Or can anyone suggest anything else?

They're for the hard tail xc rig that I'm building. I'm living in a dry climate and I want to go faaaassst.

Looking at the tread patterns I reckon I'll be hard pushed to feel much of a difference but I thought I's ask the experts.

Conti's are cheaper, Schwalbe's look nattier… The Schwalbe's are proving rather hard to get hold of too…

Cheers.

Schwalbes offer more grip and better 'edge' bite. I use one on the back all year round, and its fine, maybe even lighten up the tread to a furious fred?
What about Vredestein Black Panthers as an alternative though?

The Furious Fred's might be a bit on the Kojak side for me really. They also seem near impossible to find – especially the tubeless ones.

What do you use on the front?

CRC say the Vredestein's have been discontinued??

ah well i have an unused set, but theyre the 2.0's, so maybe on the thin side for you?

I use a NN up front.

i use 2.2 race king ust. the ust versions aren't black chilli which i didn't realise when i bought them. they are fast though.

I've Racing Ralphs, but when its real dry run one on the front and Maxxis Crossmark on the rear – my riding buddy uses a Maxxis Larsen on the rear – all UST.

Have you tried Kenda SmallBlock8's – my son has them on his jump bike – they tubeless'ed up easy, although non-UST/tubeless – seem to give plenty of grip, but fast rolling.