I dont see how BH's are that expensive? I recently got a complete set for 500...compared to Pitbulls at around 750. BH's are not the best at everything, but for trail riding and rock climbing in the hills of West VA, they are tough to beat and well worth the 5 bills imo.
Another tire I ran for about 1500 miles were the ITP Terracrosses. I really liked how they handled, and they would have lasted about 2500 miles, so pretty good imo. However, they were a pain to balance and I always had a shimmy at 30mph...drove me nuts too