Sorry, I forgot mention in my first posting that I am just getting back into biking after about 5 years, and this would be the first 'real' (non crap store brand) mountain bike I have ever bought. So right now I'm trying to do research on my own online as much as possible and test out as many bikes as possible, but I would any really appreciate any advice you could give me.

Also, I forgot to mention the prices on the bikes in my last posting. The corrected list again is:

2006 gt avalanche 2.0 disc ($630 taxes incl, plus a 10% discount on top of that)
2005 specialized hardrock sport disc ($630 after tax, 2 yrs service included)
2005 marin bobcat trail disc ($632 after tax)
2005 giant rincon (no discs actually)
2005 giant iguana ($679.99 before tax, about $780 after tax)
2005 norco charger (on clearance, normally $1100, now $649 canadian)

after testing the norco charger I found that it's too big (it's a 22-inch frame, too big for me although I am about 6' 3", 220 lbs), so it's out of the running. I also tested a 2005 specialized hardrock sport disc which seemed nice and solid. I also tested out the GT and quite liked it as well; from what I read on the GT website it seems that they have upgraded the features on it quite a lot over the 2005 model. At this point I'd say the GT is the frontrunner in my opinion. I haven't tested the giant or marin models yet, but plan to do so soon. Again, thanks for any suggestions/advice you can give me. Cheers.