit of DH?

i ripper a few sidewalls on fire xc sb, in my experience they're guff from that point of view.

conti gravities/verticals are great agressive xc tyres. the pro tection ones are heavily re enforced for no weight penalty and they are seriously tough.

As allrounders the Verticals and Fire XC pros are both very good. Neither are the best when conditions are totally wet or dry but as something that will work all year these are among the best.

IMHO the Verts work better in dryer conditions and give a nice cushioned ride, however they can slide about a bit when the going gets wet. The Fire XCs grip the local flinty stuff better when it's wet but sometimes feel slow and can clog in wet clay.

I have used both and never experienced unusually high failures/ punctures.