I have a decent amount of time riding both sides of this fence. I have 26ers in both hardtail and full suspension, and a hardtail 29er is the most recent addition. I am a larger sized guy, and just plain like the feel of the 29er better. The 29er really does everything I have read about, it picks up speed like you haved pressed down the accelerator, rolls nicely over larger obstacles, and I think it handles well – I like how it just rips and carries speed in turns. The climbing is good, and I can side with the only possible weakness being tight, tight turns – but what would be expected on a rig that is just simply bigger?
As long as we’re all mountain biking we’re doing something right. As was suggested, get out and ride one, unless you have 29eritis. I caught a trek/fisher demo as it was in town and rode a 29er hardtail hi fi out on the trail I most frequent. That was the basis for the latest bike purchase (a different fisher 29er), and it was a good decision.