Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. The bikes I'm looking at are mainly deore 1x10 30t crank with 11x42 cassette. I'm not too concerned about weight and the bigger jumps between gears doesn't really concern me much either. And yeah the low end (big rear cog) looks about the same. It's mainly the lack of top end higher speed gear for straight, slightly downhill portions of the longer rail trails I plan to ride that are near my house - which I realize is not exactly the intended use of a mtb. I was hoping for a dual purpose bike but I guess I do still have my older hybrid with a big range of gears if needed.
Everything keeps kind of leading me to the Fathom 29 2. Seems like a lot of bike for the price and maybe all around more versatile. I could get an mtb with a 2x for less $$ but not really keen on buying a cheap bike because I'm skeptical of the 1x setup. I really don't think I'll know without trying but options are limited. We have 2 LBS options in town but one carries virtually zero stock and the other stocks mostly hybrid and lower end stuff.