Suntour vs. RockShox Air 29er forks

[TonyMax]

I'm investigating my first mountain bike and looking new, and the two I'm tossing up between have their major point of difference in the forks. They're both 100mm travel air forks with lockout and the choices are:

RockShox FS 30STK29 SA (on the more expensive bike option)

and

SR Suntour XCR air LOR

My question is how bad are Suntour forks really or how much better than them are RockShox? I will be doing 90% fire trails climbing and descending (not at downhill speeds) to begin with at least for a few months, will I really notice the difference that much?

Price difference between the bikes is ~$300, both are hardtail 29erswith mostly Shimano groupsets, the cheaper bike has a triple FSA crankset and the more expensive has a Shimano double.

I'm currently at 85kg (no lightweight) and 5'11"-6'.

[Duck!]

Rock Shox every day. Even their basic models have functional damping, which cannot be said for the Suntour.

[ldrcycles]

The vast majority of my mountain biking has been on SR Suntour forks of varying age and usefulness. They last and are certainly better than no suspension at all, but if you can stump the extra 300 i would go for the RS.

[ADF_Sutto]

What are the two bike options?

I just picked up a 2017 Merida Big Nine 500 yesterday. I wanted a HT 29er, I didn't know too much about the forks but it has the Rockshox which the bike mechanic showed me how to work and re-pressurise.

Sorry I can't tell you more about it yet as with the rain I'm pretty sure the Sydney trails will be wrecked.

[TonyMax]

What are the two bike options?

I just picked up a 2017 Merida Big Nine 500 yesterday....

Big Nine 300 vs. 500, I ended up going with the 500 which should be ready for me to pick up some time this week .

[ADF_Sutto]

Nice work Tony, funny enough I still advent' been able to take mine out due to travelling for work straight after and then having family here this weekend.

Can't wait to get it out though, hoping you're having more fun on yours...

[trailgumby]

Suntour's air forks are adequate.

I can't say the same for their coil spring entry level forks, which are terrible.