AVID Elixir 5's - good or a disaster?

Have come across a set of Avid Elixir 5's (front and rear, no rotors) for about 80 euro shipped to my door. Plan is to upgrade the Juicy 5's I currently have on my 2005 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Comp.

Thing is, the online reviews are either 'these are great' or 'avoid at all costs, buy Shimano instead'. So looking for a bit of advice - are the Elixir's worth getting to upgrade the brakes on the bike? Anyone have any first hand experience with the Elixirs? Would like to upgrade the brakes but don't want to spend a fortune when the bike is only worth a few hundred quid at this stage...

Thanks in advance,
Hatcho.

Had 7s and Crs (extremely expensive) when the worked they were great, but that was 20% of the time. So, overall, crap. I went into Expert Cycles and bought some Shimano Deores for cheap. I have never looked back

Had them on my trance for two years as they came with the bike . Were ok when new but progressively got worse and worse. Got sick of the screeching and crap stopping power and buying new pads so often so replaced them with middle of the road Shimano ones and there is no comparison.
If you want good stopping power and reliability , go for Shimano.

Heard avid can be a pain on the maintenance
Shimano all the way good value great performance extremely low maintenance

Well in the end I invested in a set of Formula T1s from CRC. Picked up full brakeset (front and rear with 180mm rotors) for the princely sum of €138. So hopefully that's the end of my endless days of bleeding the Avid Juicys...

Thanks again for the help and advice...