At least for gravity they still are the benchmark for me, even though I acknowledge a lot of it might be attributed to the familiarity of the handling. The maxxis 2ply casing is unmatched in flat protection, supple track feel and the 60a and 3c and 42a compound for predictability and a benign behaviour at the edge of grip. Quite the opposite of Conti‘s wooden casing that feels crap and tends to let go unannounced. Early iterations of their DH line up might as well have been called the Kato.
For sheer grip the aggressive Schwalbe line up is a match, but the multi-compound wears out brutally fast. On dry rocky drifty tracks I’ve went through a set on a single race weekend. Even worse, the soft compound sits on top of a harder compound, so a tire might look at first like it’s been hardly broken in, but the fun is already gone and it grips like a stick of butter.
So yea, for gravity Maxxis all day long, because they’re the best Allrounder Package and I they don’t stab me in the back.