I had bad luck with sealant in tubes. More mess than it was worth. It just delayed the leaks and patches didn't hold. Maybe if we tried different sealants or something we would have had better luck, but we had such a disaster with slime tubes that I never tried again. We ultimately pulled them out and replaced them with regular tubes.
FWIW, I find the biggest factor in minimizing thorn flats in goat head country with regular tube setups is avoiding rolling off the pavement and when you do, checking the tires for thorns before heading out again. If riding off road in thorn country, I'd go tubeless for sure.
Oh, and I hate those thick thornproof tubes. They weigh a ton, kill the nice supple ride, and only delay the time it takes for the thorn to get through. At least that has been my experience.
Tubeless on the other hand has worked great on the bike where I have used it (I have not toured tubeless)! The Stans setup on my MTB is awesome. I went from at least weekly thorn flats to no flats at all. Zero!
Edit:
Maybe I should have mentioned that my experience with slime tubes was in 2007 so just maybe there has been some significant progress in sealant technology. About all I can say for sure is that I found the 2007 Slime tubes to be terrible and my fairly recent (2016) Stans setup to be awesome.
Last edited by staehpj1; 04-18-21 at 08:29 AM.