I used to shy away from Trek and Specialized and a number of brands. Partly because I thought they were expensive and posers rode them, because the best racers have been winning on them and getting a lot of media coverage. A lot of Trek and Specialized riders on the trail are actually having fun and have a lot to say about how much they like the bikes. Of course, there's some ******bags that are super rich and buy them because it looks good on top of their Audi RS1 or whatever, and only ride them once a month or week on group rides, and Specialized sort of caters to these types, but I think they're the minority. When I finally opened up and stopped with the prejudice and test rode the bikes, I wanted one. They were really good and the prices on them seemed reasonable, upon a little research with a closer look when comparing to the competition. The retail price didn't agree with my bank account, so I found a deal on an used one and now it's my favorite bike by far. I'm going to hold onto it until it's on its last legs and hope an old model clearance sale pops up when that time comes, though I doubt that'll happen, from what I hear from bike shop employees and how the popular models are often sold out.
Treks, in my experience, have no outstanding personality. They're sort of neutral, with a focus on balance, versatility and lightness. I've tried a few bikes with "personality", like extremely stiff and lightweight XC racers, slack aggressive stable descender, nimble play bike that likes to pop off all the rocks and rollers for a little air, and found them to compromise too much in other areas to define their performance in a certain aspect. I ended up with a "bike quiver", collecting a number bikes, each focused for certain things, but I couldn't find a trail that really allowed me to really have all out fun any of those bikes that I could ride as often as I like. 6 bikes in the garage is a bit more for 1 person, so I started to look for that one "do-it-all" bike, which doesn't really exist, to phase out the quiver of bikes and simply keep 1 or 2. I found that the balanced feel of some Treks (Fuel EX, Remedy and SF100 if you count that) is quite possibly the closest thing to fitting that description. They leave something to be desired, where you want to try other people's bikes because they do one thing better, and make you envious, but I find that you can easily go back to the Trek once you find out the many things it does worse (but still acceptable).
There's a lot of bikes out there that are high quality and it's hard to go wrong picking any of them and having a good time riding them, but I think it's simply more of a case of finding what you specifically want in a bike if you are looking for that "perfect" bike. After only a year of riding many different bikes, I've begun to clearly notice the "ride feel" certain manufacturers put into each of their bikes. It just happens that Trek makes the bikes that I feel fit the bill of "do-it-all" best, with their lightweight balance. I'm also a fan of Yeti, for how they pedal so well and accelerate for how much travel the bikes have. Wish I could sort of combine the stiffness and acceleration of a Yeti with the lightweight balance of a Trek, but I think that's impossible, since Yeti "puts weight into the frame" to get that feeling and Trek is more likely to remove that weight and yet try to retain as much capability in the frame as possible. Lighter bikes are more fun, in general, but that speedy acceleration and plush suspension is fun too...
Tough decisions to make, since you may feel that you might regret a purchase and they're not really cheap. I'd say, if you're really into mtn biking, I don't think you'll land your perfect bike that you have no regrets about until at least owning 2 bikes. It might take 12 bikes for some. It all depends on your perceptiveness, senses, and intelligence in figuring out what you're looking for in a bike. Trek has the advantage of having one of the largest teams of engineers and test and design equipment to help make bikes better in general, but then again, they have one of the largest lines of bikes, so choosing between them seems to be more based on what, where, and how you like to ride. The wisest thing to do is to simply pick a bike based on what local trails you ride and not a bike you want to ride on in your dreams, on a track you've seen in pics or videos, thinking you'd grow into it and it'll lead you to be like the riders you've seen shredding those trails if you keep at it and endure through the suffering, assuming the suffering will make you better. Basically, don't forget about the fun and don't be a poser. People enjoy seeing others having fun and approve of choices that are wise and reasonable, but people just look at posers with funny expressions.
