I am looking for advise on which machine I should buy?
I would mainly use it for plowing snow and pleasure trips including some mountain riding and moose hunting.

Thanks,

 

both would be great choices

 

In my opinion, the Cat would be better (as I own one!) It has more ground clearance, more rack capacity, and suspension travel. I too use it for plowing and moose hunting, see my picts of how good it works. And I only have the 400!!!

 

Either one would be good. The AC does have more ground clearance and travel (not by a big margin though). The Polaris has the same rack capacity as the AC. The Polaris has a higher rated towing capacity. Bottom line is that either of these 2 big bores (and for that matter all the big bores- Brute Force, King Quad, Grizzyly) are so competitive in their own ways it would be hard to make a bad choice. The one factor (or technical spec) that you may heavily want to consider is the EFI. There are many people who feel EFI is the way to go (no jetting, mpg, performance, etc) and others who think it's more of a liability than a benefit (perhaps less reliable than a simple carb, less capable of handling serious engine hop ups).

Ulitmately you should test drive both - that will probably make your mind up. A few other factors would be dealer support. A good dealer would be enough to sway me. Also you might want to factor price in too.

 

if you thorw a bunch of stuff on the rack of the arctic cat you got the heavy duty metal racks good and reliable the polaris racks are that cheap plastic and we all know how plastic is when it is cold i have broken 2 polaris racks this summer they should go back to the metal ones in my opinion and you mentioned hunting and the polaris is very very high maintanence i just got back from hunting we had my 650 my dad's 450 foreman both with big tires another honda and suzuki and 1 polaris we had troubles with the polaris all weekend and just let it sit at camp the only reason the 700 polaris has a higher towing rating is cause a they are quite a bit heavier and 2 they say that is a safe weight to tow to save there butts i can guarantee you that all the big bores can probably tow i guess i shouldn't say anything cause i am not a polaris fan at all i used to work there and live about 15 miles from the factory but the efi would be nice for not having to rejet i will give them that for pioneering the way for efi in an atv (there i said something nice bout them so the polaris guys can't yell at me now)

 

I personally am staying away from the "big bores" until I see a manual transmission. But if I had to I would go with the AC but wait for the H1 to come out in Jan?...Feb?...March?...Apr...?

I don't like the engine braking on the polaris. AC has excellent engine braking.

Just my 2 pennies worth
SJ

 

Sort through peoples biases and go with the one that works best for you. ATVers are very brand loyal.

 

I would go with the 2005 ac with the 500 suzuki, duramatic transmission and the fully lockable 4wheel drive

no thats bullet proof

my two cents

 

what about the polaris 800/ Again, both are really good machines and it depends on what feels comfortable to u/If u want EFI, the suzuki king quad is a nice machine as well

 

Just wanted to thank everyone for their advice and add the following comments...

I've decided on the Polaris because of the following, correct me if I'm wrong?

I find the Polaris has the following going for it:
-Shifter on the right, good for plowing as it frees up your left hand for controlling the winch.
-Faster shifting when plowing, as you can go directly from reverse to low, thru neutral.
-Park as opposed to the AC which only has a parking brake.
-I like the plastic or composite racks and storage space (the metal racks on my Yamaha rusted the first year and only had storage under the seat).
-Sheering control much better on Polaris, the AC felt like the front wheels were right under the machine and turned much harder.
-About 50 lbs. more weight, which will help for plowing and hauling.
-Of course EFI although, my Yamaha started first time every time in cold weather.
-Also, I like to give credit where credit is due; if it weren't for Polaris and their great innovations we probably wouldn't have a lot of the technology we have on ATV's now.

Thanks again.