What would be a better quad to get for mud, snow, water, climbing logs, woods riding, hunting, trapping. I don't care for fast trail riding and sportiness. The same applies for a AC 300 4x4 and a honda Rancher, which would be better?

 

Personally, I like Honda so I might be subjective in suggesting you to get a Honda instead of the AC. I have Rancher and I feel it is the best machine for me. It is well balance, maneuverable, and has plenty of power. However, choosing between the Rubicon and the Rancher is only a matter of how much power you need. If your a bigger guy 200+ or 6'+ I might recommend the Rubi. If you're a smaller guy like me at 160 or 5.8' go with the Rancher. Or just wait till late spring and get the new Rancher 400AT when they come out.

 

Friends have Arctic Cats and love them. I love our Rubicon. So all I can say is buy a Rubicon. You might see if there is any way to get any seat time on either one. The AC will ride alot smoother, but I think the Rubicon will be a better worker.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

I think the rancher would be all around better than the ac 300. The things you want out of a quad, I think that the ac 500i would be just as good because they climb really good, have such great ground clearance for mud, and logs. I have a rubi and they do everything well and I am sure it will last you as long as the 500i butit won't get you down the trail as smooth. I have been considering the 500i as a option for my next bike because it has the ground clearance to go through mud easier, will be a better climber and has disc brakes, and a two wheel drive option, the last two items are something I wish my honda had. Go test both out and see which one fits your needs another thing to consider is which one will cost less, both are great bikes.

 

I dunno, some guys here haven't had much luck with reliability with their Cats. My Forman has operated flawlesly since new.

 

Nick01, Regarding your disc brake and 2 wheel drive comments, I think Honda feels the triple sealed drum brakes on the Rubi still work better in wet, mud and snow than disc brakes do.
I've had no problems with mine, when my buddy with the Yamaha Kodiak couldn't stop properly when his discs were wet and frozen.
I installed a Warn 4-2-4 kit on my Rubi which allows me to switch from 4 wheel drive to 2 wheel and back on the fly. It works fine and the supplied parts appear to be as heavy duty as the original Honda parts.
As far as choosing between AC and Honda, I find Honda has a far better balance and lower centre of gravity which is great for trail riding and rock climbing. And then there is the reliability factor....

 

I wish that Nick01 would answer your statement about brakes, because his Honda drums are basically worthless due to wet and muddy conditions.

For rock crawling stability, you can't beat an independant suspension. Unbelievalbe in uneven terrain such as rocks.

And I haven't seen a lot to say that Arctic Cats are unreliable either. If its 300 class, I'll take the Rancher. For 500's, I want the 500i all day. My brother in law just bought one and it is something to behold. Ground clearance with stock 25" tires is as much as my 660 with 27's.

 

If there is one thing I can say out of all my years servicing quads. I would have to say that I see alot more AC's in the shop for simple maintenance issues. I will not knock any brand of quad though. I like the way AC's perform and they are alot of fun. I just notice that there are more simple problems with them than Honda. I own a AC Thundercat (snowmobile) and I love it. but I do notice that AC has a tendancy to need alittle TLC at times more often then it should. So I would recomend Honda just for that reason if not anything else. I think the best thing you can do is go to a dealership and tell them you are going to buy for sure but you want at least 5 minutes seat time on both units so you can decide which one feels good to you.

 

Hey Andy I haven't seen you on here for a while, I would have replyed sooner but I have been watching all of those bowl games and riding the rubi around. RubiconNS when you put a honda in deep (racks) water/mud and stay there for any amount of time you will prabably be cleaning out those freakin drums. When it was new it wasn't much of a problem but after about four or six months it started leaking mud into the brakes, it's now only a year and a half old and I don't go muddin exept about once every month or two because I will have to clean the brakes out when i get it home so I don't have to replace the wheel bearings. My family has owned Honda's for years now and everyone of them have had the brakes cleaned out several times. So I say that drums suck, every four wheeler we have owned has had drums so I do know a little about the subject. Also the warn 424 sounds like a cool idea but sh*t I paided 6-7k for a new bike and then I am expeced to pay 300 more for a 424 if I want to do some powersliding, the next one I but will have 2wd select as a standard feature. I have seen the new cats in action and they are awsome climbers, they also have a good track record for reliability in my area.

 

The honda disc brake conversion kit is a good idea. Honda should take a hint from that. I would have thought they would have caught on back in 99 when the other big 3 (Kawi,Yama,Suzi) all at least upgraded most of their utilities to discs up front at least.

I would need to drop about $600 in parts just to get the brakes on my 89 Honda 300 halfway active again. I've definitely thought about it, but will never do it cause the bike itself probably isn't worth more than $1200.