Originally Posted by revmonkey
??? i was under the impression the hard rock was a higher model than the rockhopper!
Maybe you're thinking Stumpjumper.
Anyway, I think the Hard Rock is more of a general bike (a little XC, a little UA) whereas the Rockhopper is a XC bike.
Is the Hardrock higher over Rockhopper? I don't think so although I'm sure you can get a fully loaded Hardrock with better bits than a base Rockhopper. However the cheapest Hardrock is $350 USD but the cheapest Rockhopper is $500 USD according to the Specialized.com web site.
There are a lot of Hard Rock owners on this forum but fewer (or less vocal) Rockhopper owners. I think it's an age/demographic thing. I think younger people lean more towards the Hardrock and older (and wiser) farts like me lean towards the Rockhopper.
Go to the Specialized web page and read up on the specs. Come back here and read about what's considered good stuff and what's junk in terms of components. If you go back to about page 16 or 18 of this forum I have a chart comparing the components within a given price range (about the same as yours) that includes some Hardrocks and Rockhoppers. Rockhopper came out ahead IMHO.