Overweight???

[QMaze]

Is it true the Polaris Sportsman 700 are like 750 pounds dry??? How do they ride and steer? Always always been a Yamaha fan but after seeing all the ATVObsession photos I'm now finding myself looking at the Polaris.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Ride one....

You'll never look back...... Unless your stopped waiting for that damn Honda to catch up..... Right Dusty?

[Ken]

Hey..thanks for coming in.


Yep...they're heavy. But, I've never picked it up.


They ride very stable....I think it's a combination of the weight and the suspension. I'll be honest...I'm biased to Polaris....but I do like Arctic Cat's.


Why I like both of these quads? SUSPENSION, Clearance and Locking Front Differential.

The other manufactures, are finally adding manually locking differentials...where most had "limited" slip. (Honda still doesn't have it)...but check the stats....NOBODY has clearance and suspension travel like Polaris and Arctic Cat.

I've NEVER..and I've obviously needed it many, many times...never NOT had it auto-lock the front differential when I needed it. It's locked EVERY time....So...if you said..."blah brand you can manually lock the front"...I'd reply....yeah, but you probably have to stop for a second or you're already stuck and all momentum has been lost. A little slip of the rear wheel...and the Polaris locks up solid.

For rocks...I couldn't recommend 2 better ATV's than the Polaris and Arctic Cat.

Add the EFI into the mix....and it's unreal. I have the non-EFI and if you see the pictures on the front page of us doing accidental wheelies....ALL 3 of the ATV's died and wouldn't start because the carb's flooded from the tilt. With EFI...Terry and I could have backed up.....Jack was flat out screwed.

To summarize....if you're looking for a nimble ATV for jumping and stuff....Forget it. But if you want some muscle...the weight is nice. Also explains why Polaris has the heaviest weight ratings for the front and rear rack.
Hope that helps.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Thanks Ken for the update..... I'll remember that when I get the first 800 EFI.... Be-Otch. lol....

[wibornz]

There really is not that much of a weigh difference. Yes you say it weighs 750 pounds and the other are around 600 pounds. While this is true, we need to add many things to the others for them to be like the Polaris.

Other have plastic skid plates. Polaris has steel. So go spend the money and put real protection on. Polaris comes with good 6 ply tires and steel wheels. Ohters come with onion skins for tires and cheap aluminum wheels. Spend 600 dollars on some real tires and wheel.

Real Skid plates = 30 pounds or more
Real tires and wheel = 80 pounds or more

Spend all the money and you will for the other brands or just ride the stock Polaris. After adding the aftermarket stuff to be equal to the Polaris you will be within 20 or 30 pounds, not much of a difference. Rider weigh can easly vary that much.

So as I alway say unless your racing on a track, the weigh issue is not really an issue at all.

[Mr. Miyagi]

WiBornz - 9000 miles? How olds your quad? How often do you ride? and.... What's your average trip distance?

[wibornz]

I have land so I can and often do ride every day right at my house. We go riding trips about once a month from March to November and we put on about 100 to 300 miles on each trip. The SP500 is a 2000. My 4.5 700efi already has about 1300 miles on it. We are leaving for the Hatfield and McCoy trail system next Thursday. 16 of us are going. We will do well over 300 miles on this trip. Live to ride atvs. I have rode 165 miles in one day at Windrock in TN, and done 200 in one day in the U.P. of Michigan.

[Ken]

Holy crap....serious miles.


Funny...we ride all day....and we go 13 miles. Trust me...we're still pooped, from all the rock abuse.

[Thrasher]

we do long trips like that too...longest was 163 miles in 1 day...on an average ride we do about 60...on muddin days, about 20..if we hit trails too..

[RobG]

The Poos are very heavy, but I think it's a good thing. My Grizzly may only be 600 dry, but with all the crap I carry on it, I guarantee I'm probably close to 800 lbs now with a full tank of gas. And the upside is that it compresses the suspension, giving it sag, which makes the ride better than if it didn't have any sag. I suspect the Poo weight will help with that as well.

When I decided on my Grizzly back in May of 2002, I looked at the three big-bore choices at the time -- the Grizzly, the Prairie 650, and the SP700. I chose the Grizzly because at the time I wanted IRS and to be able to have 4wd and a locker at my command, not the quad's. Since that time, I've had the chance to ride a Sportsman a few times in very technical situations (rocks mainly) and am thoroughly impressed with its 4WD system... enough so that I'm now considering a new SP500 or SP700EFI... and Ken and the others have been leaning more towards the 700EFI now.

Miles... I have 4000 miles on my Grizzly, and if I hadn't dinked around with an Arctic Cat 400 and a Rincon over the past few years too, odds are I'd have over 6000 on it. The motor is still all-original and I expect it will remain that way until 10k or more. Many of the exploring trips I've been on will net us around 80-110 miles a day over the course of 3-4 days. The day's mileage ultimate depended on how cool the ghost towns and mines were that we'd find along the way.

Rob

[Ken]

LOL...sorry Rob...not trying to spend your money. Just trying point out options.


And I TOTALLY agree with your 4WD assessment. When I first heard about it, I wasn't convinced. Then Jack (he had a SP600 before I bought mine), told me it worked great. Knowning that Jack has a Jeep and done the Con many many times...I knew I could trust him.

Surprising, and I can say this honestly...It's never let me down, in some fairly bizarre circumstances. In all the crazy positions, cambers, rocks all over and under...I've never bitched my ATV out cause it wouldn't go into 4WD. Trust me...I would swear like a sailor, if it didn't.

[RobG]

Ken... maybe you can answer this for me... this is why I had some concerns about the system. And while it appears to work great the few times I've ridden a Sportsman, I don't have nearly enough seat time to say for certain that it's like this all the time.

Since, as it's explained to me, the system engages 4WD when the rear wheels slip 1/5th of a rotation, it seems that trying to climb rocks when the system isn't already engaged could be problematic/scary/dangerous. This is my #1 concern. Also, under what conditions does it decide it's no longer needed and disengage?

Thanks!

Rob

[Ken]

It seems to engage instantaneously....so even if you're crawling along...just a tiny slip (probably less than what you can even realize), it engages.

Just letting off the gas....lets it disengage.

[Mr. Miyagi]

I don't have nearly enough seat time to say for certain that it's like this all the time

Buy one and you'll get all the seat time needed... lol

[mitch4x4]

i am new here so hi everyone....so let me get this right when you hit the magic botten to put it in awd is dosent go intill i tiny slip of the back wheel...is it in like 4 wheel drive like honda style..no fence honda onwers then when it feels a slip all 4s star pawing?