I got the chance to ride the new Outlander 800 this afternoon. Not a long ride but some. Sweet maria. I knew the power was going to be pretty good but I had no idea it would be as powerful as it was. What really surprised me was how well it handled. It rode really smooth. It wasn't harsh or rough. Soaked up the bumps and stuff nicely. Got to try the mud capability in a creek and pond and I was impressed. I took particular notice about the lock time of the front differential. It appeared to me to be more or less instantaneous. On wheel would slip a few inches before it locked the other. That was a big surprise. I was under the impression that the wheel had to spin around.

I know people keep saying this is a "sport utility" but I kept thinking of the work that you could do with this machine. Lots of utility potential I thought. The racks were big enough that you could load them down with lots of gear. I tossed a 200 pound box on the back rack and it raced through the ditches across the creek and up the gravel driveway and it didn't seem like it wanted to tip or anything. It didn't really squat much either. It actually made it ride a little smoother I thought. More than enough power to deal with it. The Outlander should be a heck of a set up for plowing the driveway in the winter and for dragging around a brush cutter in the summer. I noticed it handled side hills really well and didn't have any tippy feeling even though I'm extremely tall myself. If I get one it's going to get a work out as a true utility machine here on the farm as well as a trail machine. Gobs of power to tow, push snow and haul with, good racks and very capable in the woods. I see no reason why this thing couldn't be a killer work machine.

I didn't like:

The gages. Personal preference maybe. Just didn't care for them. Maybe they grow on you.

Heat from the engine. Felt awfully warm.

Single brake lever. Can-Am is on crack if they think this is the way brakes should be arranged. They need to offer a refit kit of some sort to allow the option of splitting the brakes for normal brake operation. If some people like it fine they can have it but allow those who don't to have normal brakes.

By the same token they need to have a manual front differential lock override to manually lock the front differential when the user decides that it is necessary.

I see what people say about the battery box. It needs a little attention. A minor quibble.

The shifter. It is a bit tricky sometimes.

Not much else I could really tell as I didn't have as much seat time as I would like. I haven't had any seat time on the new Griz obviously but unless someone manages to come up with something really trick before fall or some serious defect shows up in the Outlander it would be really difficult to not put the Outlander 800 at the top of the list as the new ATV I will bring home this fall. It isn't all hype. It really is that good.

 

Nice review Captain

You might try pressing the foot brake, that seems to help when changing gears.

The battery is a minor deal, like you say but could use some design help. I thought a nice container with a quick conect so the entire container could be removed and then the battery could be swapped out, or serviced right from the container setting on the work bech. Where its at sucks big time, to work on. That little rubberband deal tends to fall off on the back side and is a mother to get your hand back there to reatach while holding the batterys since they give you so very little negative cable length to work with.

There always seems to be allot heat from these big motors, I wish they would look into ceramic coating the head pipes right from the factory, I am told that helps contain the heat allot better. There are allot guys shipping there head pipes off to have this done. I just wish the factory would do it from the start and save us the trouble.

As far as the guages go, I can see were you are coming from, I like the Renegade guage setup better, at least from the pics I have seen of it, it seems like it would be easier to read a glance than the Outy guage. Digital vs analog I guess is the main reason I am saying that.

 

Aye, Aye, Captain....Dont wait for these "minor" details to get yourself one of these...you won't regret it! I was a stone cold Suzuki man until I had some major issues with the new King Quad...sold it...got the Outy...best purchase I EVER MADE! Solid, stout and strong. That is how I describe this machine. You obviously know what your doing as you picked up on some small issues...every machine has got 'em as you know. These are the most insignificant issues comparitively to any machine on the market. I.M.O.....welcome aboard capt!

 

what kinds of atv's have you owned or ridden in the past?- thanks

 

i have the ol max 800 with 800 mi, it dosent seem to get as hot as it use to. make sure you add the full body skids or you will be sorry if you do the rock crawling thing.it seems to be a might tender on the bottom of the frame.happy riding.

 

As far as good comparable bikes, I've got some pretty good seat time on the new Suzuki King Quad. I get to ride it quite a bit. In fact I get to ride the KQ about as much as I like. It's even at my house at the moment. I also get to ride the big 750 Brute Force on a fairly regular basis. Get some seat time on couple of year or two old Grizzly's too but not as much. I've a little seat time on a couple of others, a Polaris notably which was just enough to let me know there was no way I wanted one.

As for my own ATV's I currently own a little Honda 300 4x4 again which I'm restoring. One of my first quads and I wanted it back. It is obviously no real useful comparison to any of the new bikes. I've owned a 600 grizzly, a 400ex, a banshee (r.i.p), a 250r, a foreman 400 and of course the 300 honda I mentioned above. I have a soft spot for those little machines for some reason. They're woefully under powered compared to what we have now days and they don't have all of the features and gizmos but there is something simple and fun about them I really enjoy. Plus the little devils just run forever with no maintenance or hassles. Also good as a back-up quad to put a relative or friend on.

As I'm stuck with just the little Honda for my own personally owned quad at the moment you can see how much I need to be getting a new ride this fall. I have lucked out in finding some to test out. It is so difficult to attempt to evaluate new ATVs without riding them. The dealers may give you a spin around the parking lot or a ride over the grass or something but that really doesn't tell you anything. They desperately need some sort of loaner program for financially qualified potential buyers. I would gladly plunk down some serious money to rent a potential new ATV model for a couple of days to test ride on my farm. I'd gladly sign a waiver, leave a couple of grand deposit and even plunk down a couple of hundred bucks if I had to. I mean I'm having to drop nearly 10 grand on an ATV now and for the most part I'm having to buy the damn thing without a test drive. The dealers and the manufacturers need to come up with some sort of solution to this problem for potential buyers.

 

Thanks again for your reply, I too would be willing to plunk down a fair amount of cash to be able to ride some of these new bikes for a couple of days. Most of my major decisions are made from ride reviews from people like your self on the forums.

 

Unfortunately that's about all you can do. I just happened to have a friend of a friend who was driving through the area with his Outlander on a trip cross country and he could spare a few hours to stop by. I treated him and his family to a welcome pit stop at the farm with a nice BBQ and we got to compare notes and do some riding. Likewise I have lucked out and got a chance to ride a KQ and a BF enough to evaluate them. The Polaris I didn't get to ride nearly as long but it was long enough to realize I didn't want one. I would like to get some time on some Arctic Cats before I have to make my decision. The Hondas are unfortunately out of the running due to the lack of a locking front differential. Something a dealer friend of mine keeps yelling to his Honda people about but they simply won't listen. He keeps telling them they are losing business because they won't offer lockers and low ranges but they won't listen.

The whole situation with a person having to purchase a machine without really riding it is unacceptable and the dealers and manufacturers really need to do something about it. I'm not talking about dealers lending out machines to every person who walks through the door but if I am a serious potential buyer with verifiable money to spend some sort of accommodation with regards to a loaner test machine has to be made. Deposit fine. Credit check fine. Even a fee of some sort fine. But with the prices of new machines approaching nearly ten thousand dollars you just can't expect people to buy the things without a test drive in the conditions in which they were intended to be operated. It would be like going to a car dealer and being forced to drive the car in a circle in a small parking lot. It is just unacceptable. Heck send the salesman out with the machine if you want. Just let me take the thing out in real world conditions.