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Current bike came with Hope Tech X2's. In 3 years I've not had to touch them in any way, other than 1 set of pads in the rear. Fronts are still on the original pads even!
Had enough of Avids, although i've read the latest ones are a lot better in terms of set up and maintenance. The comment above that at £30 they can almost be treated as consumables, is a fair point for the older ones during a sale. Now switched to Deore 596 and don't see any benefit to going up the Shimano food chain - cheapish, powerful, fit and forget, less bling looking, perfect leaver design, and easy bleeding. Feel is not quite as good as the avids but only when they were working perfectly. In the future would not mind giving those Hope Evo's a try out though if i was feeling flush.
Avid are my favourites actually, though I haven't spent much time with Hope. Whilst they can have problems and are a bit fiddly to bleed, generally they're pretty solid and don't need much maintenance or faff. I've had my Juicy 5s for ages and they're still working, pistons a bit sticky now though. Mine came on a 2nd hand bike that I bought in 2008 and have been everywhere including a summer in Whistler where the only maintenance I had to do was change the pads once.
I thought I'd try Shimano SLX and tbh they're a bit shit in comparison. Weird lever feel and the bite point is too far in. Plus they're not exactly low profile levers, they look crap tbh. And I don't trust their reliability seeing as I managed to crack a piston when pushing the pads back in with a bit of force. Still haven't actually used both on the bike because the rear one is STILL at ****ing Rose/Madison for warranty replacement - this is going on 2-3 months now. Useless!