I did want something a bit more obscure. Primarily the bike was just for commuting etc.
Other bikes/brands I had in mind:
Orange
Scott
Giant
Trek
Marin
Kona
Carerra
Norco
Merida
Iron Horse
Specialized
I'm sure there are plenty of other bikes out there for "that coin" in fact a lot of very nice older bikes with some nice upgrades were sold for around about the same price and I wasn't lucky enough to snap it up!
One that sticks in my mind was a Yellow Marin, I should of bookmarked the bike, with what appeared to be some very nice upgrades, older and went for around the same price.
Eventually I looked at a good few bikes, most were quite bad and due to space limitations the bike had to be in A1 condition, the rockhopper was in the right place at the right time - I did have a few reservations about the price, but given the amount of time and money spent on petrol buying the bike made some sense.
What else could you recommend/buy for similar money so I know what to look out in the future. Buying a bike is one thing, discovering you've bought a crock is another