So. I been riding my kodiak 450 for a few months. It's fun. Does awesome in mud with the mods I have done to it. But after riding my brother in laws canam 1000. It's time for more quad. So I am giving the kodiak to my wife and looking for a good used quad. Narrowed down to 2.

2010 Polaris sportsman 850xp in red
797 miles 100 hours
2 inch lift
28" Bighorns on stock wheels
High lifter radiator relocate
Snorkel kit
Led's all over it for night riding
Original owner. Never been in deep mud or water.(not Above the tires)
This bike looks mint.
I haven't rode it yet.
Price 4200

Or

2011 Can Am outlander 800xt in yellow
701 miles 108 hours
2 inch lift
Snorkel kit
30" silveebacks on stock wheels
2 Bros exhaust
Fuel controller
Dyno tune
Clutch work
Has winch but no cable.
Bike looks like it's always sat outside. No broken plastics but some fade on gauges . Seat is trashed.(has new cover for seat). Every bolt is rusty. Just looks like he didn't take great care of it.
But runs like a scalded ape.
$5500 is his bottom dollar.

I mostly trail ride sliding around corners and playin in the mud. Nothing over 2 ft deep. Do a little rock crawling and hill climb here and there.

What's gonna last. What's gonna ride better on rocky trails. Which is the better buy? I mostly wanna mud. My bro in law is can am biased. So he no help.

Thanks.

 

Sounds like the Polaris is the nicer of the 2 and the best deal. Arctic Cat has been making a 1000cc quad for a while too. In fact the Thundercat(as it used to be called) was the first 1000cc quad ever built. I'm a bit partial to Yamaha myself and seeing you owned a Kodiak, I'm surprised you're not even looking at a Grizzly 700. It may not have as much hp as either of these but its a great trail quad with a torquey single cylinder. No it won't go 80 mph, about 65 mph is tops for even the newest Grizzly. That's the only weakness it has, it just doesn't have the top end speed of the bigger twin cylinder models.

 

Thanks For The Reply Greg. I looked for a Grizzly 700. But couldn't find one for a reasonable price. I'm not worried about top speed. I mostly want the get up and go.

I am kinda partial to the yamaha. My kodiak is a tank. But all the Grizzly 700 I find are just over priced and sadly I can get the Polaris 850 for cheaper.

 

Polaris is a more comfortable ride with a CVT that's more quiet than the Outlander. Both have crazy power. Can-Am will wheelie from a stop in high gear. Polaris comes on more gradually but will keep up with the Outlander. A lot of the Polaris machines have a nice box under the front rack. Great for storage. The Outlander has the Generation 1 spar frame. Pretty week in my book but you can insert a pre-made filler made out of aluminum or plastic. Son't Renegade has the plastic. I did aluminum box stock and filled the frame with it. The inside of the spare frame is 1.25" so you can buy box aluminum tubing, cut it to the proper length and bang them in there. Much stronger. The area that is weak on the G1 frames is right where the lower A-arms are mounted to the spar frame. Hit something hard enough and it will bend. Polaris, not so much. Heavier frame than the Can-Ams.

 

Well. I was utterly disappointed when I looked at the polaris up close. The snorkel kit was a joke plumbers caulk all over it. Red Led strip lights everywhere. *same lights as the crotch rockets use* broken tabs on all the plastics. Looked amazing at 10ft. But heavily neglected. Worse the the can am. The listing of course was bs. I wasn't comfortable buying either one for the prices they were at. Looked at probably 20 quad yesterday.

Finally just bought a mud pro. 2009. 359 miles and 61 hrs. Original owner. Looks brand new. Besides the 3 inch lift and loud HMF pipe. I like everything else about it.

 

Wow, you were busy! Congrats and enjoy. It definitely pays to be discerning and take your time looking for a used machine.

 

The Polaris at that price sounded too good to be true, and it turned out it was. People put those silly homemade crappy snorkel kits on quads all the time. Anytime I see that it has one, I quickly look at something else. The quad was almost certainly abused. The Mud Pro and Can Am XMR models come with factory installed snorkels. These were designed specifically for that quad. And it doesn't necessarily mean the owner sunk it in 5 ft deep water all the time, they just bought a quad that was capable of it. Many get that model because it comes with a winch and bigger, more aggressive tires than the regular models. I like the Can-Am XT package myself. I wish other manufacturers like Yamaha offered something like that. It offers better capability than the standard Outlander but isn't so jacked up that its only suitable for mud. Its still a great all-around performer and the cost of the XT package is reasonable too. Its about $750 more for a winch, skidplates, better front and rear bumpers and nicer wheels with more aggressive tires on a new model.

 

Yeah. I really wanted a can am. But all the used can ams I looked at were ragged or too much money. The can am dealer called. Said they approved me for a new 800 xmr. So. I may go on and get it. Just let the wife have the mud pro and sell my 450 kodiak. But I'm gonna see what kind of deal can am dealer is offering first.

Honestly tired of fooling with carburetors any ways.

 

If you want a new quad for playing in the mud Polaris has a High Lifter 850 and High Lifter 1000 for 2016. They have better tires than Can-Am or Arctic Cat.