yes your friend is right the pred. has no torque, the ds has tons. There is a mid-range hit BUT the ds never quits pulling. My riding partner has a pred, and has to rev his much more in compaison to me. Probobly the last thing you would have to worry about on the ds is the motor, very strong stock, and very reliable stock or modified. As far as trails I see no real disadvantage to a ds, most trails I've been on are easy just watch out for the 48" spaces between trees.

 

Im pretty much a newbie and i have no problems manuvering my ds on trails.
Ive had it for a year now,and rode a few others and wouldnt switch.Not to mention
if you ever do get to the dunes youll love it.

 

I have owned my ds going on 4 years it is the best quad you can buy it may be big but it's very monuverable, I would recomend 22" rear tires and 23" fronts fo trail use,unless you want to pound out dents out of your stock rims after every trail ride.
The only things that went out on my ds were, the fan,rear bearing,and the stock steel canaster rusted out by the weld seam,A kool mod that I did to the rear axle bearings was since I was removing the trashed bearings anyway,after I removed them I mounted a zirk fitting by each bearing in the carriar becareful not to put them where your bearing rides,them you will have to measure how far from the edge of the carrier the zirk is located them drill two access holes in the swingarm,you will want to put some form of mark on the carrier before you take it out the best way is mark it when your chain is at it's looses spot and the put your zirks a little forward of them that way you know when you rotate your axle you can get the access hole to line up with the zirks,IT"S ALOT EASIER THEN IT APPEARS ,if you have any problems e-mail me
PS I never had the ds to the dunes,I do 100% rocky and sandy trails and I've rode every make of performance quads and the ds by far is#1

 

i to am a big fan of the ds. someday i hope to have one. and yes they are faster then a pred. and they are the fastest quad you can buy of a dealer floor.

 

i think they are plain out cool looking too

 

I ride on very rocky trails in PA and after adding guards underneath, getting bigger tires, and a steering stabilizer have had no problems. The problems I had prior to that were: width of front tires going through tight spaces in between trees which smacked handlebar out of hands (thus the stabilizer), getting stuck in river because of OEM tires (thus the bigger Razr 2 tires) and going over trails made of only rocks, and big ones at that (the under guards). Other than that very comfortable, fast, and if you're a big guy you'll like the feel of it.

 

The DS is not the best in the trails, but you can get used to them. I also have an EX and it is awesome in the trails.

 

love mine, and i only ride trails, this thing is smooth and handles like a dream... little wide but you get use to that...power is incredible

it is the fastest production quad out there right now(stock)... i eat up predators and raptors all day like it was a joke...

buy it ....put an end cap and filter on it and be the king off your area----no question!

 

I have been abusing mine to the trails for a year now with no problems at all. Only thing the DS needs is a more experienced rider for it to be even better. My last Quad was a yamaha 4 zinger when I was a kid and have been on bikes since I bought the DS last year. So Im pretty much a rookie when it comes to a power quad but having no problems with the DS, only thing I would even consider getting is a 450 just due to Im not one of the bigger DS riders, but I would still love to keep the DS around even if I did get into the 450 class.

 

here in ny we have alot of rocky muddy trails. and the ds performs flawlessly in them. there is absolutly no lack of power anywhere in that strong rotax motor. a predator has no chance against a ds stock for stock or modded vs modded. i think your friend just dosnt want to see you get a faster, stronger, better more realiable machine than he has. ask him how many tie rods he's broke, or how many axel bearings he's gone threw. these are 2 well known problems with pred's.