I just want to get opinions regarding the differences between the 2 atvs.

Mud?

Hill climbing?

Trail riding?

Speed?

Realiability?

Maintence?

Any thing else that is worthy of conversation?

 

I think the Traxter should be considered only if you're into low speed trail riding and work, and nothing else. It has some nice features, but they're not nice enough to make up for it's shortcomings.
The Traxter makes even the Sportsman seem like a lightweight, and that should tell you everything you need to know.

 

mwillia9, I have a traxter and just bought another. I asked for a 2001 but there were none in the area, so it's a 2002. I really like the first one, so here are my two cents. I really like all the big quads over 500, but the few items that made me go traxter was radiator in back, storage, baggage, power and weight. But the kicker was dealer, he was fair through the whole deal, thus, a second purchase. Here is your list back to you.

Mud? It's the driver and tires. Traxter comes with trailwolfs off the floor, (aka trailpuppies) but they'll do.

Hill climbing? No idea but it does fine for me. Chalk it up to weight. Where others spin I still had weight on the upside.

Trail riding? Traxter was real nice, but Sportsman rides better. It's more of a personal preference but I like my baggage to store stuff and it doesn't look like your loaded down.

Speed? I only got the traxter up to 55 with the breeze, Sprotsman is faster.

Realiability? I have a good dealer and I'm pretty good to the toys. It's only got 500 miles on it so it's OK now, but we'll see at 3-4000 how it is.

Maintence? You have got to keep up with and watch your dealers recall notices and keep up on maintenance yourself.


Any thing else that is worthy of conversation?

All the big ATV's are over $5-6K Traxter still is topping out at $6,500-7K for the basic's. That's like a small pickup. You could buy a lot of smaller cheaper ATV's for that price so it depends on your riding style and how often you ride. When I bought my 1st one it was a complete toss up between those two ATV's. I went with dealer.


Good Luck