I've sold about 50 of the 500 Foremans in 15 months - and so far have not had one warranty claim. Almost all are used here in Ireland for farming only, though our terrain is fairly easy - As a good all round tyre I like 12.5" Bear Klaws on back , but like to keep 8" on front. They wear well and are a good compromise.
500 is a good machine to ride - and seems more substantial than the new 420.

 

would mI be better off with the pure automatic version?,,,,Is that the Rubicon??...Is it worth the extra money?

 

I rode my friend,s 500 Foreman all day and it is a nice trail rider also, much better t than my 450 Foreman was. The suspension is longer (6.7) and the bike is much faster also ,could be the bigger motor or they changed the gearing or both. He changed the junk stock 2 ply tires with 6ply after market tires and it improved it,s cornering with the stiffer tires (less body roll).

If you only plow a very small percentage of the time so I would just but up with it,s time consuming back up procedure.

 

Oh, it's a new machine. I guess I misinterpreted the "used for riding-plowing-etc" in the first post...

Anyhow, I suspect you will be very happy with it. The Rubicon is Honda's 500 automatic, but it isn't just an automatic version of the Foreman. It's liquid cooled, and a 4 valve engine...

Once you get used to snicking between reverse and forward on the Foreman, you get pretty good at it. Whether the Rubicon is worth it or not depends upon whether you hate to shift, or you think shifting is part of the fun of riding.

 

Rubicon is better for shifting F/R when plowing, I (or the computer) can also shift gears while under power in esp (D mode) without interruption. However, I would not base my purchase solely on that feature. There's some piece of mind with the Foreman as it is so darn simple, nothing wrong with that.

There are also ways to modify the button to make it easier to reverse, but be aware with the mod you can shift right through from 1st to reverse if you aren't careful and that's not good. You still have to take your hand off the bars to shift the rubicon. If I could mount my winch rocker to the shift, that would be slick.