I am new to ATV's and have whittled my purchase choice down to the Honda Foreman ES or the Polaris Sportsman 400. Both appear to be great machines that will meet my needs for Price, Power and Features. I live in Central Florida where the majority of my riding will be light to heavy forest with all density undergrowth, hills at most (no mountains except for a rare trip to N.C.), plenty of muck while avoiding outright swamp. Recreation and sightseeing only (no high speed, no jumping, etc.) My personal observations about both units can be summed up as such...

- Although marginally less expensive, the Polaris appears to offer a
slightly higher level of technical sophistication. Liquid cooling, disk
brakes, independent rear suspension, and variable ratio transmission all
come to mind. On the flip side, complexity is not always a hallmark of
reliability.

- The Honda appears to offer sealed systems that Polaris put grease fittings
on. I get nervous about the term 'sealed unit' but I have no experience
with this type of unit in this type of environment.

- Honda appears to have quality built into their name. Although I know it's
like comparing apples to oranges, I have friends with Honda ATV's dating
back to the '80s with no major problems other than routine maintenance and
replacements. Conversely, I have no plans to buy a 15 to 20 year old ATV,
but something brand new.

- While Honda has a very long history with ATV's, this is the first year
they advertise push-button selectable 2- to 4-wheel drive, and I'm not fond
of buying first-year technology.

- I realize that there will be both Horror and Hero stories about both
units, but quality and reliability are both very important to me.

I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Cheers - Jonathan

 

Jon,
I cant speak on behalf of every Polaris ATV,however,the two brand new ones I owned were ALLWAYS in the shop for repairs.I had a new 99 Sportsman and now a 00 Xplorer.I wont even get into the repairs because I need to hit the sack in about 4 hrs.[lol]

Me personally,I allways admired the extras that Polaris ATVs offered over the competition.After owning two bads ones,I have changed my thoughts.I mean,what good are all those extra's if you cant use them cause the quads allways down?

I have two friends with the 450 ES model Honda's.Neither have ever been back to the shop for repairs.Now the ES is not going to offer as plush a ride,it does not have disk brakes,and does'nt lock the front two wheels up like the Polaris,but thats the price I think you may pay to have reliability?Its a tough call,perhaps more readers will respond?

Bill

 

I recently bought a 450 ES (about a month ago) and have been very pleased so far. Have you looked at the Artic Cat 375 and 400? I settled on the Artic Cat but bought the Honda at the last minute. I did this mainly because a quick survey at our hunting camp showed Hondas in the barn at a ratio of about 5 to 1 over everything else. I couldn't find one person that had a complaint about them. Still, the Artic Cat had many more features for the money and was a very solidly built machine.