In the vid below at 2:15, you can see a cotter pin (left) and a bolt (right) holding the brake pad on the caliper. To remove/install the brake pads, pliers are needed to open and close the cotter pin whereas all that's needed with a bolt is a hex wrench, a standard carry in my roadside repair kit. I far prefer the bolt method for this reason--to make the bike as self- and field-serviceable as possible--as pliers are not a standard carry item. YMMV.

To be clear, SLX M7100 brakes come with brake pad bolts while Deore M6100, the brakes on the other bike, come with cotter pins.


Incidentally and as a visual aid, the vid also shows at 2:44 the spring that I hand tightened to adjust the caliper bite point, as described in the Adjusting the brake bite point post.