Well, found a home for the Elixir CR, went with the XTR, I now fear I made the wrong decision. Mainly went with Shimano to stay consistent. I can use the same oil and bleed kit for all my brakes this way. The XTRs out of the box would compress all the was back to the bar, so I did a full bleed on both, while it and the brakes engaged much quicker, the stopping power was less than impressive. I can get it to lock down the back, even on slick concrete, the front brakes will not grab enough to lock the front wheel. Using Shimano's suggestion I got new rotors, the other had less than 50 miles on them. Even with the new rotors, with front and back brakes full on I can still pedal the bike and make it move. From everything I read, the XT / XTR are supposed to have outstanding stopping power, The Tektro comps on my son's entry level GT stop way better.
I sent Shimano a short video at their request, I am waiting to see what they suggest. I am sure we will get this resolved, but first impressions of Shimano's flag ship line are not impressive