In many ways, I loved those tires. First time in my life I ever felt fast on a bike. They are also really comfortable and smooth. I just can't have flats that often on a bike used primarily for transportation.

Thanks for all of the advice and recommendations! I tried to reply to one of the posts here, but it looks like it got stuck waiting for mod approval?

Just wanted to let everyone know I ended up with the Schwalbe Marathon Plus. I did a little more research on the other tires I was considering, along with some of the suggestions posted here, but the Marathon's were the only tire that had overwhelmingly positive reviews everywhere I looked. I also liked that they were available from my LBS so I could get hands on and scope them out, as opposed to blindly ordering them online. I went with the Plus over the Supreme as I wanted to stick with 700x28c and the Supreme didn't seem to come in that size. The only two lingering points of hesitation that I had with them were (1) the difficulty to mount, and (2) the rolling resistance. As for point #1, I watched some videos of people mounting them before I bought them, and I was fully prepared for a struggle with zip ties and levers. But I'm happy to say I was able to mount both of them with my bare hands (!) in under 10 minutes. Perhaps it was the technique from the videos, but they were so much easier than I expected. As far as rolling resistance, they definitely feel a little heavier than my old Specialized Nimbus, but after 5 miles of riding so far, they don't feel *that* different. I'll need a little longer to get a better riding impression, but the added padding almost feels like it's a little smoother when riding over small bumps. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the decision, so thanks again for all the other suggestions and validation on the Marathons!