jason, very unliklely you will have problems with the polaris belt, ask on polaris forum, I cannot speak to the honda's, however the sportsman 500 is considered bullet proof, when they went to the efi some gliches needed to be worked out. the steath model has some additional fetures; adc, and all black color. don't listen to capt. reconboy, ride what you want, let him do the shifting, what you get with the sportsman is a big/heavy, smooth riding powerful machine, a great atv tool if thats what you want. i love mine, you would be wise to ride them all then decide. the big bore twins that popo makes tend to run hot, radiator fan will run alot, they will not overheat unless the radiator is plugged with mud/snow. you may want to ask opinions on the polaris+honda forum, good luck dude.

 

I came across a Polaris one day out on the trail. It was brand new, only its second ride. The guy hadn't even ridden it hard...he was just a fisherman looking for a way to get into the back country, not a performance rider at all.

The rear IRS had come apart! There were parts, nuts, and bolts strung out all over the trail for 50 feet. The factory hadn't even tightened the bolts correctly...what an absolute joke!

We managed to pick up enough hardware to cob the machine back together so the guy could get out of the woods, but it was an eye opening look at what Polaris "quality" is really like!

 

recon, your typical polaris bashing rant, you really hurt my feelings, i need a hug.[img]i/expressions/brokenheart.gif[/img]

 

I was out camping/riding the other night and met up with a kid on a '04 polaris 700. We were talking and he told me that when he first brought it home it wouldn't start to get it off the trailer. The fuel pump was no good, brand new. Then he told me the list of parts that he's had to replace including all 4 wheel bearings at 1,000 miles. The funniest part about this is that he thought it was perfectly normal. Oh yeah, also, at 1,000 miles, the front diff is completely shot because he got it from the dealer with no oil in it and never bothered to check it. I personally would never even sit on a Polaris for fear of my Suzuki catching a disease from it. One thing I'll say about the Polaris's is that they seem to have great power. But that doesn't help when you're broken down 50 miles from home.

 

Another vote for ignoring reconkisser. If you asked the for the best vehicle to buy to take a trip to the moon he'd say "don't buy a polaris, they're heavy, I was on my way to the moon one time with my awesome monster bad boy recon and saw a polaris broke down just on the other side of youranis. Get the recon it is the best vehicle to choose if you're going to the moon, it will go anywhere that those over weight space ships will go plus did you ever have a 500 ton space ship roll over on you? Well you don't want one to, buy a recon, buy a recon, buy a recon."

Now for an actual opinion. My dad has two polaris's my sister in Oregon has one and I have one. I've had kawi's (good machine) yamahas (good machines, except the warrior) honda's (good machines except for lack of power for their size) and now my polaris which has been great. The only true 4wd (kind of), the best ride (definately), reliable I've never had a problem except a dead battery once (used the winch too much then parked it for about a month last Jan. and the battery froze). You should love the 800 stealth and the 500 efi. The Rincon is just a waste of time and the other two certainly aren't a "go out and have fun spinnin up the trails on machines". Hope you enjoy whatever you pick.