Had shimano XT and mavic crosstrail UST wheels in 26″ before and had no problems with them and loved the ease at which tlr tyres mounted on them, looking now for a new wheelset for my 29er, should I consider anything else?
Quite fancy some stans crest/arch with hope hubs for a change but are they as easy to live with…?
Will be used for xc/marathon duties, nothing too major…

For XC crests are bang on.

They’re the easiest set if wheels to live with laced to pro2 hubs. Cartridge bearings, easy to service, great backup. Easily as good as £1000 wheelsets.

Good they are, but you can do better for £1000!

Assuming that’s not the budget you’ll struggle to beat Hope/Crest for the money.

Mavic Crossmax SLRs for 500 notes from Germany

Hope/Crests are just over £300 on Merlin.

Consider arch ex on the rear if the country you cross is rocky or you are over 85kg.

Is there much difference in weight between crests and arch ex?
I’m 80kg and sometimes ride the trail centres in Scotland/wales etc as well…

I dented both front and rear Crests at 75kg. Arches are stronger but not wider, maybe look at Pacenti TL28’s? Or WTB i23? I have a set of brand new SLX hubs built in Sun inferno rims going cheap if you’re interested.

American Classic sets either the race or wide lightening
Rims are a lot easier than stans for tubeless and hubs are superb
Also very light and you can pick them up for around £450

I ended up with the kinesis maxlight wheels for hope money as I wanted something a bit wider and stiffer than arch ex but the same weight, so lighter than flow ex, at 85-90kg I didn’t want to go too lightweight.

American Classic would have been my first choice but struggled to find stock in the UK. I think if I upgraded them I’d try out lightbicycle carbon rims at 1500g for similar money, or build a pair onto hope or dtswiss hubs.