thinking of buying an sportsman 500 ho or a arctic cat 500 auto what are the pros and cons

 

If you just want to ride, buy the AC500 manual. If you want to work on one all the time, buy the Polaris. Just read all the posts on this site and the High Lifter site and decide for yourself.

 

jim. as far as i'm concerned, both are good machines. you have to figure the kind of riding you are going to do. if speed is your concern the ac is out of the running there. if work is the goal then i say the ac wins. that was my need, along with the obvious goat trail riding. most people are hung up on the irs the 500 ho has. but if you are a big guy and need to carry a ton of weight then you can guess how fast you will chew up that ground clearance. the cat rides like a caddy and i really have never needed that "true 4wd". if you are a mudder, it may be a concern for you. my autocat has never gotten me stuck because it didn't have "true 4wd". anything would have been stuck where i was and i'll own up to overconfidence in my abilities. a winch will cure that. i'm very happy with my purchase and if i ever kill this one i'll get another. i won't put down another quad, but in my opinion this one is the best, for my needs. the most bang for the buck so to speak. e-mail me if i can help any. later.

 

I like them both but I bought a 500 Manual Cat. I just don't drive fast enough to need the 500 HO. I also liked having an extra $1000 in my pocket. I paid a ton of attention to these forums for about 2 monthes before I made my purchase too. Polaris guys get real defensive about their quads reliablity but they sure do have a ton of disappointing posts about various problems. I'm a pretty good mechanic but I spend enough time keeping my families fleet of 3 trucks and 2 cars running and my girlfriends family fleet of 3 trucks and a cadillac up to specs, I didn't want to worry about my quad too. I have to say the cat has not disapointed me. Go ride them and work a deal on the one you like. Be honest with youself and what you want to do on your quad. If you want to see an Artic Cat 400 and 500 along with a Polaris Expedition 325 and their performance check out my home page at http://lonestar.texas.net/~eeyore/atvhomepage.html
Most of those pics/videos are of us just playing but I'm working on some pics of the cats towing our trailer and fence posts along with some fire wood and brush clearing we do. Enjoy you new quad whatever you get.

Dakota R/T

 

I found myself inbetween these two machines also, well actually the shifter AC. There both great quads. If you like speed go for the SP. But I found that if you go 15mph or less most of the time the ac is far better. Like if your breaking a trail through a woods, I would choose the cat. It just seems much smoother in the power delivery down low. And if you like playing on hills I like the cat also, its lower center of gravity gives you more confidence. If you ride 15mph to 40 on average I would say its a toss up, of course the sp will be faster. And if you ride above 40mph most of the time get the SP. THe main reason I chose my CAT I got it for $1500 cheaper the I could get the cheapest SP, at the time. All I know is thats allot of cash for not that much gain in performance, well just top end performance. If you wanted to you could stick the extra cash in the cat right away and have a truely awesome machine. Well either way you go, you will be truely satisfied.
matty

 

Lets see, I like them both, I have the SP because of the great deal I got on it. It all depends on the kind of riding you do, someone on here said that the polaris is the best SPORT/utility and the ac is the best sport/UTILITY. Both great machines, and by the way -0- problems with my sp500 after upgrading the tie rod ends. Either will serve you well.

 

Watchem
I think what you said is backwards.

 

RSE500:
Just curious - what was the tie rod upgrade about?

 

My sp500 is a 2000 model, they came with junk tie rod ends. The new ho has a sealed tie rod end that looks beefier and hooks up a little different. Tightened the steering right up.

 

Jimcb,
Personally I would buy the ac500 auto. I know some like the shift and if you do it's great also. My father has a sp500 and its o.k. except there is always something breaking on it. He just dropped 650.00 on parts and labor to fix something. I lose track. My ac500 is a great ride and I will guarantee it will go anywhere his will go no matter what anyone says. The sp500 is a good machine I just think they are kind of snakebit with little messups and sometimes big messups. I know I may be a little biased, but my machine is $1000.00 dollars cheaper and in my opinion every bit as good. Ride them both and see for yourself. The sp500 special edition camo looks cool though.