Pure dex bird vs pure dex bear.....preferred? Why?

[Superdexme]

I like the buff the bear has and the extra health over the bird..any comments?

[Ixillicus]

Bear might have the additional buff of damage and more health, but the bird has more dodge and it has a vareity of skills which have a bigger range than that of the bear. It can root and use blast shot, blind etc from a distance. If the bear fails to beckon the bird in to use some of it's close range skills, the bird will definitely win.

[Riccits]

as remixi said, dex bear is mostly a fail in pvp. he hasnt any ranged skills appart becon. and if the bird roots him or a mage freezes him, he cant even shoot and due to his low armor and dogde he will fall fast.

in pve i prefer dex bear bcz its more fun imo. i cant tank like a str bear but its ok with using a lot hp pots.

[Gaunab]

You should specify level and purpose (PvE or PvP) to get helpful answers.

For PvP, Dexbears are decent from 10-20 and also at 51-56. Dexbirds become useful 50+ in PvP, and also are at Endgame, tho they have been weakened for FFA purposes :/

For PvE, at lower levels the bear will propably be stronger due to the massive damage/crit boots of rage.
However, from 30 upwards birds will propably have a higher damage output and single target damage because of their ranged skills. Bears lack those, but they have some strong buffs and the ability to 'crow-control'. So you should consider tanking (which will be much easier in Str gear) and leaving the clearing part to mages/birds. When in a very strong (or potted) group you can always switch to Dexgear since a tank won't be needed. For soloing or damage dealing only (which isn't the main job of a bear IMO) Dex/Int is your best choice.
Some sets like the sentinel/custom talon sets are nicely balanced between tanking stats and damage dealing and do also offer range. ;)