The reason I don't like the Michelin is that nice empty bar at the middle... With properly inflated tires, that middle rib will be important... By eliminating all tread there, I think it's a mistake...
Keep in mind that a big variable in a tires performance in many types of winter conditions (including deep standing water, slush, etc.) is the percentage of void to tread. A big groove (void) simply increases the weight per square inch on the remaining tread and helps evacuate water and slush from the contact patch. A common strategy is to size winter tires narrower in order to increase the weight per square inch of the tread that contacts the running surface, a void, such as the center groove, essentially does the same thing. Additionally, circumferential grooves increase directional stability by encouraging the tire to track true on soft surfaces.
For that reason, the DM-V1 will perform better under bad conditions!
Nonsense! I've spent a lot of my 35 years of driving on snow and ice (avid winter sports enthusiast) and "bad conditions" cannot all be lumped together into one category. There are an almost infinite number of winter conditions that can be treacherous and, in my experience, no winter tire is good under all conditions. Tread design is a compromise between different conditions.
If I had to generalize a tires performance based only on tread pattern differences I would say a highly siped tire with a circumferential groove like the Michelin xi2 is generally better than average on compact snow and ice (but again, much depends upon the rubber compound, sidewall characteristics and specific snow type). In deep, fresh snow at or below the freezing point, generally not so good due to packing and clogging of the tread.
I wish I could make a recommendation but, the fact is, winter tire technology and design has been changing so fast in the last decade and it takes me two to three winters to wear out a set so, when I'm in the market for a new set, I am not picking from models I have experience with. Furthermore, performance in most "bad conditions" is more due to the specific rubber compound used and the construction of the sidewall rather than small differences in tread pattern. For that reason it is difficult to tell how a tire will perform based only on the tread pattern. The good thing is that most winter tires available today are leaps and bounds above what was available 15 years ago. Regional and weather differences should also play a large part in winter tire selection. The snow, ice and road conditions in Quebec are much different than the snow, ice and road conditions anywhere in Pennsylvania or Washington for that matter. This is a very real difference.
Until a few years ago, I would select my winter tires based solely on which ones were most likely to have the highest traction on the kinds of snow and ice I typically encountered. While I ended up with some tires that could really rally hard under many treacherous winter conditions in my part of the world, I found it did me little good because everyone else was the limiting factor. I realized that any decent snow tire would work well enough to get me safely from A to B. I also noticed that the tires I was selecting really sucked on bare wet pavement (which comprised over half of my winter driving). Sure, they had adequate traction on bare, wet pavement but the cornering became mushy and the tires wore out too easily when pushed hard on wet corners. I'm really happy with my current winter tires, Goodyear UltraGrip Ice WRT in 225/65/17 because they are more than adequate on all kinds of snow and ice I've encountered but really rail the bare and wet corners (dry corners too) and have better steering feel and corner traction than the all season OEM tires. Much of it is personal preference, geographical differences, balance of snow/ice to bare pavement, balance of treadwear (durability) to ice traction, etc. Some people are happy to replace their tires every 8,000 miles if it will get them the winter performance they crave, others want to trade ultimate winter performance for a tire that will last multiple seasons.
