I have used both the avid and hope mon trials (160 & 180mm)
I found my hope to be VERY un reliable, I have never got it to be as powerful as I would like from a brake, it never had any bite (but was exellent for stoppies).
I tried new pads, new rotors, re bleads etc. I got it working ok, but the lever wasnt how I liked it, it was too far out and pulled to far in.
I then washed my bike today with hope sh1t shifter (meant to be ok for disks), it just killed my mono trials, no power at all!
This was the final straw, I took it off and put my avid back on, its piss easy to set up, is waaay more powerful than my hope ever was and was super easy to adjust.
I am running mine with an ultimate lever and cheap cables (tried nokon, was crap)
Its the smoothest brake out there, way easier to pull than my hope was.
I havnt had any problems with heat fade (and you should see the hills I have to ride down!) but I have knocked the dials off in the past.
If you havnt guessed by now, I reccomend getting an avid, it blows away the hope in every category but weight.