I went with Marathon plus after a ton of reading brought it down to a coin toss between them and continentals. I have had one major blowout (no idea what I hit) and one flat caused by a carpet tack in just over a year and a couple thousand kms. As for gatorskins, my buddy rides on them as he was sold on low rolling resistance. Funny thing is, I coasted faster than him on almost every downhill we hit in the Rockies last week even though our bikes and loads were similar.