Hardtail: steel, plus or both?

Fleax

I'm deciding on my new trail bike and I have two options on the top of my list... both 27.5, one steel and the other plus...
Coming from a enduro full I want at least one of these characteristic to make it a little bit forgiving on rough terrains.
The two bikes are
- Orange P7 - steel not plus
- Santa Cruz Chameleon - alu plus

These are the other options that, for different reasons (price/availability/..), are low in my wish list...
- Marin Pine Mountain 2 - steel plus
- Mondraker Vantage - alu plus
- Cotic BFe275 - steel not plus
- Sonder Transmitter - steel plus
- Norco TORRENT 7.1 - alu plus
- DMR Trailstar - steel plus

Any thoughts/suggestions/alternatives?
I need a P7 plus

robertpb

No links and too many fashion items there.

FishFish

I've enjoyed hammering a P7 for about 239 years. Mine was / is the 2010 model converted to 1*10. I've binned other bikes but never that one.

rockmonkeysc

Plus size is being killed off. It just hasn't sold well so tyre choice is limited and expensive.
Modern aluminium frames are much more compliant than they used to be and current crash strength standards mean steel isn't as compliant as it used to be.
If I was buying a trail hardtail the only choice for me would be the Transition Throttle. I've not ridden one but seeing the abuse Chris Smith gives his down at the local bike park is impressive. It's fine off 10 foot drops, over huge doubles and flat out down rooty dh trails faster than most people could ride a proper dh bike.

Fleax

It's not about the fashion but there are not many steel frames around
I didn't have a chance to try a steel one on a decent run so I'm not able to compare it to an alu...
The throttle looks interesting but carbon and $$$