Is there much difference between them weight wise, anyone have one they can recomend.
I am looking for a do it all bike something I can drop the seat on and rag it.
Is the five up to it?

yes

Got an ’08 Patriot which replaced an ’01 Patriot – both great bikes. I’d definitely recommend one, and so would 6 of my mates who’ve been riding them for years. We generally ride Pennines, Dalby, Lakes, Alps and Canada on ours, including 7 hour rides and hike-a-bikes from time to time. Got mates on Fives too – they rate them highly and ride them hard, but I like the extra travel, slack angles and added robustness of the Patriot, especially for trips abroad and massive Lakeland descents. What about an Alpine 160 or a Blood for a compromise?

I have had a bullit in the past great bike for descents but a bit of a grueller on the climbs, and have a 223 for dh which is ace.
Given the choice what would peeps go for five or patriot?

A five will take all the abuse you can give it.

I have a patriot 7+ (I believe the Patriot’s big brother), which I bought off a mate who had a 5. I doubt there’s much he could do on the Patriot that he couldn’t on his 5. Conversely, his 5 is built to about 29 lbs, whereas the patriot in its current guise must be nearer 40!

Apart from big drops, there’s not much (possibly even nothing) you can do on a Patriot that you can’t on a SubZero, but the Patriot’s just more more comfortable, way faster and generally more fun on certain descents, if you ask me. Depends what you’re after, how you like to ride, whether you want to keep up with mates on long, fast, very rocky descents etc. Put Van36s or similar on a Five and it’s probably a close rival to a Patriot on all but the roughest, longest downhills.

As you’ve already got a DH bike I’d say go for the 5. But then you need to decide which bike you’re going to ride and one of them might end up not getting much use?
I have an Alpine 160 (previously had a Patriot) as my only bike and I can haul it round my kind of XC ride (tolerate the ups and flats to get to the downs) and its fast enough for me on DH tracks.
I guess there’s more of a difference between the 5 and a ‘conventional’ Patriot (I used to run mine with a shorter shock giving 160mm travel and the same angles as the Alpine 160) than there is between the 5 and the Alpine 160.

I’ve got a patriot 66 and mainly run it with a 190mm air shock giving the same travel as a five but geo that I like better, for a minimal weight penalty.

Also have a 215 coil that gives 7″ travel for the alps, DH days etc.

So, I’d say a patriot if you can find one, which covers both bases, is more versatile than a 5 setup wise, and is quite hard (but not impossible) to break…