Ive owned several 4x4 atv's over the years including a 2002 Kawasaki prairie 650 and a 2004 prairie 700. Ive always liked the grizzly so I'm thinking about buying one. The kawasakis have never let me down, I just want to try a IRS quad and don't like the whiny transmission on the Kawasaki. With that said, I'm looking for a used 2007 or newer grizzly. Is there one year better than the other in this range? If you have the choice between power steering or not, which one should I choose? Is there a big power difference between the 700 and the 550? I want to plow snow and possibly trail ride. If I decided to bite the bullet on a new one, should it be power steering or not? Thanks in advanced.

 

I have power steering on my Can-Am and like it a lot. It's great in slow, technical terrain, and also helps to dampen some of the bumps and jarring hits when encountering rocks and roots, etc.

Been on the 550 on a demo ride and it was pretty nice with their power steering system. Both are good reliable rides.

 

Hands down on the grizzly get the one with the power steering. On the grizzy they are VERY tough to turn if you have the diff lock engaged on models without the powersteering and if you are going to be plowing with it you will more than likely be using the diff lock with lots of turning at slow speeds. Your arms will thank you for it.

 

I agree about power steering with diff lock on constantly while plowing.

Usually,diff lock is only used for a short section on a very low traction spot of the trail then you switch it back to easy steering 3x4 or 2wd once through since diff lock can not even be engaged in High range for safety reasons.

I was at our Dealer and the price of the 550 with power steering was the same as a 700 without it, its a $1000 option.

I think Id take the 700 without P.S for the same price since I never found any ATV hard to steer even my full time 4wd 350 Big Bear and 450 Foreman.

Since you only plow in low range the 700 will not push snow and better then a 550 a larger motor does not have anything to do with traction and the 550 is a 60 mph ATV,there not many trails around here where I can even hit 40 mph safety.

 

not a big fan of the grizzly's suspension. the new ones seem to lean too much around the corners and feels unstable to me. I'm not a big brute force fan either, but I would perfer smoothness of the kawi's twin over the grizz's single cylinder. Then again, at least you don't have to hold in a silly yellow lever to engage the diff-loc on the grizz.

 

I used to feel the same way about power steering- but having owned an atv with DPS for a few months now, I've seen the light

DPS isn't really about how "easy" it is to steer an atv- it's more about having better control and reducing arm fatigue over rough terrain like rock gardens.
non-powersteering atv's produce a ton of steering deflection when crawling through rock gardens, especially with larger than stock tires on- DPS removes just about all of that bar deflection, relieves the forearm pump and fatigue- especially when climbing up steeper, rocky trails like this one- with power steering- you can climb a hill like this with almost one hand. with no DPS, you're fighting the bar deflection the whole way up. This washed out hill is a lot steeper then it looks in the pic. the rocks on the way up were huge.

imo- but the atv with the power steering- you will not regret it

(that was the only spot jgar got stuck on his sport quad!)

 

If a bought a grizzly with power steering and the unit craps out, can you replace it with just a steering shaft or do you have to replace the steering unit with a new one?

 

Take the 550 with power steering , as for there power steering systems there very reliable I have 4000 miles on mine without one problem infact the whole machine has been flawless in all that time .

 

I have an o7 700 grizzly and love it, 2000 miles with no troubles.
The 550 and the 700 are basicly identical except for the engine.
Go to a dealer and test drive the two and see if you like the bigger motor.

 

Here's a quote from a article on the Yamaha Grizzly quote " Noticing that the 550 EPS is priced very close to the non-EPS 700 , even being the HP junky that I am , I would pick the 550 with EPS if my budget was limiting me to that choice . It does everything that the 700 does , and does it cheaper " end of quote .