It's funny how people only remember what they want to. Did you forget about the recall of Polaris ATV's in August? Show us your proof that Hondas are not reliable.

 

This thread has gone way downhill fast. Do not listen to what the magazines say. They say one thing and then another the next month. Ride both and get what fits your needs. What type of riding do you plan to do? What terrain are you in?

 

It is hard to say at this point whether or Polaris has improved the reliabilty of the SP500. There are many people on the Forums that have over 5000 miles on their SP500s with no repairs. You have others that want to sell their SP500 because the brakes went out and the belt burned up after 200 miles. You know that the Rubicon will be a good bike. If you do not intend on mud/water riding, the drum brakes should not be a concern. If ride quality/comfort is not that important to you, your decision is easy. Go buy the Rubicon.

If my one and only deciding factor was reliabilty, I would definitely ride a Honda. But, I do not mind changing a belt on occasion. I do not mind the brakes wearing out quicker. That is the trade off I get for the superior ride, true AWD and disk brakes.

You have said that reliability is the most important factor. I doubt that anyone will disagree with my advice... especially in the Honda Forum. Just for fun, go post the same question in the Polaris Forum.

Greg

 

"If you don't ride in mud or water, the drum brakes shouldn't be a concern"

Who would ride a 4X4 ATV in water or mud? You'd have to be nuts.

 

The Honda guys will tell you to buy the Ruby,the Polaris guys will tell you to buy the Sportsman.Myself,I own a Honda Recon and a Polaris Xplorer.You wont get me to trade my Xplorer for a Ruby.Im a firm beleiver that a 4x4 should have true 4x4,im not yet convinced that the Ruby's new front torque sensing diff spins all 4 wheels in the serious mud.The seat on the Sportsman is twice the size of that on a Ruby.I also wont purchase a 4x4 ATV without it having disk brakes.The Sportsman has switchable 2wd-4wd,the Ruby is allways in 4x4.IRS on the Sportsman,solid axle on the Ruby.In my area,the Sportsman HO costs 6200,the Ruby is 7000.In my opionion,you get more quad for your dollar with the Sportsman.Except for the unproven tranny on the Honda,I feel the Sportsman is definately the better of the two quads.

Now these are only MY reasons for picking the Sportsman over the Ruby.Others may find that the Honda is the ATV for them.I cant and wont put either ATV down,ride them both,than decide,
Bill

 

If it helps anyone I own both of the machines in question. I bought them both new and conducted my own shootout. I ran both machines through a variety of different tests over a 3-month period. I then posted the results on *********.com under general discussion. Under the topic of Shoot Out Begins It contains a lot of information and answers a lot of your questions. I had no preference before my shoot therefore I called it as it was. My results were based on my opinions but I can tell you all that both machines are excellent and they both have their strong points. Check it out.

 

The address is A T V S O U R C E . C O M. Lord forbid any one go to another site and gain possible useful information that could help them. But I'm sure that this site has its reasons why it XXXXXX. out URL's

 

LLLLOOOLLL! I have been there

 

I have both a Ruby and an 96' 400 2 stroke Xplorer. I've had Hondas ever sence the 110 3-wheelers were out. No major problems on any of the Hondas. The only reason I got the Polaris is because I pull a sprayer, 60' wingspan 150 gal. tank. Honda never built anything that would pull that with out boiling the engine oil. I'll try out the Ruby this spring. The only Polaris that will pull it with no problem is the 400 2-stroke. Had a 425 Magnum Polaris it couldn't get out of its own road pulling the sprayer. Never tried a 500 Polaris but I don't think it would be much different. Power wise that 400 2-stroke can't be beat, but its not any good for just idealing around it loads up and fouls out the plugs. As far as the Ruby its the best machine I've rode yet. Wouldn't trade it for any other machine. Go Honda!

 

I've heard of only good things from both. Personally I liked the Rubicon better. I won't sit here however and tell you it's more reliable or this or that. I don't know yet, they both havn't had any problems. However I can tell you the none HO is slower than the Rubicon. The HO I would hope would be faster or your wasting your money if it's not. From what I've seen and rode in with the SP is no better or worse in boggs or mudd either. However opinions differ just like riders abilities. But to be honest the Polaris 4x4 system (if it holds up) is probably better though. However on the flip side, the tranny's are not comparable. Going down hills or smoothness the Honda is much better. The power also is more direct than the SP's. Water is also less of a problem due to no belt. Ride from personal experience is the SP all the way. It is super smooth and compared to the Solid axle it is leaps better riding. However on side hills a solid axle is more stable and for pulling a Moose out of the tundra (or loading in any form) most likely doen't fair well on any IRS out there. But you'll get different opinons there also. Just buy what feels right to you. Each bike has it's advantages and disadvantages. Those strictly depend on what your strengths and wants are as the rider though. Sounds like you need to mach those to which bike feels those needs for you the best. Good luck!!!