Thanks for all of the input! The bike will be used for daily commute (1.5 miles one way) and some decent sized hills. I test rode off of them again today, and I prefer the Muirwoods 29er. I like the geometry better. I sit more upright on it than I did on the FX and Larkspur. Like jsdavis said, it soaked up more of the bumps on the roads, and the shifting on felt smooth and pretty snappy.

Now I see another bike I'm interested in, the Scott SUB 30. I will be test riding the Scott today and I will make my final choice hopefully by the end of the day.

As for component wise again, which is better and what would YOU prefer and WHY?

Thanks again for all the great replies!