Ok! Honestly which machine the ac 650 or the 700 efi? I am looking for reliability and durability here. I have been in both chat rooms and am having a hard time in making my decision. I know people are very brand loyal but this is going to be my first atv, and I want the best. I notice on both the Polaris and Artic Cat websites they don't compare each other's machines. Any opinions?

 

I have read and heard from friends who talked to their Polaris dealers that the 500HO and 600 will pretty much do whatever the 700 will do and handle better to boot. My only experience is with a std 500 Polaris.

Check my other post regarding my recent 160 mile trail test of my AC650 and my friends SP500. My AC 650 was my first ATV and I chose it after lots of research.

 

I have ridden both the AC650 and the Polaris 700. I have not ridden a 700 EFI. I prefer the ride and performance of the AC650. The 650 has a wonderful engine and tranny. My friend has a 700 and he loves the machine. The one thing I have noticed is he is always fixing his machine. Something always brakes. Maybe it is just him but I go everywhere he goes and I am never fixing my AC 500 or my AC 650. I have been really happy with the reliability of the Arctic Cat machines that I own. Since I am a flatlander I am really interested in the EFI setup because I can just go from Wisconsin to the west without tuning. I have heard that AC is looking at putting and EFI engine in their machines next year. But that is just speculation. Either way I would recomend the 650 over the 700 just because of the reliability.

 

Another note:

When I was looking at Yamaha Grizzlys, the same dealer sells Polaris. He said they are decent rigs with good features But................... Polaris come in for repairs about 4x as often as Yamaha and he sells more Yamahas.

A buddy of mine has a Polaris Expedition 425 that he uses for hunting and farm work. It is not babied. He likes it even though I notice there are things broken on it and stuff that don't work right on it. It has a foot shifter and it is a bear to shift. Must be a Polaris thing as the SP500 I rode liked to grind gears trying to shift between H-N-R everytime.

I think you can get a good one and a bad one in any make. There are even guys on the Honda forum that have problems now and then and they are as reliable as it gets.

 

I have a 700 twin, not efi, and a new cat650le. There is no comparison...........hands down cat650le.

 

Wow NORYCE, you have the 700 and 650!!!! I have some questions for you...

1) what do you do that you would need BOTH of these big machines

2) how did you tell you wife you needed BOTH of these big machines

 

I have avoided the wife thing and I own a Forestry Consulting Company, I make many of the trails where I work so I need some ground clearance. Good question!!!! I am starting to like the mtr's on the 650le for the flex when log and rock crawling. Peace and Chicken Grease!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hey Catterman I noticed you have sleds... I have a cat sled I have some q's about. Think you could help on some choke problems? New to sleds...I was trying to get it to stop snowing in WV... It worked!

 

Hey NORYCE, what kind of choke problems are you having? I am not the best machanic in the world, but I have been working on sleds for a while. One big reason I went with EFI it to avoid it. I still ride my Prowler a lot though, and have the choke all figured out for that machine.

 

New to forum, trying trying to figure out which of these to buy. Spoke w/AC factory rep at Bass Pro on Saturday 3-20-04, he said AC coming out w/EFI in a couple of months. I found a Jan. 04 press release from AC indicating they are experimenting w/it. I think Polaris surprised 'em by coming out with the EFI before they did.

From what I've read on various threads in the last several days, it sounds like an AC 650 (or 700) w/EFI would be the ticket. Anyone have any hard news on when they're supposed to come out? What say you?