for all round general mtb'ing? i am not planning on buying a new bike by the way (i love my charge duster 😉 but am interested in what you would choose,if you were planning on getting another bike? my choice would be one of these [img] 
[/img] i think that would do pretty much anything you wanted (within reason) and for a reasonable price too. i didn't choose my duster,as the frame is quite skinny,so for more extreme riders it wouldn't be strong enough.over to you 🙂
Value for money? I'd say Cube if you want to buy from a shop, or Canyon and Rose if you're confident ordering directly. All German brands and all solid bikes, in my opinion.
The Germans do seem able to pack their bikes with high spec components at reasonable prices but Halfords appear to do the same trick with this full sus Voodoo at £1170. It has plenty of XT kit and Revelations on it.
http://tinyurl.com/cwfhsnn
The thing is that VFM is not all about a low purchase price. Longevity of the components and re sale value is also a consideration but most important of all is how well it all works together.
S-M sums it up - particularly with the way currency exchange is at present.
A mates just bought one of those voodoo's. Outstanding kit for the money! And it's hanging off a Joe Murrey designed frame, so it'll be brilliant to ride
YT Industries stuff looks good value. Depends on your budget to start with but they do a 160mm travel bike with BOS suspension and SRAM X0 that weighs under 30 lbs for £2416. With that kind of spec most brands would be at least 4k or so surely?
http://www.yt-industries.com/shop/index.php?page=product&info=214