Skidad you're right of course, the Remedy 9 is closer to the SJ Evo price- and spec-wise. But to be honest to get the Evo I would already have to spend quite a bit more than I had originally planned, so the Remedy 9 is out of the question since it's even more than the Evo.
I'm in Euro-land and this is what the bikes cost here, to give you some perspective:
Remedy 8: 3,000 €
Remedy 9: 4,000 €
SJ Evo: 3,600 €
SJ Elite: 3,000 €
(Some discount might be possible, though.)
Anyway, I'm back from a 4-hour ride with the SJ Elite demo, I'm exhausted but it was lots of fun! Some observations:
The SJ Elite climbs really well, in fact definitely not worse than my old trusty Marin hardtail, the Stumpjumper's brain shock worked really well going uphill! The bike is also quite light which of course doesn't hurt going up. In some very steep and technical uphill situations I wished for the front to be a bit lower, or to put it differently I was glad it wasn't any taller.
Going downhill was really a blast for me, being used to a hardtail. But I think the Remedy I was able to try a couple of weeks ago was even better in that respect, just more plush and it felt safer to go fast. I should say though that I was only able to ride the Remedy for 20 mins and it was a different track. Also, I cannot say how well adjusted the shocks were.
So, I think I'm leaning towards the Remedy 8 at the moment, I think it might be just a bit more versatile than the SJ Evo due to its geometry (head angle) and also the adjustable Talas fork. The only downside I see is that it's a bit heavier and I don't know how much effect this will have.
Attached are some pictures of me on the bike, any comments regarding frame size are very welcome! The medium size felt ok, unfortunately there is no small size on stock at my dealer to compare it to. The seat post was extened to the 2.5 mark (10 is maximum extension), so this is quite low, isn't it?