2018 Anthem Advanced or Athem 2 27.5er

When I was looking at the Anthem last year, as we have more models to choose from, I forwent the full Carbon frame as I don't race and didn't feel the greatly added cost was at all justifiable for the Advanced. In the Anthem lineup, I did ponder for a bit the 2017 Anthem1 thinking that it would be nice to have the XT lineup and composite rims, but the cost was close to $4100cdn that was a bit harder to justify just for a recreation bike. After lots of pondering I ended up getting the 2017 Anthem2 this January that has SLX but the older M615 breaks and XC2 rims, but ended up geting it for $2400cdn. By comparison the newer Anthem2 now lists for $3200cdn and none of the bike stores are giving any discounts right now for the start of the season, and I figure that with the $800 savings, I could more than cover the cost of buying a second set of better rims, replace the M615 breaks if/when they wear out if I end up not liking them, and when it comes time to service the Float34 shocks, just get the travel kit to convert them from the 120mm to 130 (or even 140mm if I find I want more) as its pretty easy to make the mod.

You were asking about the difference between the two models.

I found that the Fox34 Rhythem felt very comfortable and more connected compared to the Rockshox Yari that I tried on the Anthem SX. Now I know they are also two different bikes and the Yari is not a Revilation. I am not a weight weenie and not racing, so for me, I'd find it hard to justify the added cost. As I said in the first paragraph, if I found that the rims are not living up to my desire as the ones I got are XC2 so not as wide, I'd be far better off to just replace them fully with a better set than what the upgrade cost was to get the next model up.

I don't know where in the US you are, but you might find that you can get a better deal on getting a Giant up here in Canada as we have an in between Anthem1 that has alux frame, but composite XC1 rims and the GX Eagle 1x12 that might be a racing advantage for what works out to around $3550us if you do the cdn to us conversion.