I have boiled my new atv purchase down to two different machines. I would like to hear everyones personal experiences of who have ridden and work with both of these machines. I am mostly interested in using the quad for work. Slow pulling and plowing snow. I do know the obvious differences of the machines like auto tranny vs standard shift, 475cc vs 499cc engines. Please let me hear some information of personal experiences on both machines. Thanks

 

If you came off a 300, you aren't going to mind shifting. I say keep it simple and stick with a manual transmission......

 

Slow pulling and plowing snow, you need the Rubicon...liquid cooled. Also, the best and smoothest transmission on any ATV to date. Only advantage on the 500 would be the power steering.

 

Thanks for your advice. I am surprised that no one else has and personal experience. If anyone else can give me some advice I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

 

I own a Foreman and I have a riding buddy who has a Rubicon.

Seat of the pants wise, they are about equal in power. The Rubicon is liquid cooled, 4 valve motor, and the Foreman is air/oil cooled 2 valves. The Rubicon also holds a bunch of oil (like 5 quarts). Both are solid and planted on the trail, but the trade off of solid rear axle is that it doesn't ride as well as independent rear suspension when running fast over rough rocks and roots.

Both also have a good reputation for reliability, though there have been a bunch of threads lately about Rubicons that have gone into limp mode (IE bad angle sensor).

For plowing or dragging something at very low speeds, the hydrostat transmission on the Rubicon is great for that kind of stuff. The Rubicon is faster to shift between forward and reverse, though you tend to get fast with the Foreman once you are used to it.

Trail riding I prefer my Foreman, but that's just a personal preference, and lots of people would choose the Rubicon.

Getting opinions on the internet is a good idea, but there is no substitute for riding a machine yourself. Get a good test ride on both before you decide.

 

I ride with friends who have the foot shift 500 s, CVT yamaha's and even cheap friends who have old foot shift yamaha 400 koidak.
My rubicon makes the day so much more fun, I can ride all day with my girlfreind on the back and still out pace everyone in my group, the tranny is AWESOME as I never use my brakes, the glass smooth tranny is trackable in the nastys and makes any conditions more fun as i swear it can read my mind! I could blow this thread up with tons of photos if anyone needs proof. My rubicon is a 2001 purchaced in november 2000 and has never let me down once, I did throw a code when makeing my friends with sport quads look bad doing some crazy 4 low sand dune climbs, but a simple removal of the neg batt cable for 5 minutes fixed it right up- that was 3 years ago.
I vote RUBICON

 

One other bonus with the Rubicon is that you can still thumb shift it manually if you like, OR use the automatic.

 

exactly, the Rubicon rocks, I use D-2 for flat trails, roads or quite hunting- I use D-1 to blast with my friends sport quads and I use ESP when I want to control the RPM my style. Its just a perfect ATV, and my friends new 07' with 2wd option is even better

 

sorry, browser caused doubble post

 

both great machines, i love my rubi, would not trade it for anything, if i were to buy a second quad it would be another rubi or the foreman. the best advice is to ride them both and see how they feel to you. good luck, but you narrowed down to 2 of the best machines out there.